When plugging in a USB digital camera (compact flash) or a USB l'espion mini-camera, or sometimes when using Outlook Express or changing the desktop picture, the computer slows right down. The mouse (USB) is almost unresponsive - it jumps around the screen, and the performance log has the CPU usage at a 100% all the time the computer is behaving this way. I have no idea what could be causing this! I don't know how the desktop picture, usb and outlook are related, but I have nothing else to go on. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks, Robin Emery

Ok whats the MOBO? have u upgraded the bios yet? Are all your drivers up to date? XP is picking about updated drivers... ow much RAM do u have? u need 256MB ram minimum... other then that i donno try those things first tell me how it goes...

Hi, thanks for replying. The motherboard is an Epox Socket-A 8KTA3 Pro, it also says VIA KT133A (FSB 266) + 686B if that means anything. It is running an AMD Duron 1.1GHz processor, with 640MB of RAM. he drivers are up to date as far as I can tell - they have not changed this this problem started. Same with the BIOS. What could cause this problem? I tried rebooting the system with only the Plug and Play service enabled (so that the camera worked), and the problem still occured. Thank you in advance for any help you an give.

Hey man, for testing purposes try put the USB mouse into the PS/2 plug on the machine most mice come with a little adapter, I had simalar problem cause my motherboard didn't like the USB mouse, I plugged it into the PS/2 socket and away she went fine and the mouse stopped jumping around the screen too. Hope this helps

When the computer is at 100% usage, which program is hogging the processor time? You're probably having driver issues...Check for an updated driver, or use Win XP's built-in drivers (if available)

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Hi, I tried a different mouse in the PS/2 port, unplugging the USB mouse (I don't have an adaptor) - the problem still occurs. There is no process listed as using up 100% CPU - in fact, the sum of all the processes does not equal 100%, yet the CPU usage says 100% and the idle process is 0%. What would make windows say this? Thanks Robin