why does windows XP occasionally completely lock?
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somewhat off topic, but i am hoping someone here will have a bright idea.
i have windows XP pro installed on two machines, my home machine and my work machine.
on both machines, windows will now and then totally lock. when this happens the screen stay the same, so no error messages, no blue screen of death, but also no change. the mouse does not work, the keyboard does not work, i cannot even get the caps lock or num lock lights on my keyboard to change. the only thing i have found that works is a hard reset.
my home machine is a fresh install, with no patches or SP's on it yet.
my work machine has every patch and SP going, except for 11 "windows" updates, like media player 9, etc, that shouldn't help fix it.
so, installing patches seems unlikely to fix this problem.
the only real clue i have is that on my home machine this nearly always happens when i am on line (dial up connection, 56k modem). but even then i can go for a couple of weeks or more with no problems at all.
it has happened once already (last night) since my fresh install of windows on my home machine, so i know the bios update i did didn't help.
any helpfully suggestions will be gratefully received.
i have windows XP pro installed on two machines, my home machine and my work machine.
on both machines, windows will now and then totally lock. when this happens the screen stay the same, so no error messages, no blue screen of death, but also no change. the mouse does not work, the keyboard does not work, i cannot even get the caps lock or num lock lights on my keyboard to change. the only thing i have found that works is a hard reset.
my home machine is a fresh install, with no patches or SP's on it yet.
my work machine has every patch and SP going, except for 11 "windows" updates, like media player 9, etc, that shouldn't help fix it.
so, installing patches seems unlikely to fix this problem.
the only real clue i have is that on my home machine this nearly always happens when i am on line (dial up connection, 56k modem). but even then i can go for a couple of weeks or more with no problems at all.
it has happened once already (last night) since my fresh install of windows on my home machine, so i know the bios update i did didn't help.
any helpfully suggestions will be gratefully received.
Even if you delete the default driver it will re-appear in about 5 seconds. The first time it happened to me I thought for a minute I was in the Twilight Zone 
The NFR proggie (after an add and remove program uninstall) will delete any off- version files...if it doesn't say 44.03, delete it and install new 44.03 drivers and re-boot. Once you have the 44.03 drivers in, the default drivers (I think they're probably 40.72) will not be copied to your System file. Have I confused you enough??? 
There is one other thing to look at and that is the settings for your memory in the Bios. Overclocked or 'off' memory timings will do what you have and give no warning or log to crash file. The setting that most often is the problem is the Cas setting. If it is set at 2.0 then set it at 2.5..all the others put on Auto or Default.
One final thought...make sure you download drivers from Nvidia site...many off-sites have same driver version, but with "tweaked" inf. files. Great for them ..not so great for everyone else 
Styl Skinner: I don't know much about bios power management. Something I'll have to learn, I guess. IPlural: Thnx for the heads up on the books