Mrs. Muddled Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 Hi! My cursor is disappearing from the screen while I'm in the middle of a task. The computer freezes up completely. I have to shut down the power bar to get a re-start. The button on the tower is also frozen. Tonight I found the cursor up at the top right corner of the screen. Dysfunctional. Usually I can't see it. The mouse is not a ball type ... and I'm not getting any other kind of skipping etc. What do you think is causing this? Quote
stevevan Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 Just want to confirm...when you say the computer "freezes up completely", that means you cannot perform any ctrl-x or alt-x key combo, correct? Quote
Samrc Posted February 20, 2006 Posted February 20, 2006 I have had many similar situations, caused by three different things! 1) Keyboard got a staple in it. Was making partial contact and was locking up functions. Mouse would stay in one spot or get lost. Apparently the staple was near the arrow keys sending the cursor to neverland. Resolution: Shook out the keyboard (found the staple) then vacuumed it well. Rebooted machine. Worked fine. 2) Replaced mouse on one machine to resolve, replaced batteries and reset mouse to resolve on a different machine. 3) Power. My monitor would lock, mouse would stop moving all functions would freeze. Sometimes it would release, sometimes my monitor would suck into the center like a black hole going totally black then coming back, but usually just had to reboot to get things back. Resolution: We had added more equipment to the office and too much was plugged into the same circuit. Not enough juice to handle it all. Moved one computer system onto another circuit and no longer freezing! Quote
Mrs. Muddled Posted February 22, 2006 Author Posted February 22, 2006 Just want to confirm...when you say the computer "freezes up completely", that means you cannot perform any ctrl-x or alt-x key combo, correct?I have only tried Control, Alt, Delete ... and Esc. No luck. I've had to go as far as shutting off the power bar to get it going again. I use XP. I have 512 mem ... so I'm doubting its a memory problem. Lately I am getting regular "We're sorry" pop ups from Microsoft saying they had to shut me down. I usually click on the send report option. I can pretty much count on "something" interering with my work each time I use the computer now. I'm not sure what "batteries" are being referred to above. I have a plug in mouse. I don't have any viruses or spyware. Quote
Mrs. Muddled Posted February 22, 2006 Author Posted February 22, 2006 I have had many similar situations, caused by three different things! 1) Keyboard got a staple in it. Was making partial contact and was locking up functions. Mouse would stay in one spot or get lost. Apparently the staple was near the arrow keys sending the cursor to neverland. Resolution: Shook out the keyboard (found the staple) then vacuumed it well. Rebooted machine. Worked fine. 2) Replaced mouse on one machine to resolve, replaced batteries and reset mouse to resolve on a different machine. 3) Power. My monitor would lock, mouse would stop moving all functions would freeze. Sometimes it would release, sometimes my monitor would suck into the center like a black hole going totally black then coming back, but usually just had to reboot to get things back. Resolution: We had added more equipment to the office and too much was plugged into the same circuit. Not enough juice to handle it all. Moved one computer system onto another circuit and no longer freezing! I'm wondering about your #3 option. I have all the computer stuff, a desk lamp and a TV in one power bar. The TV is usually off. Somehow I doubt it's that. Quote
Mrs. Muddled Posted February 23, 2006 Author Posted February 23, 2006 Just want to confirm...when you say the computer "freezes up completely", that means you cannot perform any ctrl-x or alt-x key combo, correct?Steve, I tried the ctrl x and alt x ... just now. I just lost my cursor while I was on a website. Typical. Seems to happen when I am on a website ... not when I'm just writing emails. This time I could see the curser sitting over on the left of the screen. I had to turn off the computer and restart. Do you think it could be anything to do with things that are going on in the background like Google desktop or my security company? I'm still not sure what batteries were being referred to. Quote
Mrs. Muddled Posted February 23, 2006 Author Posted February 23, 2006 Batteries Pretend you are talking to your Mother. Quote
TCH-Don Posted February 23, 2006 Posted February 23, 2006 As you are using a corded mouse, then batteries are not it. Have you tried both a different keyboard and mouse? Quote
Mrs. Muddled Posted February 23, 2006 Author Posted February 23, 2006 ... as in BUY a new keyboard and mouse? No! I was hoping it was a more benign problem than that. Quote
TCH-Andy Posted February 23, 2006 Posted February 23, 2006 try borrowing one for 30 mins from next door to test ..... Quote
Samrc Posted February 24, 2006 Posted February 24, 2006 Yup.....borrow a neighbor's keyboard/mouse for a few minutes. Pays to have friendly relationships. (Most cordless mouse and keyboards require batteries. They wear out and make the cursor do wacky things. But my current mouse at home is cordless, and uses no batteries! I love it! It uses optical sensors, and glides on a magnetic pad! Very lightweight and responsive! Very cool looking too....lights up red internally) Quote
Mrs. Muddled Posted February 24, 2006 Author Posted February 24, 2006 Okay, okay, I'll start digging around and see if I can find that old mouse. I really love my new "I Love Golf" mouse with the golf ball floating around in it! By the way ... point of interest ... today I slid the bar on the temp cache over to the right ... hoping it would help "the problem." So far today I've not had a freeze up. I had the slider set at 1 MB. Someone told me I needed to move it further to the right. What are your thoughts on the amount of disk space to use on the Temporary Internet Files Folder Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted February 24, 2006 Posted February 24, 2006 What are your thoughts on the amount of disk space to use on the Temporary Internet Files Folder For what it's worth, mine is set to 2MB and I clear it once a week before a defrag. Quote
TCH-JimE Posted February 25, 2006 Posted February 25, 2006 (edited) Hello, I am much the same as TCH-Bruce. 1) Do you have XP Service Pack 2 on your computer (Desktop>My computer (right click), properties, on the first tab) and when was the last time windows was re-installed. If never, how long was that? 2) When was the last time you did hard disk de-frag? 3) Does this happen on any particular page, or pages? If so, can you post a URL? And last but not least, go through the programs in the add/remove software in control panel and have a good clear out of bits and pieces that you no longer use Jimuni Edited February 25, 2006 by Jimuni Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.