computer locking up

[Guest_imported]

Hi,
On occassions, my computer locks up for about a second or two. I notice it only does this when I'm moving the mouse, for example, if I'm listening to music on winamp and I'm using the computer for other things it doesn't happen but once I sit down and move the mouse around it starts to occur. I don't think it's a windows problem because I have tried formatting my drive and re-installing it. What could it be??
My computer hardware is as follows:
Board- FIC AZ11E
CPU - AMD Tbird 800MHz
Ram - 128 pc133
Video card: Viper 770 non ultra

My CPU load incrases to almost 100% when this happens also.
Thanks

 

[Guest_imported]

sorry, I meant to say.. I notice it only does this when I'm moving the mouse, for example, if I'm listening to music on winamp and I'm not using the computer for other things it doesn't happen..
I left out --> not

 

[marsd]

The interrupt gets serviced when your mouse moves obviously,
and the fact that you have winamp(sound) running at the same time makes me wonder about resource sharing.
The IRQ tree starts at 9(top) and then decreases from there
in terms of priority so you might want to check and see what resources are being used by your sound and mouse.
Also check your software environment: what processes are running: use doc watson to snapshot your environment
(C:\windows\drwatson) at this time and see if it tells you
anything.
I have noticed that winamp causes slowdowns and massive
strangeness on my machine as well however, so this may
be par for the course.

 

[Guest_imported]

Well, no I used winamp as an example. I can have nothing running just explorer.exe and it will still happen. It used to be worse, the computer used to just completely lock up on me, even during a windows installation! It just stated to happen all of a sudden.
Dr Watson didn't really tell me anything. Only that if my taskbar plays up to exit mmtask.exe.
Thanks

 

[ninfan]

I had this type of problem recently. Sporadic lockups, delayed mouse movement, etc. After much research, I found that it was caused by a virus. It was attaching itself to various executables. Search your hard drive for FLCSS.EXE. If this file exists in your Windows directory, you have the virus. There is a lot of info on the web about getting rid of it.

 

[Guest_imported]

I don't think it's a virues problem because I formatted my hard drive many times thinking it was a windows fault or something.

 

[tlcscousin]

Formatting is not the end all utilty people think it is.The master boot record is not wiped in a format.You have to fdisk /mbr to wipe the master boot record.I would try downloading new mouse drivers.You can fdisk /mbr at anytime, it is automatically rebuilt on the next boot.If you do have a virus and just wiped the master boot record and not the hard drive you would just reload the virus.

 

[Guest_imported]

Hi,
Would a virus scanner be worth installing? Will that detect the virus if there is one?

 

[Guest_imported]

Raider 29, I have the same problem and I have pinpointed it to my Network Interface Card. When I have it disconnected from the network (so, no cable attached), I have to disable it to avoid the problem you discribe. If you have a NIC you might want to look into this.

 

[Sshaker]

Your very first step is to d/load an antivirus prog and run it. Even fdisk will not get rid a virus if your floppy is infected. A virus will jump from floppy to HDD or visa versa and also if you only reset and not cold boot, the virus will stay active in memory to reinfect as soon as you start reloading your O/S.

 

[hotfusion]

You can get this effect if your power saving features are set to turn off the hard drive after 'X' minutes. When a read is requested, the system has to wait for a couple of seconds for the drive to get up to speed, and will lock up for the duration. Winamp etc keep the drive active and so the problem won't occur. Check you have 'turn off hard disks' set to never.(right-click desktop/screensaver/energy saving features settings. Andy.

 

[Guest_imported]

ok, yes i have a nic and i did try unpluging the cord and same thing happens. the "turn off hard disks" feature is at never. i just can't figure this out. i formatted the boot sectors, i ran a virus scan and no virus was detected. its not a windows problem because it does the same thing with windows me and 2000, when i run linux that o/s totally freezes up. i've tried different ram also. can anyone figure the problem???

 

[chpicker]

If it ONLY happens when you move the mouse, I would suspect an IRQ conflict, myself. One question: Using WinAmp as your example, when the computer locks up, does WinAmp continue playing normally? In other words, does the sound start skipping until the computer "unlocks" itself? Or does it keep going just fine while the computer is locked?

As a basic start I would check your Device Manager for IRQ usage. Bring up Properties for Computer and see how many items are listed on the same IRQ number as your mouse. Do you have a Serial or PS/2 mouse? What IRQ number is it on? And how many items are listed on that IRQ in the Device Manager?

 

[teknoguy]

i would reinstall your OS. usually this fixes up pesky problems like you are receiving.

boot to dos with your windows boot disk and type setup at your cdrom prompt.

 

[Guest_imported]

i have clean installed different o/s's and the same thing keeps happening :/ and when winamp plays and the pausing occurs the music does stop also ( the whole computer locks up ) for about a second or two then everything resumes as normal.

 

[euclid]

just a thought, it might be a hardware problem. you might have a bad mouse port or a bad mouse.
try running a good hardware diagnostic utility.

 

[Guest_imported]

Good news!! I tried what shovel204 said to try, the 'fdisk /mbr' then formatted the drive again and installed windows 2000 and the problem isn't here anymore! I guess it must've been a virus after all? I had used fdisk in the past but not with /mbr .. anyhow, I'd like to thank you all for your time and for helping me.
cheers