[notz]

A problem I've encountered recently and it's only PC, no where else.

The problem has only happened when I'm writing a private message, or when I'm in chat. I'll be typing and suddenly none of the keystrokes show on my screen. I'm typing but nothing. As if everything is frozen. And sometimes when I try to type again, my computers says a word! If I change to another page everything goes back to normal.

Any thoughts?

[FooZe]

Originally Posted by notz

I'll be typing and suddenly none of the keystrokes show on my screen. I'm typing but nothing. As if everything is frozen.

I haven't had this happen at PC. When anything of the sort has (infrequently) happened elsewhere, it's usually been while a very "busy" page has been loading and my computer's been too busy executing scripts and stuff to keep up with keystrokes. On my older system (Windows 98 SE) I keep the System Monitor (sysmon.exe) handy to tell me about things like the number of "threads" running and the percentage of processor usage. I seem to remember that Sysmon isn't available for Windows XP but there may be a substitute.

I think when my system is too busy to accept keystrokes, mouse movement also starts getting erratic and if I don't hurry up and get out of the page that's causing it, I may have to reboot with the three-finger salute or even the Reset button.

I've often lost keystrokes, even "retroactively", in Yahoo chat. I'll type and "send" one message, get partway through typing another, and Yahoo will hiccup and inform me that the person I'm chatting with is offline (or sometimes that they're online, even though there was no indication that they were ever off). The unfinished message will disappear from my text box and the other person will report that they never saw the finished one either.

Just wondering, notz -- could this be the chat software playing tricks on your computer? Like if you've exited chat but some of the Java or JavaScript is still running in the background and occasionally doing something it shouldn't? I almost never chat so even if something like that could happen on my computer, I might not have had occasion to notice it.

And sometimes when I try to type again, my computers says a word!

You mean text shows up in the box that you didn't type? Any clues where the word is coming from? For instance, does it seem to be (or not be) something you tried to type earlier that somehow got "misplaced" and is now resurfacing?

If I change to another page everything goes back to normal.

What counts as "another page" for this purpose? Closing the page where you were writing the PM and starting over with a fresh PM to the same person? Clicking over to a different page at PC? Clicking over to a page at a different site? By the way, do you tend to keep only one page open at a time, or multiple pages in different windows or tabs?

[Sabrina]

I have had this happen to me. But during a post, not a pm. I just take it as a time delay or something. I wait awhile and eventually just have to retype what didn't show. Sorry, no help here.

[notz]

Originally Posted by notz
I'll be typing and suddenly none of the keystrokes show on my screen. I'm typing but nothing. As if everything is frozen.
I haven't had this happen at PC. When anything of the sort has (infrequently) happened elsewhere, this has never happened anywhere else...only on PC it's usually been while a very "busy" page has been loading and my computer's been too busy executing scripts and stuff to keep up with keystrokes. On my older system (Windows 98 SE) I keep the System Monitor (sysmon.exe) handy to tell me about things like the number of "threads" running and the percentage of processor usage. I seem to remember that Sysmon isn't available for Windows XP but there may be a substitute.

I think when my system is too busy to accept keystrokes, mouse movement also starts getting erratic no problem with mouse and if I don't hurry up and get out of the page that's causing it, I may have to reboot with the three-finger salute or even the Reset button.

I've often lost keystrokes, even "retroactively", in Yahoo chat.. I'll type and "send" one message, get partway through typing another, and Yahoo will hiccup and inform me that the person I'm chatting with is offline (or sometimes that they're online, even though there was no indication that they were ever off).This is only PC. The unfinished message will disappear from my text box and the other person will report that they never saw the finished one either. I've had messages disappear but that was while I was typing them. (I know the magical disappearance act happens to a lot of people here at some time or another) To my knowledge, all messages have been received by others that I sent on PC.

Just wondering, notz -- could this be the chat software playing tricks on your computer? Like if you've exited chat but some of the Java or JavaScript is still running in the background and occasionally doing something it shouldn't? I almost never chat so even if something like that could happen on my computer, I might not have had occasion to notice it. Understood, no.

Quote:
And sometimes when I try to type again, my computers says a word!
You mean text shows up in the box that you didn't type? Any clues where the word is coming from? For instance, does it seem to be (or not be) something you tried to type earlier that somehow got "misplaced" and is now resurfacing? No, seriously...my computer audibly pronounces a word with each keystroke when I try to type!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picture this: I'm furiously typing away and all of a sudden my speaker says, in a nice male voice "repose". I foolishly think if I just type those letters one more time the problem will have magically resolved itself. No, the nice voice says "repose".

Quote:
If I change to another page everything goes back to normal.
What counts as "another page" for this purpose? Closing the page where you were writing the PM and starting over with a fresh PM to the same person? That allows me to type again. Clicking over to a different page at PC? This too always me to type again. Clicking over to a page at a different site? Haven't tried that. By the way, do you tend to keep only one page open at a time, or multiple pages in different windows or tabs? I may have more than 1 tab open but only the one for PC.

Fool Zero, I really appreciate your thoughts on this. I don't know if this one's gonna be easy to solve. Maybe it'll make for good discussion in this forum. Thanks.

[FooZe]

Originally Posted by notz

No, seriously...my computer audibly pronounces a word with each keystroke when I try to type!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picture this: I'm furiously typing away and all of a sudden my speaker says, in a nice male voice "repose". I foolishly think if I just type those letters one more time the problem will have magically resolved itself. No, the nice voice says "repose".

I don't know much about talking computers but I'm thinking that there are only so many places a sound like that -- a whole word -- could possibly come from. If you were hearing a fragment of an audio or video clip, there'd be no reason for it to be a single neatly-defined word; you might just as easily get three and a half notes of music or something that sounded like "curSES!" accidentally clipped from "my speaker says".

I assume you don't have speech-synthesizing software on your computer (you type, it talks). How about other software that tosses out words for you to practice doing something with, like typing them? It wouldn't make much sense for it to engage by itself, though, never mind to do so only when you were at PC.

A stray part of an ad, maybe, left over from a multimedia sales pitch for a mattress store? A talking pop-under window? But again, I don't get the PC connection.

Have you scanned your computer for viruses, spybots and stuff, especially around the times when it's talked to you? If it were happening to me (on my older system) I'd make sure to check the "Task Manager" listing for anything unusual and to run HijackThis. I don't know which of these are available on (or can be downloaded to) your system, though, and I probably wouldn't be much help with interpreting the results.

[DocJohn]

Virus or malware are distinct possibilities as well. Logged in members have no ads, so it's not an ad.

Also, since this is not a wide-spread occurrence amongst members here, it suggests a specific issue with your computer. Run anti-virus and an anti-malware scan to make sure it's clean, and you can always try a different web browser, like Firefox or Google Chrome.

DocJohn

[(JD)]

I had this happening last week or the week before, but not recently. I spend my time here at PC so I don't know if it would have occurred on another site or not too.

[notz]

I'm a firm believer of regular scannings & already use Firefox. Busy now doing multiple malware scans. I'll let you know what I find out.

[notz]

Finished malware...nothing turned up. Very strange. Let's see if it occurs again after the scans and malware tune-up.

Thanks you for your help.

[notz]

It's happened twice in the last 4 hours! I did what Sabrina suggested and let it have some "time", I returned in 2 minutes and all was good again.

I still find it quite strange. Some sort of "sorry, I'm busy and I must put you on hold" business. I'm going to become more aware of when it happens and see what common threads I may find.