Problem with MAME/MaLa dropping to background

[Cynicaster]

I just lugged my MAME cabinet down into my basement the other day and in general I am having a blast playing it.  However, there is a rather bizarre recurring issue that I need help with.  

The problem: I keep getting kicked out of games in progress.  Actually, “kicked out” is probably the wrong term because the game continues to run in the background, but Windows gives the scope to some dialog box(es) that keep popping up, and the game window drops to the background hidden.  I can usually kill the dialog boxes and switch back to the game via ALT+TAB but obviously I need to figure out how to stop this from happening.  

I’ve never seen these particular dialog boxes before and I have no idea what they’re for.  I have a hunch it’s related to something low-level because the title bar of the dialog refers to HP support with a little diagram of a computer chip and the PC is an old HP.  

My first thought was that the PC might be overheating and malfunctioning, but I’ve got a large ventilation fan on the cabinet so I really don’t see that being the problem.  I even checked the processor and it wasn’t even hot to the touch.  

I didn’t see a pattern to the problem until last night it occurred to me that it only seems to happen when my friend is over and we’re playing two-player (simultaneous play) games such as Street Fighter, shooters, NBA jam, etc.  After my friend leaves, I do a reboot, and play for the rest of the night with no problem at all.      

Which leads me to believe it might be some bizarre problem with the computer not being able to handle the endless barrage of keystrokes from 2 players mashing buttons at the same time.  Either that, or there are some key-mapping issues on the player 2 side that are triggering strange behavior.  It’s worth noting that, so long as the game screen is not hidden,  both joysticks and all buttons seem to work perfectly fine.  I’ve heard about a phenomenon called “ghosting” but I’m not really clear on what that is.  Anybody care to explain?

My first inclination was that the PC must just be in its death throes and needs to be replaced but the fact that it runs for extended periods trouble-free gives me hope I can salvage it.  

Anybody have any similar experience or suggestions?

Setup:
-   HP PC with AMD 1.9ish GHz, 2 GB RAM (about 7 years old)
-   iPac2 using factory key mapping
-   MAME v122
-   MaLa front end (no other emulators installed as of yet)

[javeryh]

You can disable pop-ups in Windows.  There is a nice tutorial in the wiki. 

[Hoopz]

Have you disabled Windows sticky keys?  That may not be it since you said it's a HP dialog box that pops up but it's something to check out. 

[Cynicaster]

You can disable pop-ups in Windows.  There is a nice tutorial in the wiki. 

I quickly browsed the topics in the index and didn't see this.  Care to point me to it? 

Have you disabled Windows sticky keys?  That may not be it since you said it's a HP dialog box that pops up but it's something to check out. 

Already tackled that one. 

Something I just thought of, since this PC used to be my general purpose PC I think I still have a bunch of things that load automatically on startup that have no place on a MAME machine.  What is that utility you can go into and enable/disable startup programs?  I think it's "system configuration utility" or something like that... it's been so long since I've used it I can't even remember how to get to it. 

Thanks guys.

[Hoopz]

You can disable pop-ups in Windows.  There is a nice tutorial in the wiki. 

I quickly browsed the topics in the index and didn't see this.  Care to point me to it? 

Have you disabled Windows sticky keys?  That may not be it since you said it's a HP dialog box that pops up but it's something to check out. 

Already tackled that one. 

Something I just thought of, since this PC used to be my general purpose PC I think I still have a bunch of things that load automatically on startup that have no place on a MAME machine.  What is that utility you can go into and enable/disable startup programs?  I think it's "system configuration utility" or something like that... it's been so long since I've used it I can't even remember how to get to it. 

Thanks guys.

msconfig

I would disable about everything that starts up automatically.  If you aren't online with that machine, I would get rid of the anti-virus software, firewall, etc.

[markronz]

You can disable pop-ups in Windows.  There is a nice tutorial in the wiki. 

I quickly browsed the topics in the index and didn't see this.  Care to point me to it? 

All the hiding popups type stuff is listed under the Hiding Windows section, under software
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Hiding_Windows