Subj : Curious fault
To   : Marc Lewis
From : Peter Knapper
Date : Mon Jun 20 2005 10:27 pm

Hi Marc,

 ML> On occasion, _apparently_ some backgound task (perhaps a VDM) on my BBS 
 ML> machine causes the machine to become somewhat non-
 ML> responsive. (I say 'apparently' because I really don't 
 ML> have a handle on what's happening.)  If I click on any 
 ML> icon on the Desktop, it presents the properties of the 
 ML> icon, rather than launching the associated program.  

When your system is operating normally, if you hold down CTRL and ALT keys, 
then double click on an icon, it should then open the Properties of that object 
instead of the object itself.

So it sounds like your Keyboard state is "confused" and needs to be 
"normalised" before things can return to normal. I find that pressing down and 
holding for about 2 seconds the CTRL key, then release it, then repeat this 
sequence for each (individually) of the ALT, LEFT SHIFT and RIGHT SHIFT keys, 
then things should return to normal.

Its been a long time since I experienced this but I think it may be related to 
running a DOS session where it "captures" the state of the Keyboard and 
"swallows" some keystrokes, causing it to think some state keys are down when 
they are not.

Cheers..................pk.


--- Maximus/2 3.01
 * Origin: Another Good Point About OS/2 (3:772/1.10)

.