Mysterious Computer Problem

That's a mystery to me, but I can suggest someone who may be able to help you. Elizabeth Boston is a computer tech and writes a help newsletter for people with computer problems. She's also very nice and likes to help people. You might check her out. Ask The Computer Lady - Tips & Troubleshooting For Computer Problems.

Patricia,

Are these wired mice or bluetooth mice?

If wired, have you looked at the cable and/or the mouse port connector? If usb (which I assume it is) have you tried changing which port you connect the mouse to?

If bluetooth, well, I got nuttin'.

Edit: Out of curiosity, do you have any flash drives connected to your computer, possibly for power boost?

I have heard of a similar problem in win xp service pack 3 and vista

not 7. It was 2 services running at the same time conflicting with each other
One was set to turn on auto, one was time delayed.

the time delay one did not always turn on, the reason the prob appeared intermittent.

Its been a long time, so i am fuzzy on the details, i will see if i can find
any documentation for you.

I don't know if this helps, or if its even the same issue, but it might give
you a starting point.

A couple shots in the dark for you.

One thing to consider is the accessibility features. They have caused problems with me before when they were turned on accidentally. Especially troubling were the keyboard and mouse interactions. I forget what happened but it was totally weird like clicking something and something totally unexpected happening (because maybe the accessibility option had "pressed" a key automatically for me or something like that).

What accessibility features does Windows offer?

The other thing would be to look at the advanced settings in Word. There are some things there such as selecting one part of a word selects all the word that may be part of the problem.

If it's a USB mouse you may want to try plugging it into a different USB port.

Hope you can figure it out.

Mark

Kimw,

I used 7 with a builtin touchpad, wired mouse USB, and bluetooth using USB, and haven't gotten these problems on win 7.

BUT HEY, it IS a dell!

Steve

ok will do - and will do -

no non-dell computers - the pain is amplified because it happens when it happens and once you reboot 2 or 3 times and all that you are fine until the next episode.

i wanted to get them by dell connect to actually see what i see when it is happening but i can't communicate with the internet at all when it is locked up - no keyboard no mouse to allow them access (code #).

but i did catch that one guy saying don't make the keyboard and mouse right next to each other (usb ports) so i will try separating them next.

Omigod - that guy reinstalled all that stuff even windows? drivers? no way.

i think it is something to do with timing - don't know how to explain but other symptoms like (I blame Chrome but maybe it isn't) - they have awful caching issues and since i got win 7 it is almost a given that Chrome will say 'can't find that site' - then all i do is hit carriage return and it goes to the site which was always there.

So I am wondering if these are not all symptoms of the same problem - a bad switch or even a chip some place.

Oh HELL.

Hell Computers

LOL pun sounds like Dell Computers

Omigod!

That is incredible! I have heard other horror stories --

but the truth is they have been good to me (I have 3 Dells) - the first one they sent a guy out here to give me a new Mother Board on warranty - lots of support hardware wise -

but I did have the paid software support contract at one time and they were so so bad that I managed to get a refund for the entire contract - not just the instances I had not used yet. (I am sure just to get rid of me, they caved).

I was really combative after one night they left me on hold for an hour - other times they transferred me over and over again and never to the right department - I complained to so many different people that their heads are probably still swimming.

With this one they have been falling over backwards to help me - but their elevators do not go to the top floor - you can get basic stuff only - and there is no more ESCALATION to the 2nd or 3rd level. That is the crux of this matter.

But really maddening when it ties up those thousands of dollars. I would be livid!

Forever.

This seriously is a mysterious problem, I have never heard about such a problem, and also hearing about Dell's after-sale piss for the first time. Though I could not suggest anything that I will help to solve the problem, all I need to say to you is just get fired up or angry while having conversations with the Dell customer support guys and tell them firmly about arranging a refund if they are not able to solve your problem.

I hate to say it, but I doubt the problem is Windows 7. If this computer used to run XP fine, that may actually be your problem. It has to find all the right drivers, etc... They may not even be on a standard distribution. ALSO, even the MOTHERBOARD or cpu might not fully support it. Even MODELS may vary. Is your BIOS up to date?

Steve

Thanks Steve -

The corded mouse and keyboard are both USB - and that is where I suspect the problem lies -- in the USB ports. (or maybe a bad chip somewhere since it frequently hangs long enough to time out and then get 'sorry we can't find that site' - until i click carriage return a 2nd time and go straight to the site.)

The computer was never XP - it came with Win7. The XP's are my other two, older computers - a DT and LT.

I always used a cordless mouse and keyboard - I often had to replace both - But when I got this computer it would not recognize my cordless stuff and as I said wouldn't even read flash drives created on the Win XP PC - when I tried to upload pictures from the USB flash drive, it over-wrote (reformatted- blanked out) them instead of uploading them.

so I am using the corded keyboard and mouse that came with this computer - the one with the problem, the Win7.

What I said about Win XP is that none of these problems ever existed. So many little things are different - I wish I just could have kept my last XP PC as my main (work) computer - However it was running out of hard drive capacity (was almost 3/4 full) - so I panicked and bought a new one.

Again - I have heard many nightmare stories about Dell - I have not really experienced much of it - until now.

Bottom line is so much of this I am QUITE SURE are WINDOWS 7 issues - since there was never a problem with Win XP - both Dell - the bigger and badder machine is the one with the problem and the only one with Win7.

Then again - like i said I really suspect defective USB ports.

so maybe there is more than one problem and they are not even related -

i am just trying to guess at this point like everybody else.

at least i am not stuck on stupid like their support who just keep sending new mice.

Actually I don't have any answer regarding the post but I'm interested in reading the answers. I learned a lot regarding this topic guys! Thanks.

kenmichaels,

You only mentioned a few things there I think might have a chance at helping.

You can always try the MICROSOFT solution! It sounds SOooooo simple! And it IS simpler than a reformat, or the entirety of what kenmichaels is suggesting. THAT is "simply" to reinstall windows, but to a new directory. What is the catch? HOW does it work? Well, most windows software CAN'T be relocated, SO, you would have to reinstall nearly everything. Office, for example, would have to be reinstalled. The reason is because the DLLs and registry entries will be in the wrong places, etc... But those ARE some of the reasons why this might work. It will seem, to the computer, like you did a reformat and reinstall, but your files will all still be there.

This IS what microsoft always eventually suggests in such a case. ****THEY**** don't tell you the catch as I did though.

Steve

Thank you Ken Michaels -

Just a few comments.

I didn't change hardware or software - I bought a new computer that has the later versions of everything - than my other 2 computers. I have not added anything at all.

Dell has run every test with dellconnect - there are absolutely no hardware or software issues indicated on my computer anywhere. There are no drivers for mouse or keyboard and all other drivers are up-to-date. Microsoft updates are automatic.

I get what you are saying about support - I note that my manufacturers warranty is about to expire and they have spent so much time with me on the phone, live chat, dell connect, etc. The manager even calling me back days later to find out how it is going.

... but the 'irony' is once I agreed to extend my warranty for 2 years, now the manager never even called me back after I spent about 20 minutes trying to get someone to help me on that useless call.

The fact that it is sporadic and with some effort you can get it to stop (reboots, etc) makes me complacent on the good days - It is also impossible to show anyone what is happening when it is happening - because I can't use the keyboard or mouse when it is in a 'seizure' - So I can't even take a screen shot - I had hoped dell connect could see it when it is happening but it is impossible for the same reason.

I regularly do maintenance on my computer and it is defragged, disk checked, registry cleaned - I have security suite plus root kit buster (+ router) and nothing finds anything even a little suspect. The hard drive is only about 1/4 used. I will however go down your list and see what else I can do - Maybe the accessibility options are the issue (a few people suggested this).

I appreciate your offer of help and instructions - however I will fight to have them make this right one way or the other - so if anything gets 'reinstalled' or etc they are the ones that are going to do it.

It will get better and go away or I will get a new computer or at least ports - oh they will work for their money -

In the meantime I will look for more people having the same issue, document it and shove it down their throat until they either figure out how to fix it or choke.

(I have a real good start with threads in their own support forum - uh, guys - read your forum and maybe you will get a clue or two) -

Again thank you everyone for your support - Instead of being 'moved to tears' out of frustration, I will just come here and rant.

Hello,

try doing the following :

1. Go to Control Panel, click on Mouse. Under Buttons tab, make sure that both options aren't checked.

2. Right-click on My computer, go to Properties. Choose hardware and make sure that there is only one driver installed for your mouse. If you see more than one, delete all of them and then restart.

3. if it didnt work, get youself new quality keyborad and mouse (I like Logitech). It might be related to cheap materials used. Just look at the cable... how thin and cheap it looks... If it doens't work, return them.

good luck

Just FYI - the problem mysteriously stopped. Well a CHK DSK may have cured it - but I doubt it since I had done that before.

It all stopped while I was fighting back and forth to speak to a manager or senior tech. I now have the paper trail to follow if it starts up again but for now it is gone.

Thanks everyone for your help. If it starts up again I will be trying all these suggestions (along with getting a manager involved again).

Pat,

Chkdsk, at least historically, does only THREE things!

1. Checks the disk allocation to see if it is OK. Files are all over the place, and trying to allocate new space sequentially is such a waste that nobody does it anymore, and trying to access directories would take forever, so there is a special table called the file allocation table, or FAT, for short. It can get out of sync which means you lose space, or data can be destroyed by other files. chkdsk is primarily to fix that FAT, to correct such errors.
2. IF you agree, it may FIX allocations that are wrong.
3. I think there is an option on some versions to block out bad portions of the drive.

Other than that, it does NOTHING! It IS conceivable that some bad allocation triggered a bad assumption in software, or a bug, but unlikely. If data were destroyed, you would likely have to do something ELSE to fix it.

Oh well, I'm glad you got past the problem. And Dell really doesn't give you anything for the money.

Steve

Oh yeah Kay - I swear there is a little guy in there that waits until you ask for help and then he fixes it and laughs at you - sometimes it is almost like automatic - as soon as you give up and ask for help - it is fixed. Two seconds before that it was broken!

(it's ok - much more fun than explaining the same problem over and over and over and getting nobody not only to fix it, but just to understand what the problem is.)