When i8042prt.sys writes a log event saying that the hardware has timed out,
can't the driver also try to reset the hardware? And maybe try once per
minute or once per 5 minutes to see if maybe the 8042 chip will start
working again?

A remote user can view the event log and guess that maybe the 8042 chip has
overheated (this is in a notebook). But the remote user can't do anything
in Device Manager because the view is read-only over the network. And of
course the local logged-on user can't do anything when the keyboard and
mouse aren't being listened to. The only thing the local user can do is
pull the plug. (Well, if the power switch and BIOS are cooperating and if
Windows options have been set in advance then the user can hit the power
switch to hibernate ... but on power up, the hardware will be reset, but
will the driver be listening?)

having owned this driver, once the chip gets wedged, there is no amount of
time that can pass that will fix it. if you ge the hw timed out message, it
has already tried its hardest to talk to the controller. I have never heard
of an i8042 chip overheating though, esp on a laptop where it is integrated
into a superio chip and does not exist on its own. typically a hw timeout
was due to a bad external device or the driver/chip miscommunicated.

d

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"Norman Diamond" <ndiamond@community.nospam> wrote in message
news:uARRX91tFHA.2592@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

Mr. Holan,

Thank you for your reply. If the i8042 chip did not overheat then I have
one other possible guess. A key being held down might have overflowed a
buffer in an unexpected place somewhere, but this is just a guess. The
problem has occured several times with that laptop. The only external
connections are AC adapter and LAN cable, no devices.

As mentioned I could connect over the network and observe its event log and
device manager, but couldn't (or don't know how to) command it over the
network to put itself into hibernation. A power cycle did solve it and I'm
sure that hibernation could solve it without losing the session. Is there
really no way for the driver to command the chip to reset itself?

I have other laptops where the driver and i8042 chip miscommunicate, with
errors being logged but with the devices continuing to work, again with no
external devices.

(Also I have one desktop machine which doesn't even have an i8042, and in
NT4 days I had to remember to disable the i8042prt driver before installing
SP3. If I forgot to disable that driver then there was no recovery after
installing SP3, because just hitting the Ctrl key to start trying to login
would get a BSOD. I'm not sure why SP1 didn't have that problem. Windows
2000 and XP didn't have that problem but I guess you knew that.)

"Doron Holan [MS]" <doronh@nospam.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uLWHkE7tFHA.3740@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

it sounds like malfunctioning hardware to me. most laptops have an Fn+key
combination which will put the machine into standby, try that. Fn+key does
not go through the keyboard controller, it is handled directly by the BIOS
itself. any low system power transition will cause i8042prt to reset the
controller on resume from low power.

d

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Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. this alias is for
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"Norman Diamond" <ndiamond@community.nospam> wrote in message
news:eyNyBgAuFHA.3752@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...