Hardware problem or Malware

[MarT40]

Sorry for the long post:

Thinkpad T40 with XP2 SP2 up-to-date.

Problem:
When I start the machine from the power on button, I get a double beep and an 0210 error - stuck key 3f; press F1. When I press F1 I enter the BIOS setup. I then press ESC or F3 to continue. After a period that seems longer than normal windows starts, programs start, and everything appears normal except that when I first click on a desktop icon the screen begins to jitter and the icons flash until I press ESC or space bar. If I first click start and then my computer the screen won't settle down until I press a key.

History:
I was in Excel and opened Quicken. Quicken asked if I wanted to update and stupidly I clicked yes. The update seemed o.k. and I exited Quicken. I then found I had many "go to" windows opened in Excel that I could not close the normal way. I managed to bring up task manager and shut down Excel. The desktop icons were flashing and attempts to open ""my computer" or "my documents" brought up a jittery window that wouldn't stop flashing. I finally managed to do a shut down commmand. When I did a restart from the power on button then the post error showed up. I ran an AVG Free virus scan and a Windows Defender scan and nothing showed.

Still not sure if I had malware on the system I decided to rebuild XP after doing a PC Doctor full erase. I put the PC Doctor bootable in the CD drive and restarted the system. However I entered the BIOS to check if I had the CD first in the boot order and did something that caused the BIOS to be rewritten. I then proceeded with my plan to erase and rebuild. I still have the problem on startup and wonder if I have malware in the BIOS or a true hardware problem.

Help!

[MarT40]

After several days of living with this problem and finally writing the above message, I realized the F5 key WAS stuck in the down position. Now the machine starts normally.

Ain't that the way it goes.