Recently I've been having a REALLY annoying problem with my computer. At random times, annoyingly enough often in the middle of games, my mouse and keyboard lock up and refuse to do anything.

Those whom I know in person to be wise on the matters of computers have offered no advice except for "Format C: and reinstall everything" which I refuse to do on the grounds that it'd take me ages to get back everything that I'd lose from that.

So, my question is: What possible causes, and solutions, can the computer-wise on this forum suggest to my problem?

[ 11-09-2002, 06:46 AM: Message edited by: Neb ]

I think that your computer locks up due to overheating [img]smile.gif[/img] Thats one of the main reasons for computer crashes. You could use a good heatsink and an extra fan or to, perhaps taking the computer cover off will help too :D

No, you misunderstand, the computer works perfectly. It's only the mouse and keyboard that locks up. Everything else keeps running.

And taking the computer cover off actually makes the overheating worse, sometimes, since the fans will be unable to properly circulate cool air inside the case or some such thing.

Well alot of people are saying that their MSN keeps stuffing their computer (myself included)

Nah, it happens whether MSN is on or not. And it started happening a good long while after I installed MSN. So MSN is not the cause. I haven't installed any updates lately, either, so they can't have caused it.

I'm betting it started after I added you [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Your computer hates me so it locks up to prevent you from talking to me!...Yes, that's it...*cough*

Right..... Now does anyone feel like making a serious suggestion besides those already made? It's really a damn annoying problem.

It's possible your mobo is getting flaky. Also reinstalling winblows may not be a bad idea. Perdiodically doing that can solve a lot of issues. (That's whay I maintain recovery cds with my latest configurations! :D )

Reinstalled Windows not too long ago, actually. And what do you mean by saying that my Motherboard is getting flaky? And is the only cure a new Mobo?

Run adaware and a virus scanner.

Alexa - one fairly common spyware - has been giving me all sorts of problems at work. Its everywhere, and it seems to be able to screw up damn near anything. Its about .01 steps away from being an actual virus. Although its never caused this particular problem that Ive seen.

Other that that, its probably some obscure .dll conflict that even the windows programming team could never hope to resolve. Reinstall windows.

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 ]

That's interesting, my dad said that removing the cover would have negative effects on the flow of cool air and therefore actually not improve cooling but hamper it. Then I note what you just said and the fact that my computer has been getting more screwy since I put my conver back on.....

<font color="lightblue">The case is a big help if the fans are in and working absolutely perfectly, and the air blows off the case in 27 different places, thus cooling the entire thing.
If that were true, you wouldn`t be having cooling problems. </font>

Hm, well, now my mouse is starting to go crazy. Occasionally it just starts randomly leaping around the screen and clicking stuff when I move it.

I think that I might need a new mouse [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="lightblue">Clean it. </font>

Check farther up in the thread [img]tongue.gif[/img] Optical mouse [img]tongue.gif[/img] And my probs now appear to be solved, due to me borrowing someone else's mouse. Guess that my mouse was the root of all of the problems.

YAY Neb! Now you only have to do one more thing. Spam the manufacturer or dealer until you get a new one. :D I´m sure some people in here will help you out with that [img]tongue.gif[/img] :D

I think you have been eating cheese near the back of your P.C and the bits have gone inside it and screwed your mobo,or your mobo has had it which makes more sense than my last suggestion.

Neb a lot of optical mice now come with their own software to let them do certain things. A word of advice is to never instal that software. Although it can sometimes work okay, I find that in a lot of the cases, it causes problems with your operating system. Your mouse jumping around the screen and clicking or opening things is a problem I had with mine a while back til I got rid of the software it came with. Best option is to just plug the damn thing in and use it on it's own.

I have to agree with Bokken. Istalling the provided drivers seems to cause problems rather than eliminate them. The good thing about Microsoft coming out with new operating systems every couple of yers is the driver database gets bigger each release.

Windows ME isnt as bad as most people think. Its much better at handling memory and has a much larger driver database than 98SE. Plus its also got System Restore. Nice little tool that. One thing I really like about ME is I've never had a single "Fatal Error" like I always got with 98.

[ 11-11-2002, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: Earthdog ]

When you go to buy a new mouse, I don't suggest buying a cordless one. It's always so tempting to pick it up and toss it and catch it, or spin it like a coin on your computer desk while waiting for a game to load. I'm quie surprised mine hasn't broken yet, but we have soft rug. [img]smile.gif[/img]

That and I have a Microsoft cordless optical (fancy blue colour! Ever so pretty!) and it uses up batteries pretty quickly. NiMH batteries would solve that though.

Usually if this is the problem, the only solution is to get another one. I'd try this only as a last resort.

Using known virus-free recovery disks, scan for virii. Once everything is pronounced "clean", then proceed to look for hardware conflicts. If none are found, then you may be in the market for a mobo.

Oh yeah, try different mice and keyboards too, just to be safe.

Try to go in to the control panel and under hardware thingy and remove the mouse and keyboard then it will ask you to reboot then it will intall the mouse and keyboard again and se if thet helps Neb!