System hangs when copying or moving files

[John]

I keep having a problem in which my system locks up while copying or
moving a large number of files. A typical example goes something like
this:

I unload 20 or 30 pictures from my camera into a folder on the
desktop. Call this folder A.

I sort through the pictures and create a sub-folder A\B and move some
of the files there.

I create another folder A\B\C and move some of the pictures there.

So I end up with
A on the desktop containing some files plus B
B containing some files plus C
C containing some files.

Now I try to move or copy (using drag and drop) folder A to My
Pictures.

At this point the computer locks up. The cursor moves with the mouse
but there is no response to mouse clicks and no response to the
keyboard (including ctl-alt-del). I have to do a hard reset to
reboot. Once the system reboots I find that no files have been moved
or copied.

If I go into My Pictures and create a folder A and within it a folder
B and within that a folder C, then copy or move the pictures from the
desktop folders to the respective My Pictures folders (i.e., copying
the pictures only, into the pre-created folders) then everything works
fine.

I've tried running chkdsk and it reports no errors.

I'm running XP home/SP3 (the problem predates the SP3 update)

Any ideas on what might be wrong here?

Reply-to address is real
John

 

[TERRY]

Hi J.I,m not sure how your loading pictures onto your desktop or wheather
your useing a card reader or plug.When i unload my pics to either of my
pcs.On mine i use usb.On the wifes i use card.Either way when i plug in the
pc prompts me to choose a program.The best way i found is to load them with
microsoft camera scanner wizard.It puts the pics into my pics.Once it has
loaded i can do anything with them.It saves the pics as it loads them.It
could be that saving them to desktop is not saving them properly.Hope this
helps.TERRY.

 

[John]

Hi J.I,m not sure how your loading pictures onto your desktop or wheather
your useing a card reader or plug.When i unload my pics to either of my
pcs.On mine i use usb.On the wifes i use card.Either way when i plug in the
pc prompts me to choose a program.The best way i found is to load them with
microsoft camera scanner wizard.It puts the pics into my pics.Once it has
loaded i can do anything with them.It saves the pics as it loads them.It
could be that saving them to desktop is not saving them properly.Hope this
helps.TERRY.

Thanks, but I don't think there's anything wrong with copying pictures
to the desktop. They're just files, after all, and it ought to be
okay to copy them around to and from any arbitrary location on the
computer.

In addition, I'm pretty sure I've seen the problem with other kinds of
files; it's just that photos are the thing that I'm most likely to be
moving around in big batches all at once, so they're the thing that it
happens with most often.

Reply-to address is real
John