Keyboard and mouse won't work on boot unless.....

[HAL9000]

Windows 7 Premium 64 bit (Upgrade from Vista Premium 64 bit), old PS2 Microsoft Internet Keyboard, Logitech MX-510 mouse.

When I boot the machine normally (or for any other mode, I'll get to that in a minute), the keyboard is locked up (pressing num-lock or caps lock does nothing) and the mouse is dead (no lazer light).

There is one exception, if I hit F8 on boot and select DISABLE DRIVER SIGNATURE ENFORCEMENT, everything works fine.

Things I have tried;

-Different keyboard and mouse, tried replacing each one at a time and with both changed

-Booting with just the keyboard installed

-Booting with just the mouse installed

-Booting with NOTHING installed and then plugging in the mouse at the login screen.

-Booting with NOTHING installed and then plugging in the keyboard at the login screen.

-A restore as far back as I could go

-deleting everything in the device manager menu and letting it redetect everything

-setting BIOS to plug and pray mode

-blowing the dust out of the power supply (OK, I don't get this one, some kid CLAIMED it worked on his, I've heard of dumber things happening and the computer was due for a cleaning anyway, needless to say, no effect).

-having the system check for problems and running check-disk on my RAID 5 array.

-a hotfix from MS for a similar problem, but it specifically dealt with a sleep mode issue locking the keyboard and mouse, not a boot issue.

-copying system driver files from another computer.... BTW, don't do that, really messes with the system saying that it may be a bogus copy of windows LOL.

-Google searches... seems to be a common problem with no answer.

-You can set the system to permanently disable driver signature support, but IMHO, that's just opening another can of worms in the long run.


Any REASONABLE ideas welcome, solutions preferred.

[Panama Red]

Don't have any ideas for you, Hal but interesting to note that I've had several customers complaining of mouse and/or kbd not working recently. Unfortunately, they all are running XP so I doubt it relates to your issue.

[HAL9000]

Now I don't remember, but in XP is that part of the F8 menu to disable driver signature enforcement? If so, that's a way to get them in.

I'll add, I'm VERY confident that this is not a keyboard or mouse problem as per testing above, but rather, a software problem somewhere, and not necessarily a driver issue either.

[DSCHIEF]

Welcome to the wonderfull world of MicroSoft; It's not a Bug, it's an undocumented Feature.

Leave the Dark-Side & Embrace Linux

[David M]

Yup...there are lots of great games written for Linux and getting it to work is a snap!

[Statica]

Instead of manually copying system files have you tried a system repair? Startup Repair: frequently asked questions

[HAL9000]

Yes, tried that, actually tried that before swapping system files, forgot to add that to my comprehensive list above. No go.

[davemyers]

Instead of checking the driver signatures for your Mouse and Keyboard, how about checking the drivers for your USB ports? I've heard tale of Windows Updates changing the drivers from the signed manufacturer drivers to generic unsigned drivers from Microsoft. If that doesn't turn up something, find the manufacturer drivers - if it's a Dell or something else pre-built, go to their support website, otherwise you want the motherboard manufacturer's website and you'll need to know the model number of your motherboard. Download all the drivers for your system and re-boot, then report back here your results. I am willing to bet the problem lies with the usb drivers and/or the msmouse.inf and mskeyboard.inf files. Found this from a Google Search:

1) Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\INF 2) Locate MSMOUSE.INF, MSMOUSE.PNF, INPUT.INF, INPUT.PNF 3) If you don't have them don't worry, if you do copy them to your desktop for safe keeping. Next we need to locate a backup for this file. There are a few locations you can try see from the list below: 1) C:\WINDOWS\WINSXS 2) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE 3) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE\FILEREPOSITORY You can do an advanced search in these locations for the peciously mentioned files (or) you can search via the command prompt. If you're using the command prompt navigate to the specific directory and type: DIR MSMOUSE.INF /S /A DIR INPUT.INF /S /A You will need to find one of each that have matching dates. Your best bet would be the FILEREPOSITORY, but as mentioned before it's trial and error. Also, please select a file date that is BEFORE you started having the issue. I know everyone "should" have common sense, but you can't count on it. Once you've found the files you want to use copy them to your C:\WINDOWS\INF directory. Then lets navigate to the Device Manager... if you don't know where its at type "device manager" in the Start Search Bar. Once there we need to locate any "ghosted" entries and uninstall them. To do this you need to goto VIEW > SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES. If you have any transparent listings for mice or HID uninstall them and move on. Now reconnect your failed device, and see if the system recognizes it. If it does it should install the driver etc... and hopefully you're good to go. If not it's back to finding a INF that will work for you. It will take several attempts, but you'll get it. Also, if the device driver installs correctly and still doesn't work. Check the device manager and ensure the device is enabled. * One more thing. * Should you have NO mouse or keyboard this all can be done from the WINRE. It is a pain, but it is possible. Simply boot off your disc and once in the setup enviornment press Shift+F10 for a command prompt. You can go through all these steps in the command prompt to restore your two devices. If your keyboard is failed you will need to look for one additonal file which is MSKEYBOARD.INF.

[MikeMoss]

If nothing else works try a repair install of Windows 7.

[HAL9000]

Might not get to trying this out until the weekend, working on a lighting project for school.... I gotta find my elbow brace.. hand writing 46 pages (and I'm not done yet) is hard on the tennis elbow.

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by davemyers Instead of checking the driver signatures for your Mouse and Keyboard, how about checking the drivers for your USB ports? I've heard tale of Windows Updates changing the drivers from the signed manufacturer drivers to generic unsigned drivers from Microsoft. If that doesn't turn up something, find the manufacturer drivers - if it's a Dell or something else pre-built, go to their support website, otherwise you want the motherboard manufacturer's website and you'll need to know the model number of your motherboard. Download all the drivers for your system and re-boot, then report back here your results. I am willing to bet the problem lies with the usb drivers and/or the msmouse.inf and mskeyboard.inf files. Found this from a Google Search:

I went through the process of deleting everything USB and reloading the USB drivers, keep in mind, only my mouse was USB, keyboard is still PS2 and that didn't work.

It's a custom machine that I built (ASUS P5Q motherboard), no special drivers for the USB ports. Microsoft Internet Keyboard as mentioned, no special drivers, Logitech MX510 mouse, no special drivers, in fact, none available on the website for Windows 7.

I did find a BIOS update, hoping, but doubting that would work, I tossed it in... didn't fix that problem, but it did fix a problem I was having with the BIOS insisting on switching the boot device to my backup drive and just totally ignoring the RAID array.

Originally Posted by MikeMoss If nothing else works try a repair install of Windows 7.

That's the route I finally took and it appears to be working. I was hoping for a quicker fix as now I have to install the 2,423,245,672.243 updates and reconfigure my desktop theme.... but c'est la vie... it works.

Hmmm... wonder if that fixed the other glitch I had. I was using Windows Live Mail, but it totally puked on me... could open the program and receive and read mail just fine, but as soon as you tried to reply or create new, it crashed... again, seems to be a common prob all over the internet, with NO solution. I said the heck with it... since Windows Live Mail has pretty much become a clone of MS Outlook, I'm just using MS Outlook... figured I might as well since I have Office 2010 on this thing.