Winxp Long Keypress Causes Freezing

[SithMaster]

I finally hopped onto the dual core wagon and so far my first foray is rather horrible.  Windows xp 32bit was installed as well as almost all the programs that get used often and I run into a huge problem.  Whenever a keypress lasts more than a couple of seconds windows freezes which makes playing games and scrolling with the arrow keys frustrating.  I've tried using a different ps/2 keyboard (don't have a usb one unfortunately), alternate motherboard drivers, alternate video drivers, and still can't figure this out.  Most similar situations seem unresolved or involve disabling stickykeys (I checked it was unchecked).  Any ideas?

Setup is as follows
Motherboard ecs a960m-m3 (using drivers downloaded off their website)
Processor X2 270
Asus xonar dg (first tried web drivers now using off retail disc)
evga 7600 gt (drivers from nvidia site)

[Endprodukt]

Get xp 64

[Howard_Casto]

What he said... that's your first problem... you don't run a 32 bit os on a dual core system. 

I would also suggest getting a usb keyboard... if that solves your issue then it's well worth the 10 dollar purchase. 

[MonMotha]

What he said... that's your first problem... you don't run a 32 bit os on a dual core system. 

OK, not a real Windows guru here, so can somebody clue me in on this?  I know Windows XP supports SMP.

Now, using it on systems with >2GB (and definitely >4GB) of RAM can be problematic, but why does the number of CPU/cores matter?

Finding usable drivers for XP64 can be a ---smurfette---.  It's also 100% completely EOL.  32-bit XP still has about a year left on the patches, at least.

[SithMaster]

What he said... that's your first problem... you don't run a 32 bit os on a dual core system. 

OK, not a real Windows guru here, so can somebody clue me in on this?  I know Windows XP supports SMP.

Now, using it on systems with >2GB (and definitely >4GB) of RAM can be problematic, but why does the number of CPU/cores matter?

Finding usable drivers for XP64 can be a ---smurfette---.  It's also 100% completely EOL.  32-bit XP still has about a year left on the patches, at least.

I know enough to be dangerous with these sorts of things and figure the reasons you mention are the only advantages aside from being able to use hard drives greater than 2tb as additional storage (huge plus when I finish my htpc).  From what I've read pro 64bit was stillborn.  Either way both 32bit and 64bit XP suffer from the same keyboard issue.  I'll be checking the usb keyboard scenario in a minute if the person I've lent mine to for the past while finds it.  For some reason I can't help but feel like its due to the motherboard being an ECS.

edit - USB keyboard works fine which means in my expert opinion that the ps/2 port is bad.  I'll have to check my invoice but the motherboard is still in warranty but I'm not sure I want to be going back and worth shipping the thing when I could just use a different keyboard.  Or get an adapter so I can use my crappy emachines keyboard that had the problem.  The spacing on these keys makes typing frustrating unless I look at the keys as I type.

edit - Ugh decent adapters seem to cost enough that getting a decent usb keyboard is the better option.  I'm going to dig through that keyboard preference topic around here and check my options.

edit - So the topic was actually about left handed mice meaning I would like to ask about keyboard preferences despite being somewhat off topic.  Amazon has several that I'm looking at so if anyone has opinions on them it'd be appreciated if you chimed in.

Gigabyte GK-KM5200 Slim Type USB Keyboard and Mouse Combo Set I like the laser etched keys

Logitech Keyboard K120

Microsoft Wired Keyboard 200 for Business - Black

[Endprodukt]

I'm using xp64 on four different systems, never had problems finding driver.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah it's another one of those infamous myths floating around.  Drivers for xp aren't all that different from drivers for vista and beyond.  So when are manufacturer releases a 64bit driver for win 7, it'll typically work for xp as well with little to no modification, so they go ahead and release both. 

The only time you run into driver issues is if you are running really old hardware, and the manufacturer hasn't bothered to update drivers.