Almost unresponsive keyboard

[skico25]

I have a Dell XPS 400 desktop running Windows XP. Recently, my wireless keyboard became almost unresponsive. It will type, but the delay per keystroke is about a second. I changed batteries, checked the range with my wireless receiver, and nothing improved. So I assumed it was a bad keyboard and bought a wired USB keyboard. It's still doing the same thing. I checked the keyboard settings through control panel, and everything is set to its fastest setting. I reinstalled the driver, and the device status says it is working properly. What's even stranger, before Windows boots up the keyboard appears to work fine. I went into one of my setup menus before Windows booted and the keyboard was immediately responsive. I'm thinking it's a Windows thing, but I'm at a loss as to what it might be. Any suggestions?

 

[Tmagic650]

Your computer may be infected with malware

 

[skico25]

Thanks for the suggestion. I am running McAfee and that has found nothing, but just to be sure, I did a malware scan. It didn't find any infections in the system. I tried to do a system restore to fix the problem, but my mouse does not work correctly on the system restore screen. It will not move from left to right and neither button operates. It works fine once Windows boots up. Also, the only button on the system restore screen that I can navigate to with my keyboard is the exit button, which reboots Windows. Any other suggestions?

 

[Kcircyrd]

Among the most troublesome of computer issues we see are Wireless keyboards and wireless mice... particularly those of Dell and HP. You might just try a borrowed board and mouse to test.

 

[skico25]

Thanks... I already did that. A wired keyboard responds the same way as my wireless.

 

[Kcircyrd]

It appears you have one of the Dell XPS units with the system board that has gone bad. Since both wireless and wired devices do not work, then it is in the device software or the motherboard is defective.

Have you tried both the PS/2 and USB keyboard and mouse to test?
Have you looked at Start->Control Panel->System->Hardware to look for yellow or red flags for keyboard or input devices?
There are some tests to run in Start->Control Panel->Administrative Services->Console Root->Component Services and in Event Viewer and in Services for red or yellow or black flags indicating a hardware or system board problem?

How about checking in Component Services or Device Manager for both Keyboards and Ports errors or flags?

Also in Hardware->Device Manager-> you can run tests to see if there are reports of errors.

 

[skico25]

Thanks for the info. I'll try these suggestions.