Active Window Border goes Inactive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Every minute or two my active screen goes inactive no matter what web site
I'm on. The hour glass appears and there is hard drive activity. While this
is going on I am not in control of my page. I have to click the page to
continue, even here while I am typing this question. Also the computer
beeps. I finished typing "...beep." (above) and the screen went inactive.
When I clicked the screen to activate it again the cursor went to the front
of this message instead of where I last left it. Because this is constantly
going on the computer never gets to the save screen mode.
This happens when I'm not connected to the internet too. For example the
same thing happens when I am using programs that do not require connection
to the internet.
I posted this question before and did what was suggested such as using
several spyware, malware, etc progs. Nothing showed up. There must be a prog
in my hard drive that automatically activated every minute or so but I can't
find it. If I could de-activate it several other issues would be solved,
such as the screen saver and hibernation settings. Appreciate any help.
Bill
 
If your system is clear of viruses and any malware (you need to run both
antivirus and adware scanning tools, not just one or the other if you have
not already done so), if this is a relatively recent issue, you might try
running System Restore to take your system back to a time prior to when this
began.

Other things you can do. Open Internet Explorer, assuming that is your
browser, go to Tools, select Manage Add-ons, one at a time, select an
enabled item, disable it, run the system and see if you still have the
problem as sometimes, such plug-ins can be the source of such issues and
this might determine which is the cause if such is the case.

Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for
errors corresponding to the crash, double click the error, the information
contained within may give a clue as to the
source of the problem.

Assuming you have an XP CD and not a recovery CD, place the XP CD in the
drive, when the setup screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility,"
the report it generates may point to problem hardware or software on your
system. If you do not have an XP CD, you can download this application
known as the Upgrade Advisor from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp
Note: If you have access to a broadband connection it might be best to
download using that as this is a rather large download.

Check for the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your graphics
card and soundcard and all peripherals connected to your system. No not use
Windows Update for this, go to the device manufacturer's web sites and if
you install updated drivers, ignore the message about drivers being unsigned
by Microsoft.


--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol.

Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
 
Thank you Michael. I appreciate your response and I think I have it
narrowed it down to maybe it is an ATI application that is causing the
problem and running in the background. Something is running in the
background. I have Pinnacle Studio 9 installed and use it frequently. I
need to know where to go from here and perhaps you may help me with how to
stop it.

I went to msconfig and looked at the StartUp items and found LaunchPd.exe.
in "C:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\main\LaunchPd.exe". Thought this might be
it. I unchecked the command and did a reboot. For the first time the Welcome
Screen, after the 5 min time delay, went to the MS Screen Saver. "FINALLY I
got a Screen Saver". So I thought I found the culprit and solved the
problem. (It's location is in
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run).

After the Welcome Screen I went to Internet Explorer but sure enough the
problem came back. So I went back to msconfig to see if I missed something.
What happenned was that the original box which I unchecked was there alright
, still unchecked, but now it is listed as
"C:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run".

Oddly, and why I don't know, there was a checked box of
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run". Same as before. It
looks like it re-installed itself and that is why, likely, the problem
returned. This re-creation of the same file was not expected.
I went to Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services and changed ATI Hotkey
Poller from automatic to "Manual" hoping that would do it but it doesn't.
Maybe I should change it back to "Automatic". There is an ATI Smart there and
it is listed as "Automatic". Here are some other ATI stuff in StartUp too.
They are ATISched, ATIRW, ATIDtct, and atiptaxx. Should these all be
unchecked. Should I be going to HKCU and deleting LaunchPd.exe. If I have
to go to the Registry to make changes I'm somewhat comfortable with that. I
could troubleshoot each of these in StartUp one at a time but why the
re-activation of the same HKCU line in StartUp. Defeats the deletion in the
first step. Help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Bill
 
Is the ATI icon loading in the notification area, that's the area to the
immediate left of the time and date. If yes, right click the icon and see
if there's a means to stop if from placing the icon there at bootup as it
can still load portions of the ATI options on bootup which may be the source
of this issue.

Also, I'd check Event Viewer to see if you can see something that seems to
occur when you see this problem. What you might see is an error that is
only symptomatic but you also might find the actual source of the issue.
Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer and go to
the various tabs looking for such errors. If you fine any such
corresponding errors, double click the error as the information contained
within may give a clue as to the source.

One other point, are your ATI drivers the latest XP compatible drivers from
the ATI site, if not, you might want to check that out as well as there may
be some conflict with earlier drivers or drivers you installed directly from
the ATI driver install disk.

--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol.

Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
 
Back
Top