Cursor and KB freezes

At random, and now more often than ever, the input devices lock and the comp freezes. It doesn't matter if it is idle or I'm hammering it. I reboot, and sometimes it is still frozen. I have replaced the kb and tball, (tball 3 times) installed the software, checked for new drivers...thought it was a software conflict, but I just did a reinstall of XP...only thing is, I actually downloaded a lot of M$ updates this time. I did move almost everything off of the C partition that doesn't need to latch onto the OS (Thanks Mike F. for the guidance there!)Most of the comp guts are fairly new, except the hard drive. I wonder if Norton has turned on me? I switched to NIS 2003 this time. Any ideas, anyone? I'm stumped.
TIA
Johanna

 

Johanna

Oh I thought this was a new install, now I see reinstall?

But the lockups are the computer most likely not just the keyboard and mouse.

I would clean the registry, but first do a general temp cleanup.

Cleanup

Configure CleanMgr to max settings
Go to Start-Run and type

cleanmgr /sageset:1
The above need only be ran once (these settings will be remembered as the default until another sageset is ran).

It will present a menu select all except compress, then

Go to Start-Run and type

cleanmgr /sagerun:1
As long as /sageset above has been ran on this computer from now on the /sagerun is the only thing that needs to run.

XpAntiSpy <http://www.webattack.com/get/xpantispy.shtml>

Pretty self explanatory, stop M$ snooping and therefore some resource stealing also.

If you clear the PageFile and you should ever so often, afterwards uncheck the clear Pagefile at shutdown, as we only want to clear it once for now.

Registry and System cleaners

RegCleaner <http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml>
Look in first 2 cols for programs you thought you uninstalled or removed, these are the dregs left by the uninstaller. Also tag and remove any that you are POSITIVE are not supposed to be on your computer. After removing these go to the top Tools-Registry Cleanup-Do them all. Delete all it finds.

EasyClean1.7 <http://gswi.com/downloads.htm>
Run only unnecessary files and registry clean delete all it finds. If you have ME or XP in the "Unnessesary Files" type the word HELP in the skip box. Do not do Duplicate files!

System Mechanic <http://www.iolo.com/sm/index.htm> Do not do Duplicate files!

RegScrubXP http://home.carolina.rr.com/lexunfreeware/RegScrubXP/RegScrubXP.htm
NOTE: W2K and XP only
Select RegScrub finds problems and remove all it finds.

Do this and hopefully it will help with the freezes.

Mike

 

PS for trouble shooting this issue I would turn off the NIS and run with it off long enough to see if it is the problem.

mike

 

I did a clean install, reformatted the partitions and did everything fresh. I haven't run any reg cleaners because there didn't appear to be anything left of the old OS. XP went straight back to defaults. I think I will dump Norton just long enough to see if that is the problem. I have everything to put it together again on disks...now would be the time, huh?

I still have the cd I made of the downloaded programs from your registry cleaner list, many threads back...so if it isn't Norton, is that the next step? I am really suspicious over some of those M$ updates. They gave me 36 criticals, I took 23, and a couple optionals. I didn't do the SP 1 or 2 this time, though, either. Think I goofed it up by allowing M$ to update?

 

Hmmm!

If you do the RegCleans even now you will be amazed at the garbage the install and updates leave around.

You should have done the Major SP's first. Then looked at the other updates.

The Major SP's would have contained some of the ones you did manually. They may be out of sequence now.

I would do the SP now.

Hopefully you are backing up between some of these steps.

Bed is now calling me loudly..............


Mike ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Hmmm...so you think I did the M$ updates out of order, and I should have dl the SPs? I have become so suspicious of M$ lately... I always follow the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" maxim. But it's driving me nuts with the freezing, so I guess I'll wipe it and start over. A friend suggested I make a boot disk off of my daughter's ME system and then NFDisk XP. What do you think? Or would you try cleaning the registry first?

Thanks for all your help, Mike. I think a lot of your advice- Ya ain't steered me wrong yet!

Johanna

 

Cleaning the registry is worth it, don't take that long. Run all the registy cleaners I advise one after the other then do the following.

For sure turn off Norton firewall! Not uninstall just turn off.

Then

Put XP CD in CD drive then Start-Run and type

sfc /scannow

allow to complete ( this will clear most of the updates you did) then do the Major SP update. Then pick and choose the others you want.

Mike

 

Forgot!

About Updates. In my opinion you did them incorectly. There are many thoughts on this. I am sure many will disagree.

The major SP has been out for a while and is gennerally acepted as stable as any other.

There are more problems with some of the individual updates than with the major.

So I say always get the major SP then the IE update then carefully select the others.

Mike

 

Mike,
Actually, I did try to do SP 1 first, but after about 40 Mgs downloaded, it froze. So I rebooted, and installed the updates individually, bypassing the SP. But the SP put something called ISScript on my comp, which is fooling it into thinking it is a server (It is NOT) and in the add/remove section of the control panel, it is there, but not listed as having any size. It will not let me remove it, and asks me to locate a file I do not have because it thinks another service is dependent upon it.

I had a really hard time downloading and installing Open Office yesterday because of that ISScript, and the cursor freezing. I also dumped Norton Utilities, because I've had conflicts there before, but it doesn't seem to matter. I don't know if this has anything to do with the root problem either, but my comp doesn't know it's telephone modem anymore (I'm on a cable connection). I figured I'd open the case, clean out the dust, clean the registries, take your advice on the M$ Updates and go from there.
It froze 4X already today, but has been going for an hour with no problems...just never know when the axe is going to fall!

 

Go to this site and do this fix.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326674

Then search the HD for ISSScript and del.

The registry also in addition to the M$ process above if you know how to search the registry. If not just get the M$ and that will fix it.

Don't worry about the modem now if you don't need it. The computer did not get dusty since you installed XP yesterday so it needs to be reinstalled.

As for the SP, it is so large and there is the possibility of something going wrong that I always advise to D/L to the HD and install from there.

While installing this on a new install especially you should terminate the Virus scanner and unplug any unnessesary devices especially USB.

Mike

 

Another possible approach if you plan to reinstall (which might be a great idea at this point).

Download SP1 to your hard drive and then burn an install CD with the SP slipstreamed on it. Much cleaner than the OS followed by SP and with the CD, any repairs you do later won't then require you to reapply the SP.

Then boot from the CD you made and do a clean install including format.

After that, I'd suggest letting BigFix examine your system and suggest updates. You can easily go thru the list of updates it finds, examine in detail what they are for, and uncheck any you don't want so you'll never hear of them again.

I like BigFix way better than the M$ update thing.

 

How is it going Johanna?

Mike

 

Mike,
Yeah, the comp could be dusty...have had the side off for a couple of months, and the freeze problem was happening every now and then (days would pass, though!) before I decided to redo it. It is just happening WAY too much now (several times a day, with no apparent reason) I had been thinking about reinstalling the OS and planning for it for some time. I made cds of the software I wanted to keep, I made backups of my docs, my favorites (bookmarks) and my WAB. If I dump the whole thing now and start fresh, I really have nothing to lose at this point. I like Newt's idea of burning the OS and SP onto one disk. I don't recall that M$ gave me the choice of saving or installing that SP1, though. Since I ALWAYS save and then install from the HD, I suspect it did not. Nah, I don't "need" the modem right away, but I want it available! And, yes, I did unplug all the peripherals. Mike, what do you think of NFDisk? How can I do this as clean as possible? Thanks for taking the time to help. I value your advice.
Johanna

 

Dust in relation to your modem! Not just since you installed XP. It is not working because of a driver.

Yes of course you want your modem. But no need to fix it then decide to reinstall. So wait untill you make that decision.

Yes maybe where you went it did offer to allow download of SP but there is a place.

Did you say you had a freeze/lockup problem even before you installed XP only not as bad? If so I would update both the motherboard chipset drivers and BIOS. Chipset first and BIOS next only if still problems. If it was done for 98 (chipset) that is all gone when you formated. Now you need the XP chipset drivers if offered by your MB mfg. Most likely they only have one set for all so get the latest.

Perhaps you also did not know that a properly designed case causes air flow thru a path that actually cools better than having the case off. Now I don't know about your case.

I would blow it out good make sure all cards cables, plugs and memory are all firmly seated. Then close the case. Make sure to blow out the fans especially the CPU fan.

Have you done the temp and regcleans yet? I would do so before deciding to reinstall.

Mike

 

Thanks, Mike, for all your help. I think I've resolved the problems. Not sure exactly what did fix it, but this is what I did:
physically cleaned the dust out of the case
got SP1 installed
cleaned up the registry
updated the driver for the modem
swore at it in 3 different languages, and threatened to run over the comp with my truck

So far, so good...knock on wood.
Thank you for all the good ideas, links and fixes.
Johanna