A neighbour has a spare computer with nothing but their tax stuff on it. Suddenly the mouse works while bootup happens, but upon getting to the desktop after all's set, both the mouse & keyboard are unuseable.
They use Win98se. 1000 meg system. I tried a USB keyboard, and a different mouse- same thing.
Any ideas before they toss it out! (I removed the hard drive & copied their tax files off it ok).
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
I've got Win98se discs if you want to reformat. Worth a try.
We are probably going up to Cabarlah Markets tomorrow and could extend the Sunday afternoon drive up to your place.
Call me
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Jon, I have the same setup discs too, thanks, I was hoping for a tech explanation from someone who'd suffered the same oddity and knew the specific easy-fix!
We won't be home much tomorrow- kids want to go to pony club, and I have a meeting (well, 2) to attend- sorry otherwise you're most welcome! The next weekend is as bad too!
I won't call you, it's nearly 9.30 pm here!
Posted by Jill Marie Welsh (Member # 1912) on :
Check your connections Ian. They might just not be plugged in the right way. Maybe look for a used mouse & keyboard at a thrift store too. I'm running Win98SE and was able to replace my keyboard & mouse just last year. Love....Jill
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
thanks Jill- but we have 10+ spares here- plugs & connections aren't the issue- both items work normally until bootup is finished, then the entire system freezes, and even the three-finger-salute (ctrl-alt-del) won't unfreeze it, there's no response at all.
I suppose I ought to try <safe mode> and see if that makes any difference.
Posted by Arthur Vanson (Member # 2855) on :
Ian, if the whole system freezes could it be that the mouse and keyboard not working are just symptoms of the total system freeze? You could try hitting F8 before windows starts to load, and ask to confirm before loading each driver. Just keep hitting Yes (Y) until the system stops then look to your last query and see which driver failed to load. If it goes all the way into Windows and then freezes, try disabling anything that starts from the Start Menu and see if that gets you going. If so re-instate one at a time till you find the guilty party. A mate gave me this tip for XP, it might hold true for earlier versions, providing it starts in safe mode:
Run MS Config: "Start Button, Run.
Then type "msconfig" in the txt box, then click OK.
When it starts up, go to the startup tab and click "Disable All" to start with, also goto the services tab.
Here tick the "Hide All Microsoft Services" tick box at the bottom.
Then click "Disable All" button, then OK to exit Msconfig.
Now reboot the PC and see if the problem has gone, if so you will now have to start going through msconfig and re-ticking the boxes. I would suggest first going to the services tab and re-ticking all of the un-ticked boxes and trying it first.
Then if it still boots OK run msconfig and move onto the Startup tab and start to go through re-ticking the boxes one at a time, then try it after each tick box (a slow process).
[ January 28, 2006, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: Arthur Vanson ]
Posted by Bill Cosharek (Member # 1274) on :
Sounds like some kind of memory conflict. Since going to Windows won't work, do the F8 routine & choose 'Command Prompt Only'. First thing, try running Scandisk. That might find something unusual. Run any diagnostics you can from the DOS prompt. You may also want to check in the BIOS & see if usb devices are enabled (if that option exists).
Did they do any recent 'upgrades' which may've contributed to the problem? These sometimes will cause major problems with older OS's. Some will re-arrange your working file system & there's no work-around for it.
If they had a backup of a recently working system, that could be installed & maybe over-ride these 'new' settings. Are you familiar with the ERU (Emergency Recovery Utility)? This was a program made for w95, but also works in w98. It backs up the important files necessary including registry stuff. It most likely would be found in C:\Program Files. A very useful tool if backups are done regularly (before upgrades & installs). Probably no help here, but keep in mind for future use.
Too bad you can't get to Device Manager. That would find conflicts, I would think. I'd 1st, do the Scandisk; with Surface Testing enabled. It might just be some cross-up crap causing this mess. (wishful thinking) If it was a bad video card or bad ram mem, well - it might be; but it seems more like it's software-related.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
HI, thanks for the feedback. I haven't got back to it yet, but something interesting: I briefly did get into win98 for one period, and went to device manager, and there was no monitor, no display driver and no hard drive driver shown, and in My Computer, there was an A drive and a cd drive but no hard drive shown...though you could run a program via Start>programs>M$ Excel etc.
USB access was normal, and a USB keyboard worked, then after a shut down & reboot, it was back to old tricks of seizure.
That all happened before I did the original post, I'm just putting it here for interest . I'll go back & have another go shortly.
Posted by Paul McDowell (Member # 5092) on :
If possible check the settings and voltage meters in BIOS. If those look correct and no changes have been made to the hardware it is probably a motherboard failure.
Posted by Scott Baker (Member # 12) on :
Nailed it on the head Paul
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Thanks, Scott and Paul, as a voluntary fixit job for a neighbour, my voluntary time doesn't exist today, nor was it on the timetable yesterday, though it refused to even do the POST when I tried quickly the day before that. I'll do a voltage check.
