RF is funny stuff. Depending on the strength/frequency of the carrier wave, walls, current-carrying wires within those walls, and even rebar within concrete can act as waveguides. Toss in a healthy dose of multipathing and BFO's (Beat Frequency Oscillators) and you have a nightmare in cubicle-land. You have to walk around with a Spectrum Analyzer to appreciate what goes on in the RF spectrum in an office building, believe me. Add a "rogue device" that's spitting stuff out too "loudly", or at just the wrong frequency, and stir. Your brains. Because you can't figure out the @#$%^$-ing problem. The sledgehammer solution works just peachy! We banned all this stuff, and our service calls went away. No more "broken" keyboards and mice.
Wireless ain't what it's cracked up to be because there are now too many devices using the very narrow spectrum. Just ask the FCC... Steve Egan Purcell Systems System/Network Administrator desk 509 755-0341 x110 cell 509 475-7682 fax 509 755-0345 ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Cline Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 9:30 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Possessed PCs Please do! :-) They sit in an area that is somewhat densely clustered with cubes. However, the first two of the affected users sat in cubes next to each other with a direct line of sight to the problem source roughly 15ft away, and have a near direct line of sight to a third affected user that was about 25ft and two walls away from the source of the problem. The fourth affected user was also about 25-30ft and three walls away from the source, in the opposite direction of the third user. The row of VP offices directly across from the fourth user's office were not affected (whew!). And of course once we told the problem user what was going on, he had a little bit of fun with it first. -- Brian Cline ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Laura A. Robinson Sent: Friday 01 December 2006 17:30 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Possessed PCs When I go near wireless mice/keyboards, they stop working. (I can provide witnesses to this.) Want me to visit your office? ;-) Laura P.S. How densely clustered are these users? Does one user's interference stop if you turn off the other user's mouse? Seems like it'd be a quick way to verify that it's not somebody between them before you start cubicle crawling. ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Cline Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 3:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Possessed PCs Since this morning, we've ruled out the possibility of the USB mice being affected as well. Apparently those folks with USB mice who complained were not having the same kind of cursor movement -- it was just the seldom jumpy cursor (where it spasms between 2-3 pixels while idle) usually seen only with optical mice. Fortunately I've been able to see it in action today, and it definitely seems to be coming from someone else's mouse as it appears to be normal mouse movements. The affected users are roughly 30-40 feet away, so we're checking to see if there is someone between of all of them who has a wireless mouse. I like the idea of prohibiting the devices altogether. Would definitely save a lot of time -- I've not been able to get much serious work done today. -- Brian Cline ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Scott Klassen Sent: Friday 01 December 2006 12:57 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] OT: Possessed PCs Usually I see this from interference using wireless mice. Usually it's caused by people with other wireless devices close by and they are both operating on the same channel. RF can operate through walls, so interference doesn't have to be line of sight and can come through walls, from above or below if transmitting omnidirectionally. Just had this recently where a bunch of staffers with laptops got wireless external keypads, all the same make and model, and found the range of these things was 20 feet. Cell Phones, Microwaves, and other common items may also cause this for the same reasons. I no longer allow wireless devices in my environments just to save the hassle. You say this also happens with some wired usb mice? Have you tried moving these to a different USB port on the system, preferably connected to a different USB controller? Scott Klassen From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Cline Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 10:07 AM To: Active Directory Mailing List Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: Possessed PCs Yesterday we had several people complain that their cursor was moving around on its own, but not erratically or quickly as one would suspect might be the case of a mouse issue. I used SMS remote tools to watch one person's screen, and she noted that the way the cursor moved while I was in there checking things was exactly the same way it was moving before -- it was just as though someone was actually in there. Now I can't begin to describe how odd this is -- but I can't seem to find any common denominator for the folks who experienced this problem (so far, three or four). Some have wireless mice with a short range and good batteries with no problems otherwise, whereas the others have standard, working USB mice. I have seen this before where the language bar was detecting office and keyboard noise through the microphone as dictated commands to do thing, but the problem persisted on the first PC after I disabled it, and I don't think that particular model has a built-in mic. I checked the event logs and the only person who used the SMS remote control was me, so I can't imagine that anyone else would have been remoting it either. So far today I have not heard any more complaints, but nevertheless I'm still curious yet baffled. All PCs have updated virus and spyware definitions. Does anyone have ideas on where to start looking if this problem surfaces again? If it continues we'll have the corporate chaplain bring in his exorcist buddy. Brian Cline, Applications Developer Department of Information Technology G&P Trucking Company, Inc. 803.936.8595 Direct Line 800.922.1147 Toll-Free (x8595) 803.739.1176 Fax -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.430 / Virus Database: 268.15.3/561 - Release Date: 12/1/2006 6:36 AM -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.430 / Virus Database: 268.15.3/561 - Release Date: 12/1/2006 6:36 AM
