XP freezes - Sony peripherals?

[Phil]

XP running on a Vaio FX701 freezes repeatedly. Simply
stops responding, even cursor movement, in mid task. Does
not respond to ctrl/alt/del, can only switch off and
restart.

Recently installed software to synch with Sony Clie PDA
and Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Have BT Broadband
internet access and nothing much else that's unusual.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

[Alex Nichol]

Phil wrote:

>XP running on a Vaio FX701 freezes repeatedly. Simply
>stops responding, even cursor movement, in mid task. Does
>not respond to ctrl/alt/del, can only switch off and
>restart.

First thing to check, because it is easy: often a result of the mouse
driver and the video driver arguing over which controls the pointer. It
is easy to check on - Control Panel - Display - Settings, Click
Advanced, and on the Troubleshoot page reduce the acceleration slider
one notch or two. If one does it, there is negligible loss of
performance: if two are needed look for updated video drivers from the
maker's site, www.nvidia.com (the latest version of the Download -
Windows XP drivers is 43,45. and Sony is certainly not up to that)

--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows - File Systems)
Bournemouth, U.K.