Preserved Topic: Input impairment/Peripherial distortion

I've got a big problem with my keyboard and mouse. After about five to ten minutes after I've started the comp they completely stop functioning. Most of the time, when the computer's busy (like starting a program or opening a big file in PS) the mouse stops responding for some time, even though it didn't do that before. The weird thing is, I can still use my wacom tablet. (It's on a USB port, the mouse and keyboard are on a PS/2 port (or so my system says)) I haven't installed any new software recently that could've caused the program. Didn't add or remove any hardware alltogether.

After I restart my computer, everything functions again, until I execute a big program (or sometimes it's even winamp that causes it) and the mouse and keyboard freezes again. When that happens, the lights on the keyboard do not go out, so I think it's not a hardware problem. I also tried scandisk and defragmentation, didn't help either. MCafee couldn't find any viruses.

Just to make sure: I'm on a pentium III with 256MB ram, running windows ME (sadly, I'm not able to get a new OS, and I also don't think it's a case of 'WinME sucks and that's all there is to it' so... I'm not able to fix it by getting another OS)

And on a completely random note: winME switches program icons with anything. I don't know if it has to do with my problem, but right now Trillian has a photoshop icon, and my PSD files show up as if they're bitmaps.

So, if you have any clue on what could be the problem, please let me know.

Hi mahjqa

I had a like yours. My keyboard freezes about
3/4/10min of working. The LEDS didn't flash
and so. The keybuttons worked but it was very
weird because the windows key opened the
windows search function, the ESC key open the
start menu and so on....very really strange.

I just put another keyboard on an now its
working just before the problem cames in.

So try another keyboard and look if the problem
is the same. Try it out with the mouse too.

At the end...I don't think so that is ME which
makes the problems (although ME ***x really )
but the last way is to reformate your computer.

cu
~Xdreamer.ch~

mahjqa: There are probably a couple of problems at work (although often they turn out to be caused by the same thing):

1. Keyboard and mouse problems: Try updating the drivers.

2. The icon problem is a common one with ME (I have the same problem myself). I have read about the way to fix it but as it comes and goes and isn't serious (and I'm going to upgrade to XP soon) I didn't bother with it but might be able to track it down if you like.

Try downloading Sandra from here:
www.sisoftware.co.uk

and running some of the benchmark tests to see if there are any warnings - I've been playing with it and it does spot when your drivers are old and may spot a more serious problem.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

This morning I killed my mouse out of severe frustration.... bought a new one, now everything woks like a charm again. *smiles*

Emperor; tried Sandra, didn't come up with nuthin'. Useful program, though.

For your icon problem, win98 and winME have this problem occassionaly. A really good utility for this is TweakUI. It shows up in the control panel once installed, and there is an option to repair icons. Nifty little app and IMO one of the better pieces of software for Win.