Perplexing Freeze on keyboard input

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I have Windows 7 64-bit with Service Pack 1 running on an AMD A4-3400 APU with a Radeon HD Graphics card.

I backup my C: drive image on a weekly basis to a USB drive that I turn on only for the backup and then turn off (after having the OS release it).

Recently, I had a boot drive problem so I reimaged the C: drive from my latest backup and was able to boot into windows but now I have a problem that when I use the keyboard in most programs, it freeze/hangs that program. If I go into cmd.exe, I can issue commands with no problem. But if i open a browser or Notepad and press a key, the window hangs.

I am using a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse but I have the same problem when I plug in a USB keyboard, so I don’t think that it is the keyboard itself.

Any suggestions on how to track down the source of this problem. I am sure that the first guess is drivers, but the image that I used to recover my C: drive was working fine when I backed it up. I am at a loss as to what to look at next.

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I would run Shell Ex View (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/shellexview.html) and disable all non-Microsoft DLLs (except for those which pertain to my antivirus program).
If that fixes the problem, I would then use Shell Ex View to reenable a few DLLs at a time, rebooting after each reenable. If the problem returns at some point, you will have narrowed it down to a few DLLs. Then reenable all except for those few, and then reenable one of them at a time till you find out which one is the offender.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I would run Shell Ex View (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/shellexview.html) and disable all non-Microsoft DLLs (except for those which pertain to my antivirus program).
If that fixes the problem, I would then use Shell Ex View to reenable a few DLLs at a time, rebooting after each reenable. If the problem returns at some point, you will have narrowed it down to a few DLLs. Then reenable all except for those few, and then reenable one of them at a time till you find out which one is the offender.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did that – disabled everything non-Microsoft DLL and rebooted but had the same problem.

It is predictably reproducible in a browser (Chrome or IE) or in Notepad++ but if I type into Notepad, that works. I can type into Notepad and then copy/paste into another program that would hang if I press a key on my keyboard.

I have tried looking at it in RegMon but when I try to analyze the wait chain, I just get that the program isn’t responding.

Any other ideas?

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Try SysInternals: https://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//160267-HTG-s-Sysinternals-workshop-How-To

Also, try a thorough virus scan. I suggest rebooting into Safe Mode with Networking, and then going to http://www.trendmicro.com. Near the bottom of the screen, click on Free Antivirus Tools. Download and install Housecall. Use it to do a thorough scan while in Safe Mode with Networking.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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If the problem persists when using a USB keyboard then that rules out wireless interference (e.g. a microwave or portable phone handset operating on the same frequency as the Logitech wireless keyboard).

I suggest using Nir Sofer’s WhatIsHang to see if it can pinpoint the cause. (A further check would be to boot into Safe Mode and check whether the problem persists.)

It may be a corrupt system file (so sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt could be used to check file integrity).

If sfc /scannow followed by a re-boot doesn’t sort the problem then it could be something hooking into the keyboard input – malware like a badly designed keylogger? To check, use something like Malwarebytes and, after a scan, in the tools menu download and use the Anti-Rootkit beta. However, malware would probably affect all programs, not just some so another check would be to try a hardware and devices troubleshooter.

Hope this helps…

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I rang WhatIsHang (32-bit) on itself as well as on Notepad++ and Chrome. Here is the report from WhatisHang. Both hang in Syswow64user32.dll, though in different calls. I have run sfc /scannow and it finds no errors. I have run malwarebytes and it found no problems nor did Norton Anti-Virus.

What is really frustrating is that I have two complete images of the C: drive take one week apart and done at a time when the system worked. I have tried re-imaging my C: drive from both of these backup images and neither has solved the problem. I am tempted to purchase a new version of Windows 7 (this is an OEM version that came pre-installed) and try a full new install. But that may not do anything since I seem unable to fix the problem by rolling back to what were good images. Is it possible that this is a memory failure (that User32.dll is being loaded into a standard location and that memory location is failing)?

In order to enter text into any program that uses this user32.dll (not the system32 version), I need to type into Notepad and then copy/paste using the mouse into the text area.

Any suggestions for next steps are welcome.

Hang report for WhatIsHang.exe

Generated by using WhatIsHang on 3/30/2014 9:04:02 AM
Web site: http://www.nirsoft.net

Remarks:
* The program hangs in a single system call. You can look in the call stack and stack data to find out which API function cause this hang.

Strings found in the stack:
SVWt|H…¤
C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesWhatIsHang.exe
e:g2h:jhjnjtcÌccÒcÒcÒcÒjzi¨c¨c¨g8iÒiÒj€j†cäcäcäcÒcÒjŒj’cÌcÌcNcNj˜cêjžcêcêjžcðjžj¤jªj°hj¶cŠgcücücNcNddiêj¼jŒdjÂdc®gÂddddgÈgÎdc–c–c–c–eŽeŽcÆgÔd&d&gÚfÞgàdPcNgæfœd,cêd,gìdbd¤gòd>gøgþcNhh
dDcähhbÊbÊhdJd¤dVcðcxh”h(h.h4h:h@db
@{Unknown}
! #!%”‘#)$+%-&/’1(3)5*7+9,;-=.?/A0E1I2M3Q4U5Y6]7a8e
s (x86)AMD APP
! #!%”‘#)$+%-&/’1(3)5*7+9,;-=.?/A0E1I2M3Q4U5Y6]7a8e9i:m;q}?@‰A‘B™
C:Program Files (x86)Common Files

Modules found in the stack:
C:Windowssyswow64MSCTF.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, MSCTF Server DLL
C:Windowssyswow64comdlg32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Common Dialogs DLL
C:Windowssyswow64KERNELBASE.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows NT BASE API Client DLL
C:Windowssyswow64GDI32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, GDI Client DLL

ThreadID: 5688

Execute Address:
754F78D7 USER32.dll!DispatchMessageW+0x5c

Call Stack:
0018F790 0040A505 WhatIsHang.exe+0xa505
0018FEE4 0040D832 WhatIsHang.exe+0xd832
0018FF88 74CD336A kernel32.dll!BaseThreadInitThunk+0x12
0018FF94 76FA9F72 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x63
0018FFD4 76FA9F45 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x36

Stack Data:
0018F774 754F78D7 USER32.dll!DispatchMessageW+0x5c
0018F778 754F790D USER32.dll!GetMessageW+0x2b
0018F77C 0018F7EC
0018F780 00000000
0018F784 00000000
0018F788 00000000
0018F78C 00000000
0018F790 0018FEE4
0018F794 0040A505 WhatIsHang.exe+0xa505
0018F798 0018F7EC
0018F79C 00000000
0018F7A0 00000000
0018F7A4 00000000
0018F7A8 00000000
0018F7AC 004D221A
0018F7B0 00000002
0018F7B4 0018F8F0
0018F7B8 00000000
0018F7BC 00000000
0018F7C0 00000000
0018F7C4 00000000
0018F7C8 00000000
0018F7CC 00000400
0018F7D0 00000100
0018F7D4 00000000
0018F7D8 00000000
0018F7DC 00000000
0018F7E0 00000020
0018F7E4 00000000
0018F7E8 00000000
0018F7EC 0003083C
0018F7F0 00000113
0018F7F4 00000003
0018F7F8 00000000
0018F7FC 0274336B
0018F800 00000099
0018F804 00000067
0018F808 0040F270 WhatIsHang.exe+0xf270
0018F80C 00680057
0018F810 00740061
0018F814 00730049
0018F818 00610048
0018F81C 0067006E
0018F820 00000000
0018F824 004F05D8
0018F828 0018F890
0018F82C 00000121
0018F830 004D8200
0018F834 004D0000
0018F838 004F06A8
0018F83C 00000000
0018F840 20000121
0018F844 76F9E38C ntdll.dll!RtlInitUnicodeString+0x164
0018F848 756C20BE MSCTF.dll+0x520be
0018F84C 74C072F8 comdlg32.dll+0x572f8
0018F850 004D01AC
0018F854 004D0000
0018F858 004D0000
0018F85C 00000080
0018F860 00890017
0018F864 00000004
0018F868 00000004
0018F86C 004D01AC
0018F870 004D0000
0018F874 756C2126 MSCTF.dll+0x52126
0018F8C0 76FE71F5 ntdll.dll!WinSqmSetIfMaxDWORD+0x31
0018F8CC 76F9E38C ntdll.dll!RtlInitUnicodeString+0x164
0018F8D0 76F9E0F2 ntdll.dll!RtlAllocateHeap+0xac
0018F8D4 74C072F8 comdlg32.dll+0x572f8
0018F8D8 76FA2C8A ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeCriticalSection
0018F8E8 76F9E38C ntdll.dll!RtlInitUnicodeString+0x164
0018F8EC 76F9E0F2 ntdll.dll!RtlAllocateHeap+0xac
0018F930 77072100 ntdll.dll+0x102100
0018F934 74CD494D kernel32.dll!TlsAlloc
0018F938 77072100 ntdll.dll+0x102100
0018F948 76FAE973 ntdll.dll!RtlFindClearBitsAndSet
0018F950 74CD14CB kernel32.dll!TlsSetValue
0018F970 76FAE99A ntdll.dll!RtlFindClearBitsAndSet+0x27
0018F974 77074250 ntdll.dll+0x104250
0018F980 76FAE973 ntdll.dll!RtlFindClearBitsAndSet
0018F98C 76FA7F9F ntdll.dll!RtlReleasePebLock+0x11
0018F990 77072100 ntdll.dll+0x102100
0018F994 76B34520 KERNELBASE.dll!TlsAlloc+0x7f
0018F998 74CD14CB kernel32.dll!TlsSetValue
0018F9A4 74BB1951 comdlg32.dll+0x1951
0018F9A8 74BB0000 comdlg32.dll+0x0
0018F9C0 74BB1B7C comdlg32.dll+0x1b7c
0018F9C4 74BB0000 comdlg32.dll+0x0
0018F9CC 74BB1BB8 comdlg32.dll+0x1bb8
0018FA08 74C30000 GDI32.dll+0x0
0018FA40 76FAD939 ntdll.dll!LdrResSearchResource+0xb4d
0018FA44 74BB1AEE comdlg32.dll+0x1aee
0018FAF0 7707021C ntdll.dll!NlsAnsiCodePage+0x20c
0018FB00 74BB1AEE comdlg32.dll+0x1aee
0018FB18 756C236E MSCTF.dll+0x5236e
0018FB20 76FF1482 ntdll.dll+0x81482
0018FB28 76F93300 ntdll.dll!memcpy+0xfc0
0018FB44 76FB68C1 ntdll.dll!RtlGetNtVersionNumbers+0xf0
0018FBC4 76FB5888 ntdll.dll!RtlCreateTagHeap+0x518
0018FBD8 76F93CDE ntdll.dll+0x23cde
0018FBE4 76F700D8 ntdll.dll+0xd8
0018FBFC 74CC0000 kernel32.dll+0x0
0018FC04 76F70000 ntdll.dll+0x0
0018FC40 004000E8 WhatIsHang.exe+0xe8
0018FC6C 76FAB496 ntdll.dll!RtlFormatCurrentUserKeyPath+0x2b1
0018FC7C 76FAB419 ntdll.dll!RtlFormatCurrentUserKeyPath+0x234
0018FCE8 76FA0000 ntdll.dll!LdrGetDllHandleEx+0x2a8
0018FCF4 76FA3CD3 ntdll.dll!RtlImageNtHeader+0xb3f
0018FCF8 756C25BA MSCTF.dll+0x525ba
0018FD30 756C2672 MSCTF.dll+0x52672
0018FD54 76FA38CE ntdll.dll!RtlImageNtHeader+0x73a
0018FD5C 76FA38AA ntdll.dll!RtlImageNtHeader+0x716
0018FD60 756C2632 MSCTF.dll+0x52632
0018FDBC 76FE71F5 ntdll.dll!WinSqmSetIfMaxDWORD+0x31
0018FDCC 76FA3CFE ntdll.dll!RtlImageNtHeader+0xb6a
0018FE00 76FA3CD3 ntdll.dll!RtlImageNtHeader+0xb3f
0018FE14 7525F480 msvcrt.dll!_msize+0x45
0018FE20 7525F489 msvcrt.dll!_msize+0x4e
0018FE34 76F8FAEA ntdll.dll!NtQueryInformationProcess+0x12
0018FE38 76FB1092 ntdll.dll!RtlEncodePointer+0x17
0018FE58 7525F600 msvcrt.dll!strcpy_s+0x8c
0018FE64 0040E3A8 WhatIsHang.exe+0xe3a8
0018FE6C 7525A442 msvcrt.dll!_unlock+0x15
0018FE70 752F02A8 msvcrt.dll!_winver+0xb8
0018FE78 7525F4D2 msvcrt.dll!_msize+0x97
0018FE80 7526118E msvcrt.dll!_onexit+0x61
0018FE84 75261162 msvcrt.dll!_onexit+0x35
0018FE90 0040E3A8 WhatIsHang.exe+0xe3a8
0018FEA8 75278CD5 msvcrt.dll!atan2+0x1af
0018FEC0 0040F950 WhatIsHang.exe+0xf950
0018FEE8 0040D832 WhatIsHang.exe+0xd832
0018FEEC 00400000 WhatIsHang.exe+0x0
0018FF7C 0040D8F8 WhatIsHang.exe+0xd8f8
0018FF80 0040E3E0 WhatIsHang.exe+0xe3e0
0018FF8C 74CD336A kernel32.dll!BaseThreadInitThunk+0x12
0018FF98 76FA9F72 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x63
0018FFA0 756C27A6 MSCTF.dll+0x527a6
0018FFC8 76FE71F5 ntdll.dll!WinSqmSetIfMaxDWORD+0x31
0018FFD8 76FA9F45 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x36
0018FFDC 0040D69A WhatIsHang.exe+0xd69a
0018FFF4 0040D69A WhatIsHang.exe+0xd69a
00190574 0041006E WhatIsHang.exe+0x1006e
0019062C 0041006E WhatIsHang.exe+0x1006e
00190654 00410072 WhatIsHang.exe+0x10072

Processor Registers:
EAX: 00020840
EBX: 7551C701 USER32.dll!IsDialogMessageW
ECX: 00000000
EDX: 00000000
ESI: 0018F7EC
EDI: 754F78E2 USER32.dll!GetMessageW
EBP: 0018F790
ESP: 0018F774
EIP: 754F78D7 USER32.dll!DispatchMessageW+0x5c

Memory Data Removed for length reasons

All Threads:
5688 0040D69A WhatIsHang.exe+0xd69a
1488 76FC3E85 ntdll.dll!TpCallbackIndependent+0x238
6464 76FC3E85 ntdll.dll!TpCallbackIndependent+0x238
1128 76FC3E85 ntdll.dll!TpCallbackIndependent+0x238

All Modules:
00400000 – 00418000 C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesWhatIsHang.exe , NirSoft , WhatIsHang, WhatIsHang
76F70000 – 770F0000 C:WindowsSysWOW64ntdll.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, NT Layer DLL
74CC0000 – 74DD0000 C:Windowssyswow64kernel32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows NT BASE API Client DLL
76B20000 – 76B67000 C:Windowssyswow64KERNELBASE.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows NT BASE API Client DLL
75250000 – 752FC000 C:Windowssyswow64msvcrt.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows NT CRT DLL
71A30000 – 71BCE000 C:WindowsWinSxSx86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.7601.17514_none_41e6975e2bd6f2b2COMCTL32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, User Experience Controls Library
74C30000 – 74CC0000 C:Windowssyswow64GDI32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, GDI Client DLL
754E0000 – 755E0000 C:Windowssyswow64USER32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Multi-User Windows USER API Client DLL
758D0000 – 75970000 C:Windowssyswow64ADVAPI32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Advanced Windows 32 Base API
75230000 – 75249000 C:WindowsSysWOW64sechost.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Host for SCM/SDDL/LSA Lookup APIs
74DD0000 – 74EC0000 C:Windowssyswow64RPCRT4.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Remote Procedure Call Runtime
74990000 – 749F0000 C:Windowssyswow64SspiCli.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Security Support Provider Interface
74980000 – 7498C000 C:Windowssyswow64CRYPTBASE.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Base cryptographic API DLL
76F40000 – 76F4A000 C:Windowssyswow64LPK.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Language Pack
74EC0000 – 74F5D000 C:Windowssyswow64USP10.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft(R) Uniscribe Unicode script processor, Uniscribe Unicode script processor
75A50000 – 75AA7000 C:Windowssyswow64SHLWAPI.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Shell Light-weight Utility Library
747D0000 – 747D9000 C:Windowssystem32VERSION.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Version Checking and File Installation Libraries
74BB0000 – 74C2B000 C:Windowssyswow64comdlg32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Common Dialogs DLL
75DB0000 – 769FA000 C:Windowssyswow64SHELL32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows Shell Common Dll
75970000 – 759D0000 C:Windowssystem32IMM32.DLL , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Multi-User Windows IMM32 API Client DLL
75670000 – 7573C000 C:Windowssyswow64MSCTF.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, MSCTF Server DLL
75090000 – 75095000 C:Windowssyswow64psapi.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Process Status Helper
719A0000 – 71A20000 C:Windowssystem32uxtheme.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Microsoft UxTheme Library
747B0000 – 747C3000 C:Windowssystem32dwmapi.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Microsoft Desktop Window Manager API
75770000 – 758CC000 C:Windowssyswow64ole32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Microsoft OLE for Windows
755E0000 – 7566F000 C:Windowssyswow64OLEAUT32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , ,
749F0000 – 74B8D000 C:Windowssyswow64SETUPAPI.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows Setup API
75740000 – 75767000 C:Windowssyswow64CFGMGR32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Configuration Manager DLL
759D0000 – 759E2000 C:Windowssyswow64DEVOBJ.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Device Information Set DLL
76A00000 – 76A83000 C:Windowssyswow64CLBCatQ.DLL , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, COM+ Configuration Catalog
6EA10000 – 6EB05000 C:Windowssystem32propsys.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Windows® Search, Microsoft Property System
71640000 – 71661000 C:Windowssystem32ntmarta.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Windows NT MARTA provider
75AD0000 – 75B15000 C:Windowssyswow64WLDAP32.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Win32 LDAP API DLL
72780000 – 7278B000 C:Windowssystem32profapi.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, User Profile Basic API
6EBF0000 – 6ED20000 C:Windowssystem32WindowsCodecs.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Microsoft Windows Codecs Library
72730000 – 7277C000 C:Windowssystem32apphelp.dll , Microsoft Corporation , Microsoft® Windows® Operating System, Application Compatibility Client Library
67CB0000 – 67CE6000 C:Program FilesWIDCOMMBluetooth SoftwareSysWOW64BtMmHook.dll , Broadcom Corporation. , Bluetooth Software, Multimedia Keys Hook DLL

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Hi Derek,

Thank you for the feedback. The last line of the WhatIsHang report shows you have Bluetooth installed, including a keyboard hook: C:Program FilesWIDCOMMBluetooth SoftwareSysWOW64BtMmHook.dll , Broadcom Corporation. , Bluetooth Software, Multimedia Keys Hook DLL.

This keyboard hook will, I assume, be scanning key presses or the keyboard buffer in the background to check whether any ‘special’ (multimedia) keys have been pressed. This background scanning – even though you may be using a keyboard without any ‘special’ keys – could potentially be the cause of the freeze.

As a result I think the next step is to disable or uninstall this Bluetooth software.

I very much doubt you installed the Bluetooth software yourself. I suspect it was installed as part of the Logitech multimedia keyboard installation. That’s why the issue is still prevalent when you use just a USB keyboard… the Logitech software is still running in the background.

Try another of Nir Sofer’s excellent utilities – WhatInStartup – to temporarily disable any Logitech software from running and check whether the problem goes away.

Hope this helps…

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Hallelujah! I had installed a Bluetooth adapter a long time ago but stopped using it on this machine. I removed the adapter and uninstalled the drivers and now the keyboard is working. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for your help

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