Tricky keyboard driver problem. No keyboard access

[Vigilante]

Hiya fellas, this one has got me a bit perplexed.

I've got a system here that has no keyboard access. That is, PS/2 and USB keyboard access is shot.
Lemme just give you the facts.

1) When it came in, the PS/2 mouse DOES work, but STOPS working as soon as you touch a key on the keyboard. Then NEITHER PS/2 device works. If you don't touch the keyboard, the mouse will keep working.

2) A USB keyboard DID work for a while, but somewhere in the middle while trying to fix the PS/2 keyboard, it stopped working as well.

3) The PS/2 keyboard DOES work when outside of Windows.

4) Through various means of trickery, using just the mouse, I've ran system file checker, I've tried last known good, I'v used the registry entries for the keyboard drivers kbdclass.sys and kbdhid.sys from another PC. I've deleted and let Windows file protection replace those driver files. All to no avail.

5) I tried to Repair Windows from the OS CD, and at first the PS/2 keyboard did NOT work, but my USB one DID, I was able to press "R" to repair and so forth. But after the Repair ran for a little bit and went to a more Windows-like mode, the keyboards once again stopped working. Now it is stuck at the Product Key screen waiting for me to type in the key, and the keyboards don't work! ARG!

6) I have deleted the PS/2 driver and USB driver umpteen times. In Device Manager when showing hidden devices, the PS/2 driver just saying "Windows is unable to load this device or the drivers are missing", or some such message. And now it has the same message for the USB keyboard.

So frankly, how in the world am I supposed to repair the drivers without being able to type? Or do a Repair without typing? SURELY I don't have to do a full format just for one stinking little keyboard driver!! NO WAY!!

Any suggestions?
There are handfulls of places online of people with a similar keyboard issue, and nary a resolved case. Hopefully this does not end in a reload. I can't accept that.

 

[iss]

I have seen behavior like that before. it happned on two boards when the USB conroller went bad. the controller didnt fail out right so it just continued to have consistent problem with various devices casuing them to throw their drivers. even when the drivers were reinstalled they only lasted for a reboot or two.

Until I ran into that problem for the first time I had no idea how many PC components, and even software, depended on a properly working USB controller.

 

[Vigilante]

lol, I hear ya.
The USB controller is ok, because I've been using a USB mouse this whole time. And I've also been using a USB thumb drive to transfer files back and forth.

But the problem now is that I'm stuck in Repair mode because the keyboard still doesn't work, I can't type the Product Key. So does anybody know how I can cancel the Repair and get back to the old XP? Otherwise I'm going to have to create an answer file or something and re-Repair it again and hope it goes all the way into Windows.

 

[Vigilante]

Well, doesn't seem to be any help for the old girl. As it just get's worse. Now I try to repair install again using a disk with an answer file so I won't HAVE to type anything. But lo and behold, the keyboards don't even work to select a partition to repair in the first place! What a mess.

Looks like that little fly needs a bazooka to get rid of. It's reload time.

 

[Vigilante]

The end result of this was that the PS/2 port MUST be bad. Even though at very few moments, it still works.

I created an special OS disk with an answer file to completely load Windows. I stuck in my own HDD and used that. As expected, XP setup went all the way through without asking me anything, and plunked me right at the desktop. Using the mouse I checked Device Manager, there was no entry for the PS/2 keyboard. And when I pressed a key on the keyboard, the PS/2 mouse stopped working again.

There you have it, bad PS/2 port.

 

[jminkle]

same problem - port is not bad

My kid has an XP Home computer that does this. The keyboard works in the BIOS and Startup screen (F8), but as soon as windows loads any keypress will freeze the KB and mouse. However I can VNC to it just fine, even after the Mouse and KB are frozen.

I tried all the obvious things with no luck. Thinking the port was physically damaged I got another computer. It woked find with XP loaded. I put in his HDD and ran windows setup to repair it. Windows did it's thing and got to the Product key screen and lo and behold I could not type in the product key.

One thing I noticed was the caps lock and num lock keys work fine (make the lights blink) until I get to the product key screen and then they do not seem to work anymore. This leads me to believe that windows setup did not fix the problem. Maybe there is something in the registry or a file that is not getting "fixed".

It seems to me this is a software problem. I know it's a long shot but if anyone can think of anything else besides wiping the disk it would be great because my kid had a lot of special software loaded up and does not want to reload it all. I can't blame him. Thanks.

 

[swatme]

same problem

i'm having to use the on-screen keyboard to type this!

my mouse and keyboard stop working as soon as i press a key, and the keyboard doesn't show in device manager.

the keyboard works in bios and linux but not in either of my 2 windows installations! i need it fixed! i don't want to buy new hardware if it's not going to change anything.

any help would be good.

thanks
David

 

[gbhall]

This is all suspicious - is it another example of malware? I think we need to find out PDQ. It's hard to image a worse problem than a virus that disrupts your keyboard driver....

 

[tuneit2]

im here in phoenix
and ive found the only way i can get anything done is with an onscreen keyboard and it sucks.
although ive gotten pretty good at mouse writing its very frustrating
and i dont think it can be the ps2port because it wouldnt work at boot up and at the same time you can have your keyboard plugged in and it doesnt freeze up until you hit a key
i dont know what boards everyone is using but i wonder if it iasnt in the board
ill have to look but the board im using is a 2.4 478 processor and ill come back with another post and let you know what my board is
mouse writing is enough to drive anyo0ne nuts
bryan

hey guys and gals
im not a pro but i dont think its any kind of malware or virus oriented problem i
believe its a breakdown in microsofts software on there windows program where somehow
certain discs or install programs are corrupt or theres a software program that we installed and then deleted that that pulled the files with it and left us somehow unrecoverable
im going to go to microsoft and see if i can find out anything .
ill be sure to post anything i find as fast as possible because i have way to much stuff to backup and restore just for one g..d.. keyboard error excuse my french
ill let you know
bryan

hey vig
has anyone found any help? im about to throw this mouse through the monitor
and then use the keyboard to hang myself when i added a usb keyboard it did the same thing. i could use a usb mouse and ps2 keyboard right from the boot and the same thing as soon as you touch a key boink no mouse then no keybard
is gates sittin up here somewhere laughing.my error message says....windows cannot load the device driver for this..hardware driver may be corrupted error 39
and the keyboard driver on all standard windows installs is generic microsoft
im going tofind out i will not wipe for a dam keyboard driver thats bs

 

[raybay]

PS/2 ports almost never go bad unless the motherboard goes bad. But keyboards go bad frequently if they are USB. Have you looked for crud in the PS/2 socket. Blow out with canned air. Look for bent pin on the board. Look for crud in the usb slot.
The USB keyboard is the usual cause of the problem. Can we assume you have tried replacing the keyboard? Otherwise our guess is that the USB connection is the key to the problem. Use SAFE MODE to remove the USB keyboard software using add and remove, if there is such a reference to the brand or the item.
Or use a simple registry editor such as RegCleaner found on www.majorgeeks.com to look for any keyboard references.
PS/2 keyboards are controlled by the BIOS, not by Microsoft Windows, in our experience.
Do you have any flags in the Device Manager for any of the 14 USB Controllers (Universal Serial Bus Controllers}

 

[oldhsia]

My Toshiba Satellite XP laptop has a similar problem. I added a USB KB and experienced the same problem. Removed the keyboards from device driver and rebooted did not help. Run fix from boot disk did nothing. Reformated HD and Reloaded XP did not help.

I find my laptop is adding a ^ in front of each of my key stroke. On blue moon, KB will work for a few minutes. It is not stable at all.

Plse help

 

[Cray2000]

accessibility

I did scan through the posts but I dont know if anyone has mentioned this or not. I am a PC repair tech for a local company and I had a pc with the exact same problem come in. I finally nailed it down to sticky keys and filter keys under accessibility. Disabled both of those and didnt even need a reboot. Keyboard sprang to life!!! Hope this helps some one

 

[Pooter22]

I finally nailed it down to sticky keys and filter keys under accessibility. Disabled both of those and didnt even need a reboot. Keyboard sprang to life!!! Hope this helps some one

Can someone explain the exact steps on how to do this, because it just does not make since to me. Right now I am stuck on the product key page and the keyboard is not working, it works fine in bios and command prompt but soon as I get to the product key the keyboard does not work.

I'm really starting to get upset as no one has really provided a soild answer, and some of answers I have found talk about stuff which I have no clue about.

 

[raybay]

Some of it is merely luck of the draw. USB keyboards and mice last only about one fourth as long as the PS/2 ones do... Don't know why.

 

[ProfessorBen]

yo wat a gwaan..i am having the same problem with a laptop... IBM Think pad one of the older models... wat can i do to fix it with out restarting it...HELP!!!