Thanks for the suggestion Andrewas, downloading Adaware now [img]smile.gif[/img]

You know ..... considering andrews' suggestion that it might be spyware could it be a trojan ? You could download the cleaner and it has quite a few functions to help ya out ;) Sowwy i misunderstood yer problem at the first instance :(

And Neb what kind of keyboard and mouse are you using? I´ve got a Logitech Cordless mouse and sometimes it just stops working. That´s due to Logitechs worthless drivers! So if you´ve got Logitech use Windows own drivers: That solved my problem...

Chic Optical Mouse, not cordless.

Zitech Keyboard, not cordless, just ancient.

And I cleaned my comp of Spyware earlier, no problems presenting themselves yet. I guess that I'll just have to wait and see if my computer screws up again.

As for the Trojan..... I use Norton Anti-Virus even though I haven't updated my definitions in a week or so.

If your graphics card is working over clocked it can cause this problem in order to fix it try this:
1st click start then click on settings then click control panel.
next double click system, find the performance tab and click on it.
Next there are three buttons where it says Advanced settings they are,
File System, Graphics, and Virtual memory. click on Graphics you will then
see a slide bar if it is set all the way to full then move it to the left one notch and see if this keeps your system from locking up, if this doesn't work
try again and move it one more time to the left this should fix the problem.
Good Luck

Thanks for that bit of advice Crimsom, trying it now. I don't recall overclocking my graphics card, and my comp has had these settings for ages with no problems, but I'll try it anyhow seeing as the bar was all of the way to the right. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Would your mouse and keyboard be USB by chance?

I ran into an issue with Windows XP, VIA chipsets and USB devices that sounds exactly like the one you've got. Random lock-up's of all USB devices.
If by some chance this is your problem download VIA's latest 4 in 1 drivers and extract the archive to a folder, don't run it as is.
Once it's been extracted, run the setup.exe with Win2000 compatibility and voila!

I'm using Win98, so it can't be an XP, 2000 or ME issue.

Don't know about VIA under 98. Your description sounds like an overheating issue, especially since it's most often during gaming. Most MOBO manufactures offer software temperature probes that can be installed to monitor mobo and CPU temps. You have cleaned out the case and fans recently right?

[ 11-09-2002, 05:28 PM: Message edited by: Animal ]

Try a new mouse and/or keyboard. Better yet borrow them from someone for a couple hours to see if the problem persists. If your troubles cease then you arent out all that money for a new mainboard.

My kids computer was doing the same thing yours is and I figured out, eventually, that the Space Bar was bad and that was what was causing the errors. I replaced the keyboard and havent had any troubles since.

I noticed that after I removed my cases side covers, the CPU temperture dropped 6 dregrees celsius, and the same for the video card. Adding casefans dropped it another 5 degrees. I havent bothered putting the covers back on.

[ 11-10-2002, 01:39 AM: Message edited by: Earthdog ]