[R52] Annoying windows lock-up

[Jostie]

LS,

since a couple of months my Thinkpad suffers (and thus I suffer, and so the Thinkpad suffers even more ) from a strange and extremely anoying lockup problem, that seems to be occuring randomly. It happens sometimes if I ask for the "Windows security" menu (containing the "Lock Screen", "Log off", etc. options) by pressing ctrl-alt-del. Instead of just showing me the screen, windows decides to just show the background and mouse pointer and do nothing. There is nothing I can do about it, since there is no button to click. Applications still function, because the "Access IBM" button still lauches the access IBM tool (recognizable by the sound it makes). The only option is to press the on/off button, so the system shuts down. Only then it shows the start bar and desktop icons again, to hide them again because the system is shutting down. Most of the time it then locks up again in the same way. In that case the only option is to press the on/off button for a second or 5, to kill it completely and smash down the screen in a blaze of rage and fury and watch some TV.

Do these symptoms look familliar? Please let me know. I have tried to re-install windows clean (without IBM stuff), which did help for a week or three.

Help is appreciated extremely!