VISTA Explorer, IE, Firefox browsing problem

scutcomb

New Gateway FX6800-11 w/VISTA home prem can't browse properly. Click on a folder, left side of window, it opens first display window. Try to drill-down into that folder by clicking on any folder within it, and you go nowhere.

Actually the window does briefly go "forward" to display content of folder you selected, but it quickly snaps back to original display as if you had selected "back".

Feature affects all Windows Explorer browsing between folders. Only work-around is to right-click and select "open", which then displays the contents of your folder in new window.

Feature also affects browser switch between web-sites (URLs) via address-bar or bookmark selection in IE or Firefox. In each case, selecting a new URL allows switch to that URL for 2-300msec, then the browser display switches back to the original URL, as if the user had pressed "back". At this time, the "go forward" icon is blue, "go back" icon is grey, as if you should be able to go to your intended URL by selecting "go forward". You can do this, but the display quickly snaps back to the initial URL. Makes browsing impossible, unless you select File->New Tab and then enter your URL in the blank address bar (or select from a bookmark).

This workaround does not allow you to enter a UID/PID within a window and then switch within that window, so you are effectively barred from accessing any web-sites where you need to log in.

Hardware is a 2.66 MHz Intel dual processor, using NVIDIA GeForce GTS150 (OEM only) and a Gateway mouse.

We tried disabling all add-ons and starting Firefox in Safe Mode, no help. In Windows Explorer, our Organize->Folders/Search Options selection for "open new content in same vs new window setting seems to have no effect. We also tried switching mice. This is, you can "select" in navigation by pressing ENTER at the keyboard, and it has the same effect.

IE is latest 7.xx version, Firefox is 3.0.8, not VISTA is running SP1. System came with Norton 360 but that has been de-installed during debugging, and is not running at this time.

Still looking for answers.

scutcomb

Workaround 1: During Windows Explorer navigation, selecting a link while depressing SHIFT or CTRL+SHIFT often acts like "open in new window" and allows the navigation to proceed, in spite of the bug.

Workaround 2: During IE/Firefox browser navigation, depressing SHIFT while double-clicking on the FORWARD icon allows navigation to proceed as if "open in new window" were selected.

These workarounds have made the onerous issue cumbersome but usable.

bakuryu

Is there any active antivirus and firewall installed in the system ?

Run HijackThis and post a log file.

__________________
Please don't click here

scutcomb

Nice to hear from you bakuryu. Good suggestion. I browsed VISTA and Firefox forums and saw others were having somewhat similar issues due to add-ons, so I have started Firefox in SAFE MODE with all add-ons disabled, no help. In IE, there were about 74 addons, and I disabled all, still functions the same.

I tried a second mouse, via mouse port, not USB, same behavior. Mouse and driver are from Gateway. Am planning to try a Logitech mouse and driver.

There are about 36 installed programs on the computer, nifty little things like SmartCopy, stuff I did not ask for, in addition to VISTA SP1. There are about 56 active processes shown in task manager, si I am considering killing processes one-by-one to see if it helps.

Initially Norton 360 came on this computer (1 wek ago), not yet activated, but it was the first thing I disabled, and there is no other active anti-virus stuff going on.

I love SpyWare on another computer, and am planning on purchasing and installing that anyway, so it might see if there are any traces or adware running.

Love your suggestion about HijackThis, and will pursue this, and post a log file if I succeed in downloading and running it. Thanks a lot for that.

It's a complex keyboard with a few nifty features I will never need, and it has its own driver, too, so am considering keyboard replacement with a standard Microsoft driver as well.

It's bizarre to me that a combination od keyboard button-presses (SHIFT or CTRL-SHIFT) in addition to mouse-select via cursor and then double-click can work around the problem. Makes me want to exchange the mouse/keyboard.

Anyway - first next investigative technique will be the process-kill one-by-one to see if some unnecessary installed software is filtering mouse data on its way to the application.

scutcomb

P.S. Yes, standard Microsoft Security Center firewall is turned ON.

bakuryu

No need of killing each process one by one, you will end up receiving BSOD or system reboots. Open command prompt (cmd.exe) and type :
tasklist /svc > c:\tasklist.txt

then post the contents of the c:\tasklist.txt file

Also was this problem right from the beginning or it started happening recently ?

scutcomb

Here is a tasklist from the affected Gateway FX6800-11 computer, created from
a COMMAND window using the command:

C:>tasklist / svc > file.txt

Image Name PID Services
========================= ======== ============================================
System Idle Process 0 N/A
System 4 N/A
smss.exe 504 N/A
csrss.exe 592 N/A
wininit.exe 660 N/A
csrss.exe 680 N/A
services.exe 716 N/A
lsass.exe 728 SamSs
lsm.exe 736 N/A
svchost.exe 888 DcomLaunch, PlugPlay
nvvsvc.exe 936 nvsvc
winlogon.exe 960 N/A
svchost.exe 1000 RpcSs
svchost.exe 452 AudioSrv, Dhcp, Eventlog, lmhosts, wscsvc
svchost.exe 568 AudioEndpointBuilder, EMDMgmt, hidserv,
Netman, PcaSvc, SysMain,
TabletInputService, TrkWks, UxSms,
WdiSystemHost, WPDBusEnum, wudfsvc
svchost.exe 12 AeLookupSvc, BITS, gpsvc, IKEEXT, iphlpsvc,
LanmanServer, MMCSS, ProfSvc, RasMan,
Schedule, seclogon, SENS, ShellHWDetection,
Themes, Winmgmt, wuauserv
audiodg.exe 1028 N/A
CTAudSvc.exe 1100 CTAudSvcService
SLsvc.exe 1172 slsvc
svchost.exe 1212 EventSystem, FDResPub, LanmanWorkstation,
netprofm, nsi, SSDPSRV, SstpSvc, upnphost,
W32Time, WebClient
rundll32.exe 1256 N/A
svchost.exe 1344 CryptSvc, Dnscache, KtmRm, NlaSvc, TapiSrv,
TermService
spoolsv.exe 1608 Spooler
svchost.exe 1632 BFE, DPS, MpsSvc
taskeng.exe 1940 N/A
agr64svc.exe 1164 AgereModemAudio
ETService.exe 1460 ETService
svchost.exe 1272 PolicyAgent
RichVideo.exe 676 RichVideo
svchost.exe 496 stisvc
svchost.exe 2056 WerSvc
SearchIndexer.exe 2096 WSearch
IAANTmon.exe 2172 IAANTMON
WUDFHost.exe 2340 N/A
taskeng.exe 140 N/A
dwm.exe 2408 N/A
explorer.exe 2216 N/A
taskeng.exe 2764 N/A
mHotkey.exe 2084 N/A
RAVCpl64.exe 2320 N/A
rundll32.exe 2732 N/A
IAAnotif.exe 188 N/A
GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe 2852 N/A
SmartCopy.exe 2756 N/A
SmartLauncher.exe 2132 N/A
CNYHKey.exe 3004 N/A
VolPanlu.exe 2828 N/A
PDVDServ.exe 3104 N/A
jusched.exe 3136 N/A
ChiFuncExt.exe 3400 N/A
ModLEDKey.exe 3720 N/A
wuauclt.exe 4072 N/A
taskeng.exe 3416 N/A
explorer.exe 3756 N/A
cmd.exe 4084 N/A
WmiPrvSE.exe 3216 N/A
tasklist.exe 3260 N/A

One would suspect that the offending task is amongst these, yes?

scutcomb

Problem solved, with the helpful suggestions of bakuryu!

Problem was a service in svchost.exe PID 568, named hidserv.

Bakuryu's suggestion to expose the services (SVC) associated with each
task in the task list was the key suggestion to unraveling this problem.

Once it was clear that multiple services might exist per service, it beckoned
me to once again visit the main TASK MANAGER task list, and select the
"services" tab, and then read service descriptions one by one. Fortunately,
services themselves can be stopped/started individually, and the hidserv
processes sounded like it might be affecting mouse/keyboard input data
as a filter:

service name: hidserv
description: Enables generic input access to Human Interface Devices (HID), which activates and maintains the use of predefined hot buttons on keyboards, remote controls, and other multimedia devices. If this service is stopped, hot buttons controlled by this service will no longer function. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

So I stopped this "hidserv" service, and immediately browsing worked flawlessly in Window***plorer, Firefox 3.0.8, and Internet Explorer.

I changed the "hidserv" service from "starts automatically" to "starts manually", to prevent it from restarting upon next system reboot. After reboot, it remained "stopped" and browsing continued to work flawlessly.

My next task is to pursue the official THANKS process with regard my highly esteemed and appreciated colleague bakuryu. How wonderfully global that this small problem in Mountain View, CA was solved with the assistance of bakuryu, listed as located in India!

Coincidentally, I have not yet heard back from Gateway.com tech support, who will be interested to know that the system configuration they are selling takes some rather advanced debugging skills to isolate a rather debilitating user-interface issue.

bakuryu

It's great to know that the issue has been resolved It's looks like there might be some bug in the gateway mouse/keyboard drivers and that was conflicting with the 'Human Interface Device Access Service'

scutcomb

bakuryu, please help me a little more. I want to see your Thanks count
increment to 482 out of 518 ... I am new to this forum and do not know
how to cause this increment to occur, though I would like to thank you
for your help.

Steve C.