XP Keyboard and mouse both dead - help please

[redpointstar]

I am at my wits end on this one.

We were upgrading the keyboard on a system (with XP home) and, as part of the install for the new wireless keyboard, it had to uninstall the old one. Fine. After the reboot, though, the keyboard is dead. It works fine in the bios and to select the OS, etc, but once XP loads, no numlock lights and no response whatsoever.

I tried to back out to the old version by using the recovery console (

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545),

and, when I restore the original registry and boot, they keyboard and mouse work fine. But, when I take a recent recovery point (a few months back) and install that registry and boot, the keyboard and mouse are still dead.

I'll take any creative solutions people can come up with. I've tried a couple of remote control software package remote installs (remotelyanywhere), but they have failed installing. I've tried looking at registry settings to see what the issue is, but no luck there.

The machine *is* running once it boots - I can hit the file system over the network - but I just can't move the mouse or run any commands against it. If anyone has a creative way to let me run something without a keyboard or mouse on an XP Home computer, please let me know

 

[G0AOZ]

What sort of connectors are we talking about here? PS/2 or USB?

You say the keyboard works in the BIOS ok, what about if you boot the PC in question with a DOS boot disk, say Windows 98. Does the keyboard still work?

What about running the XP CD and trying a repair?

I take it the keyboard and mouse (PS/2) were only removed and replaced when the machine was completely switched off. Removal or insertion of PS/2 devices whilst powered on can permanently damage the device and/or the relevant motherboard interface.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[stduc]

I tried to back out to the old version by using the recovery console (

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545),

and, when I restore the original registry and boot, they keyboard and mouse work fine.

Further to GOAZ, above - what was wrong with this boot?

If you can RC (remote connect) what happens if you try 'add hardware' from control panel?

If you can RC what is the status of the device manager? Any warning triangles? Does a keyboard and mouse show up at all in device manager.

Again from RC - is there an installation disk you can try?

Is the original keyboard detected?

Please report back.

[navy]When I married "Miss Right" I didn't realise her first name was 'always'. LOL[/navy]

 

[stduc]

1 more thought - Can you borrow a USB keyboard & mouse to try? They should work without requiring any special software.

[navy]When I married "Miss Right" I didn't realise her first name was 'always'. LOL[/navy]

 

[redpointstar]

They are PS2 connections and the hardware is fine because it works when I am in recovery console, a separate xp installatio (on another drive of the same machine) or BIOS.

I can't get a remote connection working - it's XP home and I don't have anything that I can install remotely on it - if you have the name of something (i usually use remotely anywhere), I would love to try it.

I tried a USB keyboard and a USB mouse, but had no luck with getting them to work either.

I have not tried an XP repair (frankly, I am scare to try thinking it will screw all my installs and I will have to re-install all my software again)


AS for status of Device manager, I can't get into it. I am stuck maddeningly at the list of users for the machine. If I could get past taht, I could play with putting a program in during startup/login for installing a remote control tool, but I can't even get past the screen asking me to choose my user.


Finally, for the question "Further to GOAZ, above - what was wrong with this boot?" I assume you mean what was wrong with restoring the registry back to its original state? In that case - everyting worked fine, but i would have had to reinstall every application/utility/hardware addition that I ahve done over 2 years, which I was not anxious to do. AS I understood the article, that was just a temporary step so you could go back to an earlier snapshot, which I did.

 

[stduc]

Are you saying that the only usable restore point was 2 years old? XP makes one a day - or there abouts. So, for example if you go back 14 days you only have to re-install any software you installed in the last 14 days. You also have to re-do any settings you altered, like folder options and screen resolutions and driver updates/installs etc etc etc....

You can pick restore points to try in safe mode. If one is no good, you can go back into safe mode and try another if necessary. If the PC boots normally you can do the same from normal mode.

If you have a full CD-ROM version of XP Home you can repair-install and shouldn't lose any programs - you just lose ALL updates to XP. So afterwards you have a mega online update to do.

Finally - a tip. Always make a restore point before installing software/hardware - or making any significant changes. That way you know you have a good point to go back to.
To make a restore point either use Start>all programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore
Or
Click on the desktop, so no Icons are selected and press function key F1. Navigate to system restore using the help screen. (Select "Undo changes to your computer with System Restore" and then "Create a restore point"). You can give them meaningful names - such as "Prior to trying a new keyboard")

I hope this helps

[navy]When I married "Miss Right" I didn't realise her first name was 'always'. LOL[/navy]

 

[redpointstar]

When I copy over the registry from a recent restore point, the keyboard and mouse still do not work. I am not sure why these points do not work since these restore points are before the change I made to the keyboard/mouse.

The only restore point that seems to work is the ORIGINAL restore point in the c:\windows\repair directory. That one works fine, but is the original install on the machine and is only useful so that I can get acceess to the machine to try to further manipulate the registry etc.

I am going to try the repair today. I'll let you know how it goes (keeping fingers crossed)

 

[Lemon13]

do a repair, but not the first option (there u should choose install), xp will then find ur previouse install and gives u a second repair option, choose that, u wont loose any installed progs, settings or ......

 

[redpointstar]

First, thank everyone for the help. It gave me the confidence to try the xp repair.

The XP repair did NOT solve the problem. In fact, I could not finish the XP repair because halfway through, the system popped up a message box asking me for the location of the Logitech iTouch driver files (which had been uninstalled in the first step of this whole fiasco). But, the PS2 keyboard and mouse that had worked at the begining of the install process were unresponsive by the time of this message box, so I could not tell the machine where to install and was stuck again.

But, now that I knew what it needed, I just downloaded those files again and booted to my alternate instance of XP on the other hard drive and copied the correct files into c:\Program Files\Logitech\iTouch.

Once i did that, I rebooted to let the XP repair set up continue and viola, the mouse and keyboard work!

Be careful before uninstalling the Logitech iTouch keyboards!

Ugh, 4 wasted days because I dropped coffee on the old keyboard!

Thank you all again.

 

[stduc]

Well done & congratulations.

BTW I have never uninstalled a keyboard, or a screen before changing them. NIC cards, Sound cards, etc - but screen dies or new keyboard - just add the new one - LOL

As for 4 days - a mere bagatelle. I could tell you some tales - 1 month and 2 new hard drives later after updating a sound driver when all along it was a bad NIC card !!!!!!!!!!!!!! But that was a few years ago. Believe me you don't want the details!!!!!!!!!!!

[navy]When I married "Miss Right" I didn't realise her first name was 'always'. LOL[/navy]