Out of seemingly nowhere, my WinXP Pro SP1 install began acting strangely.
All was well on initial bootup, but after 10 min. or so, the desktop became
progressively unresponsive. At first, right clicking would produce no
shortcut menu, then icons would not respond to clicks of either mouse
button, yet the Start menu would respond, but nothing selected on it would
run. A restart would temporarily fix this situation, but it would inevitably
return.

Finally, out of desparation, I backed up my critical data, fully
reformatted my C: partition, and reinstalled. Then, downloaded and installed
all critical updates, installed Zone Alarm Pro w/ antivirus (updated virus
signatures) and Spybot and just ran my system like that for a day or so,
scanning for virii and spyware (none found, BTW). All seemed well, then sure
enough, the behavior described above returned, with an occasional 'not
enough memory' message, or a memory error when attempting to run an app.
At this point I began to suspect hardware, so I opened my case to make sure
heat was not the issue, with no joy; I swapped memory modules in hopes that
I had a bad one; again, no joy. Pulled my CPU, cleaned it an my cooler and
reapplied thermal paste and reseated them. No luck.

Now, here's the good part (thanks for sticking with me this long): all this
time, my wife's profile ran *flawlessly*. I didn't pay any attention to
this, as I was so absorbed in my own logon problems. So, just for the hell
of it, I deleted my profile, then re-created it. It's been 48 hours now, and
so far so good. I guess I should just be happy and leave it at that, but
being a home-built computer hobbyist, I want to know what the hell happened.
So, my question is (finally!), can a logon/profile somehow become corrupted
in a way that makes it unstable as above, while other profiles remain
stable? I've been using XP since the beta days, and have never seen this
behavior. FWIW, my hardware:

Asus A7N8X, rev. 2 (no overclocking, running stock voltages & memory
timings)
Athlon XP 2600 w/ Vantec Aeroflow cooler & Arctic Silver 3 paste
512 MB PC2700 (Crucial)
Chaintech FX5700 video card (256 MB)
Antec case w/ 300W PSU.
etc.

Now, I know many of you will jump on the PSU as being the culprit here, and
normally I would agree, except how do you explain the fact that the
anomalies only occured on my logon? Frankly, I am stumped, and any help
would be much appreciated. Sorry for such a long post, but I felt I had to
put all this down, and Usenet is where I find the most knowledgable users.
TIA!

you might have a program starting in your user acnt that runs @ startup. try sting in safe mode, if this works goto start>run and type msconfig and disable all, reboot, add in more items progressivley. -DanTheMan

"Jeff Hansman" wrote:

> Out of seemingly nowhere, my WinXP Pro SP1 install began acting strangely.
> All was well on initial bootup, but after 10 min. or so, the desktop became
> progressively unresponsive. At first, right clicking would produce no
> shortcut menu, then icons would not respond to clicks of either mouse
> button, yet the Start menu would respond, but nothing selected on it would
> run. A restart would temporarily fix this situation, but it would inevitably
> return.
>
> Finally, out of desparation, I backed up my critical data, fully
> reformatted my C: partition, and reinstalled. Then, downloaded and installed
> all critical updates, installed Zone Alarm Pro w/ antivirus (updated virus
> signatures) and Spybot and just ran my system like that for a day or so,
> scanning for virii and spyware (none found, BTW). All seemed well, then sure
> enough, the behavior described above returned, with an occasional 'not
> enough memory' message, or a memory error when attempting to run an app.
> At this point I began to suspect hardware, so I opened my case to make sure
> heat was not the issue, with no joy; I swapped memory modules in hopes that
> I had a bad one; again, no joy. Pulled my CPU, cleaned it an my cooler and
> reapplied thermal paste and reseated them. No luck.
>
> Now, here's the good part (thanks for sticking with me this long): all this
> time, my wife's profile ran *flawlessly*. I didn't pay any attention to
> this, as I was so absorbed in my own logon problems. So, just for the hell
> of it, I deleted my profile, then re-created it. It's been 48 hours now, and
> so far so good. I guess I should just be happy and leave it at that, but
> being a home-built computer hobbyist, I want to know what the hell happened.
> So, my question is (finally!), can a logon/profile somehow become corrupted
> in a way that makes it unstable as above, while other profiles remain
> stable? I've been using XP since the beta days, and have never seen this
> behavior. FWIW, my hardware:
>
> Asus A7N8X, rev. 2 (no overclocking, running stock voltages & memory
> timings)
> Athlon XP 2600 w/ Vantec Aeroflow cooler & Arctic Silver 3 paste
> 512 MB PC2700 (Crucial)
> Chaintech FX5700 video card (256 MB)
> Antec case w/ 300W PSU.
> etc.
>
> Now, I know many of you will jump on the PSU as being the culprit here, and
> normally I would agree, except how do you explain the fact that the
> anomalies only occured on my logon? Frankly, I am stumped, and any help
> would be much appreciated. Sorry for such a long post, but I felt I had to
> put all this down, and Usenet is where I find the most knowledgable users.
> TIA!
>
>
>
>
>

Her profile was the one created after I reinstalled. So, if profiles can be
corrupted, how so, and can they be repaired or is deleting & re-creating the
way to go?

"Crash Override" <Crash (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B03727BB-A2D2-450E-8FB5-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Reformatting should have wiped everything out. How did your wife's
profile continue to work?
>
> But to answer your question, yes, profiles can become corrupt.
>
> "Jeff Hansman" wrote:
>
> > Out of seemingly nowhere, my WinXP Pro SP1 install began acting
strangely.
> > All was well on initial bootup, but after 10 min. or so, the desktop
became
> > progressively unresponsive. At first, right clicking would produce no
> > shortcut menu, then icons would not respond to clicks of either mouse
> > button, yet the Start menu would respond, but nothing selected on it
would
> > run. A restart would temporarily fix this situation, but it would
inevitably
> > return.
> >
> > Finally, out of desparation, I backed up my critical data, fully
> > reformatted my C: partition, and reinstalled. Then, downloaded and
installed
> > all critical updates, installed Zone Alarm Pro w/ antivirus (updated
virus
> > signatures) and Spybot and just ran my system like that for a day or so,
> > scanning for virii and spyware (none found, BTW). All seemed well, then
sure
> > enough, the behavior described above returned, with an occasional 'not
> > enough memory' message, or a memory error when attempting to run an app.
> > At this point I began to suspect hardware, so I opened my case to make
sure
> > heat was not the issue, with no joy; I swapped memory modules in hopes
that
> > I had a bad one; again, no joy. Pulled my CPU, cleaned it an my cooler
and
> > reapplied thermal paste and reseated them. No luck.
> >
> > Now, here's the good part (thanks for sticking with me this long): all
this
> > time, my wife's profile ran *flawlessly*. I didn't pay any attention to
> > this, as I was so absorbed in my own logon problems. So, just for the
hell
> > of it, I deleted my profile, then re-created it. It's been 48 hours now,
and
> > so far so good. I guess I should just be happy and leave it at that, but
> > being a home-built computer hobbyist, I want to know what the hell
happened.
> > So, my question is (finally!), can a logon/profile somehow become
corrupted
> > in a way that makes it unstable as above, while other profiles remain
> > stable? I've been using XP since the beta days, and have never seen this
> > behavior. FWIW, my hardware:
> >
> > Asus A7N8X, rev. 2 (no overclocking, running stock voltages & memory
> > timings)
> > Athlon XP 2600 w/ Vantec Aeroflow cooler & Arctic Silver 3 paste
> > 512 MB PC2700 (Crucial)
> > Chaintech FX5700 video card (256 MB)
> > Antec case w/ 300W PSU.
> > etc.
> >
> > Now, I know many of you will jump on the PSU as being the culprit here,
and
> > normally I would agree, except how do you explain the fact that the
> > anomalies only occured on my logon? Frankly, I am stumped, and any help
> > would be much appreciated. Sorry for such a long post, but I felt I had
to
> > put all this down, and Usenet is where I find the most knowledgable
users.
> > TIA!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >

Good suggestion. I didn't think of that, probably 'cause I assumed what
start for one starts for all.
"DanTheMan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:77FC85D2-A6B5-4AA8-A98D-(E-Mail Removed)...
> you might have a program starting in your user acnt that runs @ startup.
try sting in safe mode, if this works goto start>run and type msconfig and
disable all, reboot, add in more items progressivley. -DanTheMan
>
> "Jeff Hansman" wrote:
>
> > Out of seemingly nowhere, my WinXP Pro SP1 install began acting
strangely.
> > All was well on initial bootup, but after 10 min. or so, the desktop
became
> > progressively unresponsive. At first, right clicking would produce no
> > shortcut menu, then icons would not respond to clicks of either mouse
> > button, yet the Start menu would respond, but nothing selected on it
would
> > run. A restart would temporarily fix this situation, but it would
inevitably
> > return.
> >
> > Finally, out of desparation, I backed up my critical data, fully
> > reformatted my C: partition, and reinstalled. Then, downloaded and
installed
> > all critical updates, installed Zone Alarm Pro w/ antivirus (updated
virus
> > signatures) and Spybot and just ran my system like that for a day or so,
> > scanning for virii and spyware (none found, BTW). All seemed well, then
sure
> > enough, the behavior described above returned, with an occasional 'not
> > enough memory' message, or a memory error when attempting to run an app.
> > At this point I began to suspect hardware, so I opened my case to make
sure
> > heat was not the issue, with no joy; I swapped memory modules in hopes
that
> > I had a bad one; again, no joy. Pulled my CPU, cleaned it an my cooler
and
> > reapplied thermal paste and reseated them. No luck.
> >
> > Now, here's the good part (thanks for sticking with me this long): all
this
> > time, my wife's profile ran *flawlessly*. I didn't pay any attention to
> > this, as I was so absorbed in my own logon problems. So, just for the
hell
> > of it, I deleted my profile, then re-created it. It's been 48 hours now,
and
> > so far so good. I guess I should just be happy and leave it at that, but
> > being a home-built computer hobbyist, I want to know what the hell
happened.
> > So, my question is (finally!), can a logon/profile somehow become
corrupted
> > in a way that makes it unstable as above, while other profiles remain
> > stable? I've been using XP since the beta days, and have never seen this
> > behavior. FWIW, my hardware:
> >
> > Asus A7N8X, rev. 2 (no overclocking, running stock voltages & memory
> > timings)
> > Athlon XP 2600 w/ Vantec Aeroflow cooler & Arctic Silver 3 paste
> > 512 MB PC2700 (Crucial)
> > Chaintech FX5700 video card (256 MB)
> > Antec case w/ 300W PSU.
> > etc.
> >
> > Now, I know many of you will jump on the PSU as being the culprit here,
and
> > normally I would agree, except how do you explain the fact that the
> > anomalies only occured on my logon? Frankly, I am stumped, and any help
> > would be much appreciated. Sorry for such a long post, but I felt I had
to
> > put all this down, and Usenet is where I find the most knowledgable
users.
> > TIA!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >

"Jeff Hansman" <[nospam](E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>Now, I know many of you will jump on the PSU as being the culprit here, and
>normally I would agree, except how do you explain the fact that the
>anomalies only occured on my logon? Frankly, I am stumped, and any help
>would be much appreciated. Sorry for such a long post, but I felt I had to
>put all this down, and Usenet is where I find the most knowledgable users.

My suspicion would be that you had some nasty piece of software intruded
to load itself from *your* Startup folder, or *your* HKEY_USERS . .
Run, and it was not in your wife's one. *Possibly* the Antivirus set to
do a background scheduled scan every day, and not wait for idle time.


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (E-Mail Removed) (remove the D8 bit)

Would not be surprised, given all the crap floating around out there these
days. Will file your suggestion with the other should it crop up again.
Thanx.
"Alex Nichol" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Jeff Hansman" <[nospam](E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >
> >Now, I know many of you will jump on the PSU as being the culprit here,
and
> >normally I would agree, except how do you explain the fact that the
> >anomalies only occured on my logon? Frankly, I am stumped, and any help
> >would be much appreciated. Sorry for such a long post, but I felt I had
to
> >put all this down, and Usenet is where I find the most knowledgable
users.
>
> My suspicion would be that you had some nasty piece of software intruded
> to load itself from *your* Startup folder, or *your* HKEY_USERS . .
> Run, and it was not in your wife's one. *Possibly* the Antivirus set to
> do a background scheduled scan every day, and not wait for idle time.
>
>
> --
> Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
> Bournemouth, U.K. (E-Mail Removed) (remove the D8 bit)