Wierd OS glitch with the keyboard and mouse

Greyslayer · #1 09-25-2004, 05:33 AM

Ok this has been going on for a long time now with XP Pro, XP Pro SP1, and now XP Pro SP2 and I have tried everything I know to fix it without success.

First, my PC Speaker started beeping. I stopped that in device manager but there was of course the underlying problem.

This happened when I would play computer games. Beeping. But some games in particular revealed a more significant problem. IE playing Half-Life. In the game I would suddenly only be able to move very slowly. Waiting would sometimes allow me to move normally again. Sometimes it wouldn't stop until I rebooted. The rebooting by exiting the game made me realize it wasn't confined to the game. It just starts there. But one last point with the game. In Half-Life MUCH later, I realized if I pressed the shift keys multiple times it would allow me to move again. I assumed imediately that this was windows lovely Accessibility options for the handicapped. It's not exactly intuitive turning all that crap off, but I'm fairly certain it is. But that isn't the issue anymore.

When I leave Half-Life and am back to the Desktop I have a major glitch with my mouse and keyboard. If I open a text file for instance all text is in CAPS. Even though caplock is off. I turn caplock on and it is then in lowecase. Then if I click an icon with my mouse it highlights multiple icons? Also some programs internal icons are just closed for some reason. This too resolves itself if I wait. I've found no way short of rebooting to fix it quickly.

Recently I was playing Deus Ex 2. There is a "Use" function in the game. I bound this ability to a key. Which key? The SHIFT key. I use the arrow keys to move and all that. Interestingly I have another problem with THAT KEY. In Deus Ex Invisible War the use key allows you to do many things. Picking up items is one. Suddenly I just can't pick anything up anymore. Entering the inventory and leaving allows me to press the USE key successfully once then is stuck again. If I close the game back to windows? Same problem before. Mouse clicks highlight multiple icons, stuck in caps, wierd behavior with other applications and it always resovles itself within a couple of minutes time.

I know you'll wonder about viruses, but I have Norton 2004 update and have scanned for viruses. Nothing. I ran Housecall, that free webpage based scanner. Nothing. I use Spybot Search & Destroy and also tried Ad Aware. Doesn't seem to be a problem. Does ANYONE have any ideas? I have none anymore. Thanks.

LooseChippings · #2 09-25-2004, 06:52 AM

What did you do in Device Manager to fix the PC speaker beeping?

This sounds very much like a hardware problem but we have nothing to work on.

What is you full hardware spec?

Greyslayer · #3 09-27-2004, 02:15 PM

I went into device manager, View menu - Show Hidden Devices - expanded the non plug and play driver node - Disabled the "Beep" driver.

The beeping was driving me nuts.

Hardware? I should have mentioned this before, this has happened on two different machines. I built 2 computers and only used the ram from the last machine which I have tested with a bootup software memory testing utility. Anyway, my new system is:

AMD Mobile 2600 CPU, no overclocking thus far
768MB of pc2700 Corsair memory
Radeon 9800 Pro
ABIT NF7 motherboard
Sound Blaster Live 5.1
Seagate 80GB 7200 HDD, Seagate 200GB 7200 HDD
Pioneer DVD-RW
typical peripherals like MS Blue Mouse.
Dlink Router

I have the latest Nforce drivers, all patches from MS for XP Pro, including SP2, latest drivers for everything. Video card, SB Live drivers that came with it.. that is the most current apparently. The only thing I have yet to update is the BIOS.

My old system was update similarly, but it had the same ram and:

AMD Athlon XP 1900
KX7-333R Abit motherboard
Geforce 4 ti4200
the same 80g hard drive
Another SBLive that is now dead

Any ideas?

bbeard67 · #4 09-27-2004, 02:37 PM

My guess is your shift key is getting stuck down from all that gaming (Calm down it's just a game) this would also account for beeping at startup
Any possibility you spilled something on the keyboard
If your shift key were stuck down it would also explain lower case when caps is on and upper case when not

Whisper · #5 09-29-2004, 04:53 PM

Could it possibly have something to do with the StickyKeys under windows xp accessibility options?

just a thought.

Greyslayer · #6 09-30-2004, 08:39 AM

"My guess is your shift key is getting stuck down from all that gaming (Calm down it's just a game) this would also account for beeping at startup"

Seems unlikely but I can't rule out the "Stuck" defective keyboard possibility. But it's not just a game. Its several games. And it isn't isolated to the game like I said. It's drastically affecting Windows XP itself for short periods, rendering the machine useless. Having spent quite the bit of cash on a decent video card at the time, slightly faster CPU, hard drive space for game installs, etc. It's not so surprising to be alittle frustrated. Not like I'm screaming in a rage or anything. I'm glad we share the same priorities. Newsflash, some people couldn't care less about the things you like. Where does that come from? "It's just a game..." wow. I'm blown.

Lastly, the beeping wasn't at startup. It was random in games, in non-game applications, etc. Periodic. So I disabled the OS beeping permanently.

Whisper - Here is a thought. Try reading what I said first? I disabled all of the sticky key functions in Accessibility a long time ago. If by saying "Accessibility options for the handicapped" goes beyond the scope of your Windows XP comprehension, evidently you shouldn't even be trying to answer PC technical problems.

I should have known I'd get the condescending automatic "You need to defrag" type of response. That and the lame assumptions paired with an accusation that I'm out of control and need to calm down? LOL, what a bunch of gurus. Thanks anyway.

Whisper · #7 09-30-2004, 11:42 AM

You're so very welcome.

bbeard67 · #8 09-30-2004, 01:46 PM

Obviously you have no sense of humor
But i understand your frustration
Just pick up a cheap keyboard or borrow one and give it a try
If it's getting you angry enough to take it out on someone trying to help you maybe you should take it in to a computer repair store.
I's not worth the frustration