PC Unusable - Don't Know If It's Update-Related Or Not

All automatic updates were installed on my PC earlier in the week,
including the MS06-015 and 016. After reading of all the issues, I was
surprised that I was not seeing any, since I have two HP printers and
an HP scanner, as well as an NVIDIA 5200 graphics card installed.

Then last night the PC became pretty much unusable. No Windows dialogs
will stay open - they just blink briefly and disappear. This includes
the Start Menu, right-click context menus, the Task Manager, and
virtually any other windows.

I restarted but the PC wanted me to select where to boot from. The
only way past that is to hit F4. But then I cannot enter my Windows
login, as the window will not appear to allow me to type it in. I had
to use my Windows Password Reset diskette to remove the password, but
now i cannot do anything at all upon startup. Internet Explorer opens
but will not accept any addresses. Windows Explorer blinks open and
then disappears.

If I hold the Ctrl button down while opening a dialog, the window will
stay open, but I cannot click on anything in it, and I hear a
continual Windows critical bumo sound repeated very rapidly.

I am posting this with a notebook PC, as I cannot open Outlook Express
on the affected desktop PC.

The affected PC is an HP Pavilion running XP Pro SP2 with all updates.
I scanned with CA EZTrust A-V and Spyware Sweeper Anti-Spyware, but it
is clean.

If this is a result of the MS06-015 and/or 016 patches, I'm not
certain how to get the PC to respond long enough to fix anything.

Any suggestions?

Jim McGowan wrote:
> All automatic updates were installed on my PC earlier in the week,
> including the MS06-015 and 016. After reading of all the issues, I was
> surprised that I was not seeing any, since I have two HP printers and
> an HP scanner, as well as an NVIDIA 5200 graphics card installed.
>
> Then last night the PC became pretty much unusable. No Windows dialogs
> will stay open - they just blink briefly and disappear. This includes
> the Start Menu, right-click context menus, the Task Manager, and
> virtually any other windows.
>
> I restarted but the PC wanted me to select where to boot from. The
> only way past that is to hit F4. But then I cannot enter my Windows
> login, as the window will not appear to allow me to type it in. I had
> to use my Windows Password Reset diskette to remove the password, but
> now i cannot do anything at all upon startup. Internet Explorer opens
> but will not accept any addresses. Windows Explorer blinks open and
> then disappears.
>
> If I hold the Ctrl button down while opening a dialog, the window will
> stay open, but I cannot click on anything in it, and I hear a
> continual Windows critical bumo sound repeated very rapidly.
>
> I am posting this with a notebook PC, as I cannot open Outlook Express
> on the affected desktop PC.
>
> The affected PC is an HP Pavilion running XP Pro SP2 with all updates.
> I scanned with CA EZTrust A-V and Spyware Sweeper Anti-Spyware, but it
> is clean.
>
> If this is a result of the MS06-015 and/or 016 patches, I'm not
> certain how to get the PC to respond long enough to fix anything.
>
> Any suggestions?

Try going into Safe Mode and uninstalling the updates from there.

Alias

On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:16:47 +0200, Alias
<aka@[notme]maskedandanonymous.org> wrote:

>Try going into Safe Mode and uninstalling the updates from there.
>
>Alias

Thanks Alias, but I can't seem to get into Safe Mode.

During startup, I get the Boot message asking where I want to boot
from (which is new - never saw this before), and then only F4 (default
bootup) gets me anywhere.

I've tried holding the Delete key or the F2 key as soon as the blue
startup screen appears, but it doesn't get me anywhere. Driving me
crazy!

A brand new wrinkle - I tried accessing that PC from my notebook PC
using GoToMyPC, and I can. Everything appears to work fine from there.
But on the PC itself, it's a mess.

Truly weird. This may indicate a specific failure in my input devices
on that PC. Keyboard or mouse. Hmmm...

Jim McGowan wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:16:47 +0200, Alias
> <aka@[notme]maskedandanonymous.org> wrote:
>
>> Try going into Safe Mode and uninstalling the updates from there.
>>
>> Alias
>
> Thanks Alias, but I can't seem to get into Safe Mode.
>
> During startup, I get the Boot message asking where I want to boot
> from (which is new - never saw this before), and then only F4 (default
> bootup) gets me anywhere.
>
> I've tried holding the Delete key or the F2 key as soon as the blue
> startup screen appears, but it doesn't get me anywhere. Driving me
> crazy!
>
> A brand new wrinkle - I tried accessing that PC from my notebook PC
> using GoToMyPC, and I can. Everything appears to work fine from there.
> But on the PC itself, it's a mess.
>
> Truly weird. This may indicate a specific failure in my input devices
> on that PC. Keyboard or mouse. Hmmm...

To get into Safe Mode, hit F8 continuously right after the beep and
before the Windows Logo appears.

Alias

"Jim McGowan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> All automatic updates were installed on my PC earlier in the week,
> including the MS06-015 and 016. After reading of all the issues, I was
> surprised that I was not seeing any, since I have two HP printers and
> an HP scanner, as well as an NVIDIA 5200 graphics card installed.
>
> Then last night the PC became pretty much unusable. No Windows dialogs
> will stay open - they just blink briefly and disappear. This includes
> the Start Menu, right-click context menus, the Task Manager, and
> virtually any other windows.
>
> I restarted but the PC wanted me to select where to boot from. The
> only way past that is to hit F4. But then I cannot enter my Windows
> login, as the window will not appear to allow me to type it in. I had
> to use my Windows Password Reset diskette to remove the password, but
> now i cannot do anything at all upon startup. Internet Explorer opens
> but will not accept any addresses. Windows Explorer blinks open and
> then disappears.
>
> If I hold the Ctrl button down while opening a dialog, the window will
> stay open, but I cannot click on anything in it, and I hear a
> continual Windows critical bumo sound repeated very rapidly.
>
> I am posting this with a notebook PC, as I cannot open Outlook Express
> on the affected desktop PC.
>
> The affected PC is an HP Pavilion running XP Pro SP2 with all updates.
> I scanned with CA EZTrust A-V and Spyware Sweeper Anti-Spyware, but it
> is clean.
>
> If this is a result of the MS06-015 and/or 016 patches, I'm not
> certain how to get the PC to respond long enough to fix anything.
>
> Any suggestions?

Have an extra keyboard handy? It could be a stuck key....

Keyboard problem it is!

No key is visibly stuck - must be an internal failure.

Here I was gloating inside that the Update hadn't affected me, and
then this - which looked a lot like it could be a shell extension
issue.

OK, all is well again.

Thanks all, for the help!
--
Jim McGowan

Was it a Microsoft keyboard? Maybe we can still blame them ; )

"Jim McGowan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Keyboard problem it is!
>
> No key is visibly stuck - must be an internal failure.
>
> Here I was gloating inside that the Update hadn't affected me, and
> then this - which looked a lot like it could be a shell extension
> issue.
>
> OK, all is well again.
>
> Thanks all, for the help!
> --
> Jim McGowan

On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 12:55:40 -0400, "gw" <no.spam@here> wrote:

>Was it a Microsoft keyboard? Maybe we can still blame them ; )
>

Hehe - No, it was the HP Media KB.

I know this will sound odd, but I have two keyboards connected. Been
like that for over a year now.

I regularly use a wireless keyboard and mouse from Gyration. (The
mouse is great - it can work without a mousepad or any surface - gyro
technology).

But a specialized card reader I have plugs into the standard keyboard
serial port, and it stopped working when I removed the keyboard.
Apparently it needs a keyboard - or at least something else plugged
into the back end. I did find a terminator that would plug into the
back and allow the card reader to work - but it was $110!

So I keep that original HP keyboard plugged into the back of the card
reader's serial plug, but I have it sitting up on a shelf, dormant. I
use the wireless KB, which interacts with a USB wireless receiver.

I don't know what could have happened with the HP keyboard up on the
shelf, but as soon as I disconnected it, all was well.

I plugged it in again and it worked fine again.

Weird! I'll leave it disconnected. Now, though, I'll have to find
another solution for the card reader!

Thanks again.