Windows 7 sulk mode

[]
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I'm now staying with my blind friends for a few days, so can do some
first-hand work on the sulk mode, rather than having to do it via
Teamcenter.
The mode is: after a certain time after booting, which seems to be 5
to 20 minutes, it goes into sulk mode - where most things don't work,
but no error message is evident. I click on a desktop icon; the wheel
spins for a few seconds, accompanied by the open program sound; then
nothing happens. This applies whether it's something we've installed,
such as Eudora (an ancient email prog.), or something part of (or
supplied with) Windows, such as IE; it also happens if I try, for
example, to open task manager, or even shut down.
[]
We tried to do a repair install, with much help here (exclusively from
Paul, I think); turned out it was a 7 SP0 OEM upgraded to SP1, and we
needed an SP1 OEM disc to do the repair from, which we had to interrupt
after two or three days, as it had paused at IIRR 76% of the fifth of
five stages for many hours. Fortunately it restored itself to as before
(in a lot less time - 15-20 minutes or less - than the 80 or so it had
taken to make an image before attempting the repair).

Subsequently, Julia observed that drive E: was only showing up
intermittently; I was somewhat concerned, in that that was the external
drive I'd made the image on - not that we actually needed it, but still.

On subsequent investigation, on several other computers (3), it became
obvious that the electronics in the external case had more or less
failed completely (though the bright red LED comes on when you plug it
in). The drive itself (a 500G I think) seems fine. It's not surprising
that it failed: a bit of hunting shows that a complete replacement kit,
i. e. case, electronics board, even pouch, USB lead, some screws, and a
little screwdriver, can be had for less than 3 pounds, new (from UK
sellers; less than 1 I think if we were willing to wait for it to come
from China). I didn't find anyone selling just the board, but at that
price I didn't look hard.

It occurred to me that this USB-to-SATA board failing might have been
the cause of the problem. And it seems to have been! Julia's scanner
(also USB) isn't misbehaving as it had been, and she's been using the
computer quite heavily - including booting up with the (USB) wifi dongle
connected, which apparently often caused sulk mode (booting with it
_not_ connected then connecting it once the machine had booted seemed to
hold it at bay) - without problems.

Though it still seems an odd set of symptoms; I can accept a
malfunctioning USB-connected board affecting other USB devices, such as
the scanner and the wifi dongle, but it seems very peculiar that it
would put Windows 7-64 into a strange mode where you could move the
cursor, and select desktop icons, but not activate them. Or shut down.
But - touch wood! [knock on it in US (-:] - it seems that that _is_ the
cause. (Unless I tell you otherwise in the near future.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Once you've started swinging, chimp-like, through the branches of your family
tree, you might easily end up anywhere. - Alexander Armstrong, RT 2014/8/23-29

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
[]
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I'm now staying with my blind friends for a few days, so can do some
first-hand work on the sulk mode, rather than having to do it via
Teamcenter.
The mode is: after a certain time after booting, which seems to be 5
to 20 minutes, it goes into sulk mode - where most things don't
work, but no error message is evident. I click on a desktop icon;
the wheel spins for a few seconds, accompanied by the open program
sound; then nothing happens. This applies whether it's something
we've installed, such as Eudora (an ancient email prog.), or
something part of (or supplied with) Windows, such as IE; it also
happens if I try, for example, to open task manager, or even shut down.
[]
We tried to do a repair install, with much help here (exclusively from
Paul, I think); turned out it was a 7 SP0 OEM upgraded to SP1, and we
needed an SP1 OEM disc to do the repair from, which we had to interrupt
after two or three days, as it had paused at IIRR 76% of the fifth of
five stages for many hours. Fortunately it restored itself to as before
(in a lot less time - 15-20 minutes or less - than the 80 or so it had
taken to make an image before attempting the repair).

Subsequently, Julia observed that drive E: was only showing up
intermittently; I was somewhat concerned, in that that was the external
drive I'd made the image on - not that we actually needed it, but still.

On subsequent investigation, on several other computers (3), it became
obvious that the electronics in the external case had more or less
failed completely (though the bright red LED comes on when you plug it
in). The drive itself (a 500G I think) seems fine. It's not surprising
that it failed: a bit of hunting shows that a complete replacement kit,
i. e. case, electronics board, even pouch, USB lead, some screws, and a
little screwdriver, can be had for less than 3 pounds, new (from UK
sellers; less than 1 I think if we were willing to wait for it to come
from China). I didn't find anyone selling just the board, but at that
price I didn't look hard.

It occurred to me that this USB-to-SATA board failing might have been
the cause of the problem. And it seems to have been! Julia's scanner
(also USB) isn't misbehaving as it had been, and she's been using the
computer quite heavily - including booting up with the (USB) wifi dongle
connected, which apparently often caused sulk mode (booting with it
_not_ connected then connecting it once the machine had booted seemed to
hold it at bay) - without problems.

Though it still seems an odd set of symptoms; I can accept a
malfunctioning USB-connected board affecting other USB devices, such as
the scanner and the wifi dongle, but it seems very peculiar that it
would put Windows 7-64 into a strange mode where you could move the
cursor, and select desktop icons, but not activate them. Or shut down.
But - touch wood! [knock on it in US (-:] - it seems that that _is_ the
cause. (Unless I tell you otherwise in the near future.)

Make sure you "mark" the defective item, so nobody else uses it.
For example, cut the connector off it :-)

You would think, even if an excessive number of interrupts
were being raised by the USB subsystem, other stuff would
still work. Maybe if the mouse was USB too, the "bus resets"
that would be occurring over and over again, were canceling
out ongoing transactions ?

Paul