Keyboard and mouse stop working 1

[willyboy58]

I have installed NT 4 (twice now) on a reformatted hard drive. I tested the drive during the reformatting with the “Scandisk/All/Surface” command. It came up clean with no problems.

I have installed service pack 5. I tested the system to make sure that everything was working (especially the keyboard and mouse) by turning the PC off and then rebooting. It worked. I installed Office 2000 and checked to make sure it worked. It did. I again turned the PC off and rebooted. It worked. I did this a few times just to be sure. Life was good.

This morning when I booted up the PC, the mouse and keyboard would not work. They did work last night. This is the second time that this same problem has occurred. It worked the day before, but now it doesn’t.

During the current situation, the keyboard works while booting until I get to the blue screen that displays:
“Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 (Build 1381) Service Pack 5 1 System Processor [64 MB Memory] Multiprocessor Kernel”. I know that this is a standard message.

At this point, the system stops doing anything. The hard drive does not spin and the booting up does not continue. The mouse does not work. But if I press any key on the keyboard, the boot process starts again. I get as far as the NT logo screen and the “Begin Logon” box. But now the keyboard is dead. Nothing happens.

Given that the keyboard works to a point, I do not believe that this is a keyboard or mouse physical issue. I believe that it is software, but I don’t have a clue what it could be or what to do. Like I mentioned, twice now it has worked the day before (the day I reformatted and reinstalled NT) but then refused to work the next day.

I would be very grateful to anyone that could provide me with any help.

TIA,

Bill

 

[mattjurado]

Here is what I would do...

Open the case and reseat all cards, then close it back up and reconnect all cables.

If the problem still occurs, reformat and reinstall. See how it goes. Load SP6a instead of 5. Then load MS Office and see if it happens again.

The fact that you stated the computer rebooted a few times after making the last software change (being MS Office 2000), tells me it probably isn't software, that something is loose, or possibly defective. Could also be power related, if you have a UPS laying around, plug it into that. It very well could be something odd happened and you did get a corrupted file, but if that is the case a reinstall would clear that up.

Matt J.

 

[willyboy58]

Matt,

Thanks for the help. I did everything you suggested and at this moment (knock on wood) it's working. I updated to SP5 from a CD that I had and have d/l SP6. So far, so good.

We'll see about tomorrow.

Once again, thanks.

Bill

 

[willyboy58]

Here we go again.

In my last post I stated that I had reinstalled and had it going. I have the SP6 exe file on floppy. I need to connect to the internet to get it finished, but SP 5 is in.

Anyway, it worked for a while. I shut it down for a couple of hours to watch some TV and get something to eat, then tried again. No luck. It is getting as far as the “Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 (Build 1381) Service Pack 5 1 System Processor [64 MB Memory] Multiprocessor Kernel" message. Then it stops. The boot does not go any further.

The keyboard and mouse are detected at the beginning (DOS screen) and the keyboard works until it reaches the above message. At this point, when I press a key, the boot continues and the "Begin Logon" box appears wanting the Ctrl+Alt+Delete. But the keyboard no longer functions. Neither does the mouse.

The PC has not been moved since it worked right after the reinstall. I obviously don't know what is causing the problem, but somehow I just feel that it is not a hardware issue. If it detects the keyboard and mouse at the beginning, that means to me that the hardware is working to that point in time.

I had thought that maybe somehow the processor needed to be hot (physical temperature) b/c of a defect or something. So I left the PC on for a bout an hour and then retried. No luck.

I am baffled and frustrated. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

Bill

 

[wolluf]

Bill - have you tried just replacing mouse/keyboard?

Are both ps/2 type connections? (or is it older machine with serial mouse and 'big' keyboard connector). If ps/2, would wonder if the motherboard controller for this type of device was ok

Can you boot machine from a win98 boot floppy? And if you do, do the mouse & keyboard function then? (particularly when they're not working on NT)?

 

[mattjurado]

Yes, it definitely sounds like one or more devices are starting to have issues. You might try moving the PC on to a UPS, or to an outlet on a different electrical circuit, it could just be power dips or spikes on your equipment. But agreed, you might try to swap the mouse/keyboard.

Matt J.