Can you help me?

For the last month or so, and at random times my mouse and keyboard freeze. Both together and there never seems to be a pattern as to why or when it happens, other than its always when i am doing stuff on there and in the evening.

It so far has never happened in the morning and never when i have the pc is just downloading or burning when i'm not actually using it myself (ie in another room doing other stuff).

When it happens, i have to reboot. The pc carries on running, but i cant do anything. When i reboot, everything is fine again.

I searched google and some people said drivers might need updating and maybe to clean the fan. Well i hoovered out the fan and it turned out i didnt have the software for my cordless mouse, so i installed it and all seemed fine but after about 2 days both started freezing again.

They connect with PS/2 connectors. The kb is about maybe 5 years old and came with another computer before the one i have now. The mouse is only about a year old.

A virus check i did a while ago came up with a trojan. Got rid of that and still have problems.

More recently, they've been going slow for a few seconds and then freezing. In the last few days, its happened when i have alot of programs running, for example - i was burning a cd and then started up Media Player. As the song started to play, the mouse slowed down and then froze.

I have -

AMD Althlon
1.83 GHz
1GB RAM
XP Home Version 2.
Service Pack 2
KB - Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2
Mouse - Trust AMI 2505 cordless PS/2

I went to PC World today looking to get PS/2 to USB adapters incase its the PS/2 things that are at fault. Apparently you cant get them. Only USB to PS/2. The first guy i spoke to there said i should just get new USB KB and mouse. I wasnt sure about this, so i went to the guy at the help desk and he said i should do a restore. Otherwise i might have a hardware problem.

Great.

Then i spoke to someone at work. He said to try getting a new kb and mouse as whatever the fault is, it might not affect them as they'll be connected in a different way.

Any ideas?

Have you tried uninstalling the keyboard and mouse?

If you have Windows XP, both should be re-installed after reboot.

Thanks for your suggestion zoro

The keyboard, as far as i remember, didnt come with any software and i've searched for drivers for it and cant find any. I did however manage to update them for the mouse. But later both froze again.

I restored to two months ago but that didnt help.

This is really pissing me off now It never happens in the mornings. Always at night. Its like it doesnt happen after the pc's been off for several hours. But in the evenings, it'll happen once. I reboot, then it'll happen again sooner and sooner til i can barely start up.

My dad suggests the hard drive has gone. Someone else says the motherboard or the way the ps/2 connectors connect to it (or something like that ) Another person says i should get a new kb and mouse with usb connectors.

I'm gonna try swapping the kb and mouse with someone to see if they make a difference, then i'll know to buy new ones.

Its really upsetting me cos i have so much stuff on here. I use it for so many different things and i have little money to spend on getting whatever it is fixed

(All below are left-clicks unless stated otherwise)

Go to Control Panel

Within Control panel, click System

Then click Hardware

Click Device Manager

Click the cross next to Keyboards

When your keyboard shows up under Keyboards, right-click on your keyboard and then left-click Properties on the list that appears

Click Driver

Click Uninstall

Click OK

If it asks whether you wish to uninstall the driver, click yes or ok (I forget which one comes up)

Then reboot

If you have Windows XP, it will install your keyboard on restart

Follow the same procedure for your Mouse

The above procedure will either work or, if it doesn't work, it will rule out a software/driver problem (e.g., corrupted software/driver) and will indicate that the problem is with the hardware (mouse and/or keyboard).

Thanks. Just done that. Now time will tell if its worked or not. All ok so far but the pc has been off all night so i probably wont be able to test it til i get back from work tonight

ooh forgot to say - When i uninstalled the drivers for the mouse and restarted, the pc failed to boot back up again. Just a black screen. When i rebooted with the button on the hard drive (to make it start up again) though it worked

Is that a sign of anything?

Ok forget that question. Two minutes later, both froze again. Guess that cancels out the drivers.

I'm bringing home someones mouse to see how that works. Do you think it'll make a difference?

i think it will but im not a major pc-er. if it works get a new mouse try microsoft's mice they are cool and hardly ever fail

Does it make a difference what you're doing when it happens?

No, it happens at any time at all. Most of the time it was when i had alot of programs running, like nero, media player, msn etc.. but more recently they also freeze when i have nothing on at all.

Aaaaaaaaanyway. Last night i borrowed my dads usb wireless mouse. I was on the pc last night doing everything i would normally do to see if it froze and it didnt. I seem to have sorted the problem. Either a dodgey mouse or ps/2 port? OR maybe i still have a hardware fault but its not manifesting itself through the mouse?

Well i went and got my own new usb mouse yesterday. Got it home, turned on the pc and hadnt even plugged in the new mouse, when the bloody kb froze.

The pc shop said its probably blown components on the mother board that connect to the PS/2 ports.

I bought a usb kb today so all should be fine from now on

Fingers crossed

hope it is for you, i will cross my fingers

Thanks

It always make me really nervous.. the prospect of taking my pc to be repaired. I dont have anything dodgey on it but i store loads of stuff on it, photos of myself and other people, letters, personal videos etc and i doubt that a repair man would have time to trawl through looking at my stuff but just knowing that they could if they wanted to makes me nervous. Does anyone else get like that?

Gary glitter does.

For me, i have a load of pirate software. Apart from that, nowt much.