Computer freezes up but mouse still moves

[Leonel]

I've been having a problem with my computer lately. One day last week it froze but the mouse would still move around. So I did a complete system wipe seeing as I've been wanting to do it for a while now and installed a fresh install of XP. However the problem persists and it froze up again.

I talked to the admin at work and she suggested it was a video driver issue, which kind of makes sense since it happened after I installed the Nvidia drivers. But I don't know how it could still be causing trouble on a new install. I'm thinking it could be an overheating issue but I didn't see any strange changes in temperature in the CPU but it could have something to do with the video card overheating. I'm not entirely sure.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Try uninstalling the drivers (or at least disabling them) and see if you got the same problem. It's in Device Manager.

When I have video driver issues, usually my screen gets stuck on funky colors, or goes blank. But I have an ATI Radeon Xpress which is integrated.

Also, any strange noises? I've heard about HDDs doing something like that before they died. Or was it just freezing.... ah, I dunno.

 

[Leonel]

No strange noises. I'm going to try dusting my computer today and see what happens. It could be an overheating issue perhaps as it just happened out of nowhere and I hadn't installed any new drivers days before.

 

[GoodGame]

It doesn't compute to me that the keyboard would freeze but you could still see the mouse icon moving around. That'd suggest something was wrong with the mapping of the keyboard, the XP usb driver/proprietary driver for the keyboard (if it was some special gaming keyboard, etc...), or just simply that the keyboard was unplugged .

Overheating/Bad video card would cause a BSOD or the screen to distort, rather than disable the keyboard while letting the mouse function.

 

[Leonel]

The mouse still moves but the system itself will freeze up so I can't use the mouse to close things etc.

 

[GenMarshall]

Can you Control+Alt+Esc (It brings up the task manager so you dont have to invoke the login screen if you or your employeer have set it up that way)?

I'm thinking it could be an overheating issue but I didn't see any strange changes in temperature in the CPU but it could have something to do with the video card overheating. I'm not entirely sure.

If it was a video card overheating issues, you'd see artifacts right on the BIOS boot, artifacts everywhere.

 

[GoodGame]

I talked to the admin at work and she suggested it was a video driver issue, which kind of makes sense since it happened after I installed the Nvidia drivers. But I don't know how it could still be causing trouble on a new install.

If this were the case, did you do a uninstall of the old driver before adding the new driver? Sometimes there's a problem with the new driver overwriting and results in a bad copy of the new driver.


Anyways, assuming you do rule out keyboard issues and CTRL+ALT+DELETE doesn't load up the Windows Task Manger, this thread seems like good advice:

In order
It could be heat. If it is, you should be able to correlate lock-ups with heating time.

For example: See how long it takes to lock up when starting cold, after sitting unplugged completely for at least an hour and with the case open. See how long it takes to lock up when starting warm.


It could be a bad power supply; however, for practical purposes the watt rating of the power supply isn't relevant.


It could be a bad motherboard, in particular bad caps.

For bad caps, and for some/most power supply problems, the lock ups will be really and truly random


It could be bad video, or anything else too..

http://ask.metafilter.com/44307/PC-freezes-bad-video-card

 

[Leonel]

Well I did a completely fresh install of XP. Wiped and remade the partition, installed and started to install new drivers. The newest Nvidia beta driver is out though.

But the mouse and keyboard suggested made me think a bit. Could issues arrive if two sets of mouse/keyboard are plugged into the same machine? I've had that set up for a while to transition between the computer chair and my recliner. Perhaps a conflict of keyboard and mouse drivers?

 

[GoodGame]

IDK. Sounds possible, but hopefully a proprietary mouse driver would be smart enough to not trigger on the wrong device. If you're worried, I think you can disable old drivers in the Device manager. Just check and see if the old device is still listed and select Do not use the device under Device Usage (in properties in the Device manager) .

 

[lndm]

Never seen a problem with two mouses (I do it all the time on different machines), even one PS/2 and one USB. I can hold one in each hand and move them simultaneously (try sweeping them in opposite circles so that the cursor doesn't move )

Anyway, as goodgame suggested you can asses overheating by behaviour. If it locks up after a certain time (make sure the system is warm before doing comparisons), for example. Will it lock up after doing something processor intensive? On the other hand, if it locks up in connection with you starting some process, it may not be overheating.

As well as checking for and removing dust, reseat your RAM, your video card and your power supply connectors. Give your CPU heatsink a slow and level twist back and forth while applying gentle downward pressure, to ensure the thermal paste is making contact.

Try running the system on default VGA drivers and see if you can force it to lock up.

 

[Leonel]

Reseat the RAM? I've heard that before but I'm unsure what that would entail.

 

[Turner]

You would open the case up, find the ram, and unplug it from the motherboard. Then reinsert it. You might need to be firm in pushing it in, but you shouldn't need a lot of force.

 

[GoodGame]

Video help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiFIgSQOY7g

 

[Leonel]

So I reseated the RAM. I was concerned as to why it wasn't starting up but it turned out I hadn't put it entirely in yet.

So now it started up but this time when it froze, the mouse froze too when I ran the auto update. I'm reformatting and going to reinstall again. Hopefully it won't freeze up this time.

 

[GoodGame]

Sorry to hear that it has gotten worse. Perhaps you have a nasty worm killing your poor drivers?

 

[Leonel]

I don't see how! It was an absolutely fresh install that I only downloaded SP2 on.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Did you touch your BIOS recently?

If so, maybe you could try resetting it. I think there's usually a switch or something, but I don't know if you have to do anything else.

 

[Leonel]

I actually haven't touched my BIOS in a long time.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Does safe mode work? If so, I'd suspect a driver issue.

 

[Leonel]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking. I'm going to try and reinstall certain drivers in a different order and see how that goes. Probably install all the WinXP updates first.