Only Keyboard & Not Mouse Can Start Programs

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Dobermann, Feb 17, 2011.

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  1. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    I have an extremely clean XP-P box with virtually nothing installed on it and no internet connection having been made yet with it. It does the strangest thing.

    If I double click on any program icon or its name in explorer or even right click on it in explorer and select a program to open it, all it does is give me the little hour glass for a couple of seconds and then disappears when I move my mouse. None of the programs ever open up.

    However, if I press Enter with the icon selected or use keyboard shortcuts, such as MSFlag+E, I can open the program.

    I have tried to see what is running via right click on task bar and selecting Task Manager, but as to be expected, it will not start. C+A+D and selecting Task Manager sadly will not either.

    When I try to shutdown, it hangs on Saving System Settings and I have to use the master power button.

    I have never seen anything like this before. I would at first think that it is not getting enough power, but this does not make sense because I am able to use the keyboard to make the simple programs work (explorer, Notepad, Textpad).

    Any ideas?
    Thanks
    Dobermann
     
  2. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    Tried a different mouse?

    Does the same thing happen in safe mode?

    What mouse are you using?
     
  3. philby

    philby Registered Member

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    I have tried to see what is running via right click on task bar and selecting Task Manager, but as to be expected, it will not start. C+A+D and selecting Task Manager sadly will not either.

    Will Ctrl + Shift + Escape open TM?
     
  4. philby

    philby Registered Member

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    Also, have you checked for any problem under 'Mice and other pointing devices' under devmgmt.msc?

    Maybe the driver has got screwed up...
     
  5. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    How about a check disk and a sfc/scannow.
     
  6. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    Same problem

    Nope! Tasklist /svc yields these three svchosts running:
    dcomLaunch
    RpcSs
    CryptSvc, dmserver, helpsvc, winmgmt

    but wow, it took forever to load past mup.sys


    Kensington, both a wireless and USB

    Now, something very interesting happened, please read response below, which is why I listed the running svchosts
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2011
  7. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    In all my many years, I have never known about this keyboard shortcut. How beautiful it was! This did display the TM where I found one of 4 or 5 svcshost files running. It was using all available CPU, pinning my CPU usage graph to a constant 100%. I was able to do a right click, End Process Tree on it. Once that happened, the world was flat! The mouse worked, double clicking restored, CPU usage fell.

    Now, since it was ended, when I did Tasklist /svc, it was not listed. Just the three lines I listed above. If I try to run Tasklist /svc without having Ended this hog, it will eventually reboot on its own rather than displaying the services.

    My next step,
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Svchost

    to see which ones are set to run. My guess is that I will have to first kill the hog. Will report back...
     
  8. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    No problem items whatsoever (which is a good thing).
     
  9. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    Have not tried this yet, as I think I might be on to the root of the problem.
     
  10. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    Well, I searched the Reg Key noted above, but nothing seemed out of place to me. Here is a text file of its contents:

    Code:
    
    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   10/17/2009 - 6:13 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            HTTPFilter
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            HTTPFilter
    
    Value 1
      Name:            LocalService
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            Alerter
                       WebClient
                       LmHosts
                       RemoteRegistry
                       upnphost
                       SSDPSRV
    
    Value 2
      Name:            NetworkService
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            DnsCache
    
    Value 3
      Name:            netsvcs
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            6to4
                       AppMgmt
                       AudioSrv
                       Browser
                       CryptSvc
                       DMServer
                       DHCP
                       ERSvc
                       EventSystem
                       FastUserSwitchingCompatibility
                       HidServ
                       Ias
                       Iprip
                       Irmon
                       LanmanServer
                       LanmanWorkstation
                       Messenger
                       Netman
                       Nla
                       Ntmssvc
                       NWCWorkstation
                       Nwsapagent
                       Rasauto
                       Rasman
                       Remoteaccess
                       Schedule
                       Seclogon
                       SENS
                       Sharedaccess
                       SRService
                       Tapisrv
                       Themes
                       TrkWks
                       W32Time
                       WZCSVC
                       Wmi
                       WmdmPmSp
                       winmgmt
                       wscsvc
                       xmlprov
                       BITS
                       wuauserv
                       ShellHWDetection
                       helpsvc
                       WmdmPmSN
    
    Value 4
      Name:            DcomLaunch
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            DcomLaunch
                       TermService
    
    Value 5
      Name:            rpcss
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            RpcSs
    
    Value 6
      Name:            imgsvc
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            StiSvc
    
    Value 7
      Name:            termsvcs
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            TermService
    
    
    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost\DComLaunch
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   10/17/2009 - 6:10 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            CoInitializeSecurityParam
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1
    
    Value 1
      Name:            DefaultRpcStackSize
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x8
    
    
    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost\HTTPFilter
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   10/17/2009 - 10:43 AM
    Value 0
      Name:            CoInitializeSecurityParam
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1
    
    
    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost\LocalService
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   10/17/2009 - 10:43 AM
    Value 0
      Name:            CoInitializeSecurityParam
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1
    
    Value 1
      Name:            AuthenticationCapabilities
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x2000
    
    
    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost\netsvcs
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   10/17/2009 - 6:10 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            CoInitializeSecurityParam
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1
    
    Value 1
      Name:            AuthenticationCapabilities
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x3020
    
    
    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost\PCHealth
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   10/17/2009 - 6:11 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            CoInitializeSecurityParam
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x2
    
    Value 1
      Name:            AuthenticationCapabilities
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x40
    
    
    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost\termsvcs
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   10/17/2009 - 6:10 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            CoInitializeSecurityParam
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1
    
    Value 1
      Name:            DefaultRpcStackSize
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x8
    
    
    There are 5 svchost.exe files running. The resource hog has a user name of System. I only have 18 processes running from all users, one of which is the hog.

    Isn't there a better way to see what exactly is behind this svchost? I remember seeing a s/w a while back that would detail it, but I cannot remember its name.

    Thanks for all the help,
    Dobermann
     
  11. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    Process Explorer?

    Also any clues showing in your Event Viewer?
     
  12. philby

    philby Registered Member

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    As stapp says, PE should shed more light on those svchosts.

    Maybe also check task scheduler - I've found some weird things running there on some machines.
     
  13. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    Posts:
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    PE looks like a great tool. I tried it on this computer. Too bad that I cannot start it on the bum one! There are no keyboard shortcuts to start the program, and the mouse like before will not start it. If I stop the hog in TM, I can then start PE, but since the service is stopped, PE can't help me. Sounds like a catch 22. :mad:

    I forgot to check Event Viewer and Task Scheduler, but I really do not think there are any tasks scheduled, as I usually even disable this service. I will have to check them out tomorrow evening and report back.
     
  14. Dobermann

    Dobermann Registered Member

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    Created a desktop shortcut, assigned a Shortcut key C+A+P. When I tried it, it would not load even though it was attempted to be started via a keyboard and not the mouse.

    Event Viewer - I need a keyboard shortcut to try to make it run.

    Scheduled Tasks - None.

    ===========

    Update, finally it let me load PE with my keyboard shortcut, but just when it comes up, the computer reboots. So now I have put a shortcut to it in the Startup Programs. Gotcha you sucker! PE loads and runs for about two minutes before it locks up. But, here is the scoop:

    It is Windows\System32\svchost.exe (some qualifiers I could not write down before it died)
    Net Service
    PID 932

    I now remember that the other day when it booted up it had a slash through the network icon. I wonder if it is trying to connect to my server and the network card is non-functional. Yet I would think that it would not log on to the computer upon booting if it could not connect to the network and my DHCP server. I input UserID, Password and Domain, give it a moment, and it loads up.

    It's a dual boot with <eek> Win98SE. I wonder if I would have the same problems in that OS. It would be interesting to find out.

    I think this box has basically seen better days. I've kept it together with duct tape for the last how many years now? (Athlon 1200 CPU bought at its hayday), basically cannibalizing this and that from here and there to keep it running. Sadly, as it has my SCSI, Zip drive, tape drive, 4 HDs and all the older stuff that I can't just trash since I have never taken the time to bring the data files forward to newer media and capacity.

    It's a bitch getting old :'(
     
  15. philby

    philby Registered Member

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    Event Viewer - I need a keyboard shortcut to try to make it run.

    Winkey + R, then type eventvwr.msc
     
  16. philby

    philby Registered Member

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    Isn't there a better way to see what exactly is behind this svchost? I remember seeing a s/w a while back that would detail it, but I cannot remember its name.

    I've never used this and don't know if it'll give you anything more than you've already got, but maybe it's worth a look.
     
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