Controls get randomly stuck (solved)

**Alaeron** · August 22, 2012, 06:25 AM

Basically, while I'm playing a game at random moments (usually every few minutes) the character will keep moving in the direction I was pressing or the camera will keep panning (always in the direction I was going towards) for a few seconds and then I can regain control. Everything else seems to keep working, the game goes on, the mouse is usable and the audio doesn't loop or anything like that. Only keyboard input seems to get stuck for a few seconds.

I do not have any controllers plugged in, I have tried a different keyboard and a different port, I also regularly defragment, scan for viruses and other malware, clean the registry, clean the dust inside the computer, keep things updated, but nothing seems to solve it. Well, almost nothing. In the games that allow it, turning off bloom seems to almost completely stop the problem, but I've had it also in games that don't support bloom so I may be wrong.

My system specs:

Windows XP Home
2 GB DDR2 RAM
512 MB ATI Radeon X1950 PRO (Catalyst AI disabled, not that it makes a difference for this problem, I tried)
931 GB Seagate Barracuda
Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, HT disabled

I would love to at least know what is going on, if this problem happened somewhere else, even if I may not be able to fix it. Oh, I've also read the "Before you ask for help" guide, but the problem is still here.

**irishron** · August 22, 2012, 06:27 AM

Which games? A list would help.

**Alaeron** · August 22, 2012, 06:48 AM

Yes, that is exactly what I was going to do this moment:

Medieval II Total War and its mods: as of now, disabling bloom seems to have solved it
Legacy of Kain Defiance: same as above
Empire Earth II and its expansion: same as above
Soul Reaver 1 & 2: one is a trainwreck on XP so I haven't played it much, but I think I got the problem on 2, which I don't really know if it has bloom
Oblivion: haven't played it in months, but it had bloom on and I got that problem pretty consistently, I should test it without bloom now that I think of it
Morrowind: never had this problem
Rome Total War and mods: same as above
Wizardry 8: it happened maybe once or twice, and maybe it wasn't even that for how rare it was

I will add more or update the list as I make other tests. Also, the keyboard works perfectly while typing. Nothing ever gets stuck.

**irishron** · August 22, 2012, 07:27 AM

I had your graphics card and it was fine with Rome on low/medium but did not like Medieval2. Sieges killed almost killed it.
The other games I don't know.

**Alaeron** · August 22, 2012, 08:10 AM

Medieval 2, except for this one problem, runs pretty great on my system. It really takes a few thousand units to make it chug. Oh, and I didn't always have this problem, of course. This computer is pretty old.

**Bolkonsky** · August 22, 2012, 08:41 AM

When was the last time you updated your display drivers?

**Alaeron** · August 22, 2012, 09:25 AM

A while ago because they're not supported anymore. They are the latest ones. Also the directX, which can only go as far as 9.1c (I think), that's up to date too.

**Bolkonsky** · August 22, 2012, 11:03 AM

I had this card and never had any issues with this happening.

Have you installed any programs that run in the background, recently?

**Alaeron** · August 22, 2012, 11:37 AM

The usual antivirus, firewall, Catalyst, speaker control...AND ATItool which is really old and not supported anymore. So I tried deactivating it and tested Medieval II, Empire Earth II Art of Supremacy and Defiance with bloom on and I didn't encounter the problem.

I'll post again if the problem resurfaces, but it seems solved now. I can't believe I didn't think of deactivating ATItool. I kept it on at all times to see the video card temperature (which has been perfect since I cleaned it), but if it has to ruin my games then screw that. If that's the culprit I'm going to uninstall it.

Thanks a lot, I'd rep you if you took it.

**Bolkonsky** · August 22, 2012, 04:41 PM

Awesome, glad to hear.

**Alaeron** · August 23, 2012, 10:59 AM

I've been playing Third Age for quite a while now, with bloom on, and the camera has been pixel-perfect. I really think it's solved now, thanks again.