PCA Forums

my computer is going wacko. i had to jump on wifes to type this thread.
i start typing and the keys jump all over the place. i start in the thread post box and then the next letter i type maybe in my search box . its crazy to try and give you a full picture .but i tried back dating the machine and was fine for about a hour and started doing it again. i play a game of ms hearts on the machine and it like freeze for 5 seconds for no reason and be fine again for a while. i have 4 gig of matched ram in my machine. im not doing a lot on the machine .i may have email open and may only have the card game running when this is taking place .im not even folding on that computer if this helps .its a xp pro os system.

Never overlook the simple stuff. It could be a sticking tab key or something. Try a different keyboard if you can.

Yeah, if this is a desktop try another keyboard. If it's PS/2 try a USB keyboard (I've seen PS/2 jacks go bad).

Could be RAM (although I'm doubtful). Run MEMTEST86+ all night to be sure. I've seen a lot of RAM failures lately. I think that RAM prices are so low right now that the quality is suffering.

Also possible it's a nuisance virus although they're pretty rare nowadays. Do a full virus scan, and then do a full scan with the free version of Malwarebytes AntiMalware.

They jumping around as mentioned sounds like a stuck key or bad keyboard or port. The freezing you are getting I have seen happen with a dying hard drive, I would run a check on that too. Even though, the keyboard itself might be the cause of the freezing you are having. If the keyboard is causing a bunch of key presses, that can cause a freezing effect.