Corrupted keyboard drivers in XP, can't load keyboard

Background -

* Computer running XP pro (native install from Dell), sp2
upgraded. Pretty standard USB keyboard, Kensington trackball (w.
Kensington software). System works fine.
* Tried to install a Wacom Graphire III tablet. This works fine
(even simultaneously with the trackball), but whenever you reboot the
system, you get a system stop, and the only thing to fix it is to go
back to a "pre Wacom" restore point. Wacom drivers updated to best off
web, no help.
* Called Wacom - they suggested that I deinstall Kensington to see
if the conflict is there. This I did, and it didn't help. When back to
the "pre-kensington deinsall" checkpoint.
* At this time the symptoms below started happening:

Symptoms:

* The keyboard has stopped working! When you boot windows, the
keyboard (what few keys you can test) works fine, and the "num lock"
light is on. About 3/4 of the way through the Windows reboot process,
however, the green light goes off and the keyboard stops working
(entirely). For example, you can't log in, because you can't type your
password. This also happens in safe mode, I think.
* Luckily, I routinely use this machine in remote desktop mode -
so I log in remotely. All is well, except when you go into device
manager view, the keyboard shows and error. The error (#39)
explains that Windows was unable to load the drivers, because they are
corrupted or missing.

Attempted solutions:
I have tried many combinations, here are most of them:

* Look at the drivers on the system matching the names listed in
the DeviceManager. Lots of copies of each driver, seem to match in size
(although I didn't FC them).
* In Device Manager, deinstall the keyboard drivers, reboot the
machine, and let windows re-discover the keyboard. Same problem.
* Switch to a standard Dell keyboard, running off the PS-2 ports.
The same problem occurs, although in this case the DeviceManager error
changes places to standard PS-2 mouse (i.e.this is not a USB problem).
Different driver files are cited.
* Try to overwrite some of the drivers with those from another
system. The XP driver self-heal problem makes this rather difficult. I
have not tried turning this off, because somehow I doubt the drivers I
am touching are corrupt - there seem to be many keyboard drivers!
* Tried updating the drivers in deviceManger. Windows tells me no
update needed, the ones I have are current.
* Haven't done a Windows "repair", since my disks are pre-SP2, and
I expect lots of stuff will get broken. Wish there was another way. At the very least I would want to slipstream an SP2 disk.

If you have any suggestions, I would love them.
Many thanks,
Chuck

Did anyone find a solution to this? I have this EXACT problem!

I am very sorry - I did indeed resolve my problem, but never figured out exactly what sequence of events fixed the problem. I do remember deinstalling the keyboard, installing a different manufacturer's keyboard, deinstalling and reinstalling mouse drivers, both from USB and PS-2 connectors. Somewhere in the middle the problem resolved itself. Very sorry I cannot remember which.

In the end I did not have to resort to either a windows repair or reinstall. Thank god for that!

Hope you resolve your problem. BTW - was the problem triggered by installation of Wacom table drivers? Just curious.

-Chuck

Nope, but i solved the problem by restoring to the night before ;) thank you restore points..!

solution is to boot in the recovery console, and write cmd: copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config ... it will copy 1 file (overwrite - yes), keyboard and mouse on ps/2 should now working.

i had the same problem
but i solved it much simpler, without any cd install
I just log on using remote desktop and then go into device manager and uninstall the ps2 keyboard which displayed error and then scan for hardware changes and that's it