On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 09:33:44 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

The current case is that the processor seems to
get 'stuck' - presumably in an ISR - for periods of between a few
milliseconds to permanently. Sometimes the keyboard works, and
Ctrl-Alt=-Del will allow a soft reboot, and sometimes its truly stuck.

OK, this is a long shot, but I solved something like that this way, so
it may help.

I was using a microsoft strategic commander. once I wondered about it,
and removed it, and un installed it's software the problem (oddly)
went away, and has stayed away ever since (more than a month now).

That product isn't too bad in use, but it's best if it's not connected
to a machine with too many other input connections, as it does appear
to have more than it's share of clashes with other items. On a machine
with just basic stuff, and it being the only game type controller,
then it's less likely to cause an issue. Since I tinker with joysticks
(build own variations quite a bit) then I can't have it on my main
machine due to the havoc it can bring, but on a single use machine,
then fair enough, it can be great. I had it's keys set up specifically
for news reading, which made that quite a groovy experience. Now found
other ways to automate some of that.

So, the point is this, it may not be the equipment appearing to have
the fault which is actually faulty or is the culprit! Means you may
have to think sideways about whatever you may have attached. For
example, mine was not just causing those lock ups, but also causing
trouble for directx and a number of multimedia apps (used to jam while
playing video or audio files too!) This is completely unrelated, but
the effect clearly wasn't with hindsight!

I note that MS have stopped making their PC range of Sidewinder
products now. I shall miss them as they made great USB donor sticks a
lot of the time, and the more recent software was nowhere near as
borked as the early stuff was, and that early USB stuff was pretty
dire in some cases. I'm not sure which make I'll migrate to as they
all seem a bit wimpy in the hardware dept by comparison. The MS stuff
was nicely over engineered in all the right places for my use!

Saitek seem a good move next, as the hardware in some cases is cheap
to buy due to their software becoming rubbish once win2K and beyond
were released, so that holds the value of the hardware artificially
low, which suits me fine right now! The hardware has similar muscular
properties in places, so it'll last a while! There are other ways to
make drivers available for this stuff, so it's not as mad as it may
look!

Hope you find a culprit nestling in there like I did! Great once
removed!

Take Care,
Gnube
{too thick for linux}