Five-year 'freeze' revisited

[martin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

For the past 5 years - ever since I got my laptop - it has been plagued with
the occasional 'freeze'. Symptoms and details are:

1. Occurs only whilst typing. Laptop appears to lock up but hard
drive activity continues as normal. If for example, PCMCIA card is
removed after it has 'frozen', the relevant dialogue box pops up. But no
keyboard key (or trackpad mouse input) has any effect. It is as if the
keyboard has been disconnected.

2. I have been through several fresh installations of Windows over the
years to no avail.

3. It's a long time ago but I am fairly sure that I connected an external
keyboard and I am reasonably sure that did not cure the problem either.
Also if memory serves me correct, I have had it 'freeze' in Safe Mode.

4. There seems to be no pattern to when it will 'freeze' or how many
keystrokes before it happens. Sometimes it will go for days without a
problem and at other times it happens a couple of times in a day. The
laptop will play dvds and run other programs (no games ever installed)
without problem.

5. Latest drivers installed etc. etc. Been through clean-boot
troubleshooting.

6. It does not seem temperature dependent. It can happen not long
after switching on on a cold day; equally, the laptop can behave perfectly
for hours on the hottest summer day.


I have lived with this and expect to continue to have to do so., but if
anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd be very grateful.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

It sounds like defective hardware to me. You say the problem occurs
randomly, and only hardware can fail randomly. If the problem were
caused by software, you could reproduce it by repeating your actions.
You say you have completely reinstalled Windows on a clean harddisk,
so the problem is not caused by the operating system.

Bill Starbuck (MVP)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Could be a few things. Most obvious is the onboard keyboard conroller chip
that's on the motherboard. Resource conflict is doubtful as software
writers veer away from using these commonly used resources. Same with other
hardware.
"Martin" <vdp3r@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23sK3xhkdFHA.612@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> For the past 5 years - ever since I got my laptop - it has been plagued
with
> the occasional 'freeze'. Symptoms and details are:
>
> 1. Occurs only whilst typing. Laptop appears to lock up but hard
> drive activity continues as normal. If for example, PCMCIA card is
> removed after it has 'frozen', the relevant dialogue box pops up. But
no
> keyboard key (or trackpad mouse input) has any effect. It is as if the
> keyboard has been disconnected.
>
> 2. I have been through several fresh installations of Windows over the
> years to no avail.
>
> 3. It's a long time ago but I am fairly sure that I connected an
external
> keyboard and I am reasonably sure that did not cure the problem either.
> Also if memory serves me correct, I have had it 'freeze' in Safe Mode.
>
> 4. There seems to be no pattern to when it will 'freeze' or how many
> keystrokes before it happens. Sometimes it will go for days without a
> problem and at other times it happens a couple of times in a day.
The
> laptop will play dvds and run other programs (no games ever installed)
> without problem.
>
> 5. Latest drivers installed etc. etc. Been through clean-boot
> troubleshooting.
>
> 6. It does not seem temperature dependent. It can happen not long
> after switching on on a cold day; equally, the laptop can behave perfectly
> for hours on the hottest summer day.
>
>
> I have lived with this and expect to continue to have to do so., but if
> anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd be very grateful.
>
>

 

[martin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Thanks, Bill. That's what I figured but you always live in hope that
you've overlooked the obvious.



"Bill Starbuck" <no_email@please.com> wrote in message
news:b2qfb1hjscm06ilrhhbsa5mkfi00l5idpo@4ax.com...
> It sounds like defective hardware to me. You say the problem occurs
> randomly, and only hardware can fail randomly. If the problem were
> caused by software, you could reproduce it by repeating your actions.
> You say you have completely reinstalled Windows on a clean harddisk,
> so the problem is not caused by the operating system.
>
> Bill Starbuck (MVP)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Lil' Dave wrote:
> Could be a few things. Most obvious is the onboard keyboard conroller chip
> that's on the motherboard. Resource conflict is doubtful as software
> writers veer away from using these commonly used resources. Same with other
> hardware.

Also, checking if a key is stuck or anything like that helps. A stuck
pair of keys could override any input from an external keyboard and not
type out anything on the screen.

My experience with laptops is that the keyboard is usually fairly crude
(basically 2 sheets of PVC integrated circut with a sheet of pierced
'paper' inbetween) and anything including too much preasure on a key at
a time can cause them mechanical problems beyond repair. Theoretically
such a keyboard could be replaced by pulling the plastic from it's
socket and replacing, but I never heard a case when anybody would do that.

--
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Primary function: Coprocessor
Secondary function: Cluster commander

Yes I'm a therian:
http://www.wikitherian.org

Powered by Deamons(TM).

....to live your life fast
and powerfull; and then
live your life just to keep
the Deamons at bay.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Just to toss in my two cents--true "freezing", as opposed to some
application "Not Responding", is *most* often caused by video problems.
Heat, laptops, video... Need I say more? (Though it does sound like the
keyboard controller in your particular case.)

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Martin" <vdp3r@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23sK3xhkdFHA.612@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> For the past 5 years - ever since I got my laptop - it has been
> plagued with
> the occasional 'freeze'. Symptoms and details are:
>
> 1. Occurs only whilst typing. Laptop appears to lock up but
> hard
> drive activity continues as normal. If for example, PCMCIA card is
> removed after it has 'frozen', the relevant dialogue box pops up.
> But no
> keyboard key (or trackpad mouse input) has any effect. It is as if
> the
> keyboard has been disconnected.
>
> 2. I have been through several fresh installations of Windows over
> the
> years to no avail.
>
> 3. It's a long time ago but I am fairly sure that I connected an
> external
> keyboard and I am reasonably sure that did not cure the problem
> either.
> Also if memory serves me correct, I have had it 'freeze' in Safe Mode.
>
> 4. There seems to be no pattern to when it will 'freeze' or how many
> keystrokes before it happens. Sometimes it will go for days without
> a
> problem and at other times it happens a couple of times in a day.
> The
> laptop will play dvds and run other programs (no games ever installed)
> without problem.
>
> 5. Latest drivers installed etc. etc. Been through clean-boot
> troubleshooting.
>
> 6. It does not seem temperature dependent. It can happen not
> long
> after switching on on a cold day; equally, the laptop can behave
> perfectly
> for hours on the hottest summer day.
>
>
> I have lived with this and expect to continue to have to do so., but
> if
> anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd be very grateful.
>
>

 

[martin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Thank you Gary, and thanks too for all your inputs over the past 5 years
when I have intemittently tried to get to the root of this snag. (For
the past few days it's been fine - it'll probably go for a few weeks and
then start playing up again. Mind, with all the soldered joints in the
thing, I imagine that one or 2 must be less than perfect.)

But I take your point about "true freezing" and "not responding": if the
past 5 years of experiencing this fault have taught me only one thing, it's
to be quite circumspect before using phrases such as crashing, freezing,
locking up etc.

Martin




"Gary S. Terhune" <grystnews@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:OXqETjIeFHA.4016@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Just to toss in my two cents--true "freezing", as opposed to some
> application "Not Responding", is *most* often caused by video problems.
> Heat, laptops, video... Need I say more? (Though it does sound like the
> keyboard controller in your particular case.)
>
> --
> Gary S. Terhune
> MS MVP Shell/User
> http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
> http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm
>
> "Martin" <vdp3r@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23sK3xhkdFHA.612@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > For the past 5 years - ever since I got my laptop - it has been
> > plagued with
> > the occasional 'freeze'. Symptoms and details are:
> >
> > 1. Occurs only whilst typing. Laptop appears to lock up but
> > hard
> > drive activity continues as normal. If for example, PCMCIA card is
> > removed after it has 'frozen', the relevant dialogue box pops up.
> > But no
> > keyboard key (or trackpad mouse input) has any effect. It is as if
> > the
> > keyboard has been disconnected.
> >
> > 2. I have been through several fresh installations of Windows over
> > the
> > years to no avail.
> >
> > 3. It's a long time ago but I am fairly sure that I connected an
> > external
> > keyboard and I am reasonably sure that did not cure the problem
> > either.
> > Also if memory serves me correct, I have had it 'freeze' in Safe Mode.
> >
> > 4. There seems to be no pattern to when it will 'freeze' or how many
> > keystrokes before it happens. Sometimes it will go for days without
> > a
> > problem and at other times it happens a couple of times in a day.
> > The
> > laptop will play dvds and run other programs (no games ever installed)
> > without problem.
> >
> > 5. Latest drivers installed etc. etc. Been through clean-boot
> > troubleshooting.
> >
> > 6. It does not seem temperature dependent. It can happen not
> > long
> > after switching on on a cold day; equally, the laptop can behave
> > perfectly
> > for hours on the hottest summer day.
> >
> >
> > I have lived with this and expect to continue to have to do so., but
> > if
> > anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd be very grateful.
> >
> >
>