Technical problem driving me crazy!

[Taffy]

This should probably go in the tech section but not many people go there and this problem is driving me absolutely bonkers. I apologize up front.

Ingame, everything will be working fine, including the F1 button. Then randomly, I'll go to hit F1 and instead of bringing up the scoreboard it takes me to the desktop and brings up windows XP help and support. At this time a lot of the other buttons will also take me to the desktop bringing up different Windows XP options. The keyboard buttons no longer function correctly even when the game is shutdown. I have to reboot for the keyboard to work correctly.

Here is what I have done:

- Reinstalled the game and repatched it.
- Reinstalled XP and updated it via windows update.
- Tried two different brand new keyboards (G11 and dynex). Tried them both through the ps2 port and USB as well.
- Tried a different video card (longshot but I'm desperate)
- Tried another brand new motherboard (First was Asus PQ5 pro second was gigabyte).
- Updated all mobo drivers, BIOS, etc... via manufacturers website.
- Returned CPU to stock speed.

Current specs:
Gigabyte Mobo
Intel core duo e8500
OCZ reaper RAM 2G
Radeon 4850 Video

This has been happening for over 3 months now and it happens all the time. The movement buttons work fine so I can finish up a game, but as soon as I hit "t" and start to type a chat message, I'm taken to the desktop.

This did not happen on my old rig which was an AMD 2.4 dual core based setup.

Help this is driving me crazy!!!!!

[Mr Evil]

Sounds like it could be some program in the background stealing focus. Try using Task Manager to close everything except explorer.exe and anything that it won't let you close.

[The Demon Slick]

This might not help, but anyways... I had a similiar problem when running the game "windowed", since changing to fullscreen it stopped. Mine kept going to my desktop and I would lose control of my player. Always at the worst possible time, of course.

[Moloko]

MS mouse issue

I'll just add this - the middle mouse scroll button on MS explorer mouse cannot be programmed & if pressed accidently returns you to windows.... needless to say, it occurs often when pressing alt fire, and is very frustrating

[Taffy]

Thanks for the ideas guys, keep them coming.

I'm definitely in fullscreen mode.

Moloko. I have an MX518 and use the middle mouse button for the translocator/hoverboard and it seems to work fine?

Also, I forgot to mention I have tried disabling all the XP services I can to no avail. Still happens.

I thought for sure I had a bad mobo. I would just be sitting at the computer reading, and Windows XP would go "bloop, bloop", and the G11 keyboard lights would go off, and it would stop working. Then, 5 seconds later Windows XP would go "bloop. bloop" again, the lights would come on, and the keyboard would be fine. Replaced the mobo and that problem was solved but the ingame problem still happens!!

Grrrrrrrr. This is so frustrating...

[Moloko]

Thanks for the ideas guys, keep them coming.

I'm definitely in fullscreen mode.

Moloko. I have an MX518 and use the middle mouse button for the translocator/hoverboard and it seems to work fine?

Also, I forgot to mention I have tried disabling all the XP services I can to no avail. Still happens.

I thought for sure I had a bad mobo. I would just be sitting at the computer reading, and Windows XP would go "bloop, bloop", and the G11 keyboard lights would go off, and it would stop working. Then, 5 seconds later Windows XP would go "bloop. bloop" again, the lights would come on, and the keyboard would be fine. Replaced the mobo and that problem was solved but the ingame problem still happens!!

Grrrrrrrr. This is so frustrating...

Maybe it's just Ms mouse then, but since they're popular, it probably would be worth fixing. Using Xp 32bit btw.

[Mr Evil]

...Also, I forgot to mention I have tried disabling all the XP services I can to no avail. Still happens...

Don't just shut off services, shut off all running processes. It could be caused by some "utility" installed by crappy bloated drivers, or it could even be caused by something malicious like a virus.

[cdiddy]

is it only this game or can u try it on any others???

[Taffy]

Don't just shut off services, shut off all running processes. It could be caused by some "utility" installed by crappy bloated drivers, or it could even be caused by something malicious like a virus.

I certainly know that first hand, ATI and Nvidia drivers both install hot key pollers for video settings. Forgot to mention that I removed those as well.

Nothing looks suspicious in task manager as far as the processes that are running, but I'll definitely try that next time I play.

It just seems to me that someone would have experienced this as I have a very typical setup.

[Taffy]

is it only this game or can u try it on any others???

It doesn't seem to happen in 2k4, but I just reinstalled that recently and haven't played much. I don't play other games