Win98se input device problems

Lemming

Hey guys,

on day 2 of megalan, I started to get momentary freezing of keyboard/mouse inputs on my machine, followed eventually by a total lock-out, yet other processes (like winamp) would continue to run just fine. This has continued to this day.

The time-frame in which this happens appears to be completely random. I'm running win98se.

Has anyone ever encountered anything like this?

mike65

This is just a "maybe" solution but....
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/t1042735472

THis is a "quake" related problem but it sounds similair.
http://www.planetquake.com/features/techtips/techmail000722_a.shtml

Mike.

Lemming

in relation to the above links:

oddly enough, games work just fine and seem to be the exception. If I fire up a game it staves off this f*cking lock-out of my mouse and keyboard.

Similarly, no problems occur until I get past the log-in screen for win98se

Next time I bring a machine to a LAN, I'm making a full image of it and then just scrubbing the bitch when I get home and reimaging it.

This is doing my f*cking nut in. Every few minutes (unless playing games) I'm having to reboot.


[edit]
Ok .. I've narrowed the issue down to the mouse. If I move/use the mouse, it runs teh possibility of locking itself and my keyboard out.

This only happens AFTER I "log in" to win98se. Whether I am running a game or not does not matter.
[/edit]

Cake Fiend

Did you install any ps/2 port poll rate manipulation software (e.g. ps2rate)? Or did you change the poll rate in your mouse's control applet (e.g. logitech drivers)? I've seen all sorts of crazy **** happen because of changing the default poll rate, especially in 98, so try changing the rate back to normal and see if that solves it (or try changing to a different rate to see if anything changes).

Lemming

Well, that's just the thing. I didn't change anything bar my network settings, which I changed back after megaLAN finished.

I'll give the polling a go though. Symptoms of impending lock-out are that the mouse may start to freeze and then unlock at irregular intervals, and then eventually it'll go. Of course, sometimes tyhere are no symptoms and it just freezes.

The problem also seems to vary from freezing out just input devices, to locking up the entire O/S. It's not consistent at all.

Lemming

Update:

replaced my Intelli-Mouse with a spare I had. All appears to be working nicely now.