Keyboard and mouse not working

[RichSl]

hey Brink,
upon returning to the issue, I was able to follow the linked UEFI procedure through step 6. At that point, I opted for restore point as planned. The system came back with "no restore points are on this computer", so when I closed that out, I opted for "Use another OS on this sytem with the two choices being win8Pro and Win8Pro w/safe mode networking. Once it booted up...no mouse or keyboard.

I shut her down and booted back to the troubleshooting screen via the install disk. It takes an hour and 12 minutes to get back there on each reboot via the dvd install disk!

Anyway, how should I proceed? I will have to wait until tomorrow morning as that desk area is occupied for the remainder of the evening on another project. I will look for your reply around 0900 est to attempt your recommendation. I will be online here for discussion for awhile this evening...just can't implement any suggestions until tomorrow.

Thanks again for your expertise/assistance.

 

[Brink]

Rich,

Since you are able to get that far, see if you are able to do OPTION TWO below to remove safe mode from your boot menu.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2758-safe-mode-add-windows-boot-manager-windows-8-a.html

 

[RichSl]

ok, I will give that a shot in the morning and report back

 

[RichSl]

Brink,
I was able to work through the removal and it showed that it completed successfully. I then rebooted to 8 and still do not have mouse or keyboard.

I am in the process of the hour and 12 min to boot from install disk to get back to the troubleshooting screen...thoughts?
I will go to command prompt once I get there and check to see if safe mode with networking still shows up on the mbr

Rich

 

[Brink]

I didn't think that the safe mode addition at boot could have stopped the mouse and keyboard from working, but it was worth a try since you said that was when it stopped.

It shouldn't take an hour and 12 minutes to boot from the install disc. Is it doing something else?

 

[RichSl]

don't know...how do I tell? I mean I see nothing on my screen until it comes up which is the hour and 12 later.

 

[Brink]

It shouldn't take that long.

When you have the time, you might consider doing a clean install of Windows.

 

[RichSl]

I should say I know enough to be dangerous, but I don't know enough. I have done a lot of forum reading from my original 2000-0146 error and win7 OS on the desktop. I ran the tests that showed me the error to research, used Fedora to back up my files onto another drive in the same system. I replaced the drive that was showing the error, replaced the CMOS battery on the mobo. I already had a full copy of win8Pro.

I also thought that the long times in rebooting might be related to the A03 dated 2012 BIOS as it seems that I can't get a "reset or clear" of that memory error. The new drive showed the same thing if I recall, but I went ahead with an install attempt. It took hours and I had to reboot manually (as a guess-the machine would shut off by itself during install and would not come back on, so I would turn it back on manually...after 2 or 3 manual starts, windows 8 cam up and functioned quite normally). Thursday evening, I was copying over backed up files to the new drive with 8 and I thought before I get too far along and something happened, I better do the safe mode addition...you know the symptoms from there.

 

[RichSl]

I have the time today and am willing to do it...only concern I have is the BIOS. Should I flash it and how would I do it in the current state?

Also, I had trouble with the win activation and had Microsoft support remote in and fix...can't recall everything the rep did, but it sounds like a clean install might result in the same tech support call?

By clean install, you mean going to command prompt>select drive>clean (not "Clean all")...which is what I had done before attempting install originally.

Should the long load times be investigated before attempting another clean install?

 

[RichSl]

do you think that having (2) Seagate 1TB drives on board at the same time is causing the delay in loading? (I read that somewhere over the last few days)

or

do you think the CMOS or BIOS has an issue?

 

[Brink]

No. Don't touch the BIOS.

What did you use originally to install Windows 8 with, or did it come preinstalled on the PC?

 

[RichSl]

*drive was blank...(new)

*win8Pro was acquired a few months back (retail 32 and 64 bit full install disks)...just hadn't carved out the time to install/upgrade, so they were sitting in desk drawer.

*I used the 32 bit disk via dvd drive for install...should I use 64 bit?

 

[RichSl]

I did a clean originally (not necessary really), but could not "create partition primary" via command prompt, so I re-cleaned the drive and figured I would just let the software on install do it (if it could - and did)

 

[Brink]

Since you have 6 GB of RAM, it would be better to install 64-bit Windows to be able to use all of your RAM since 32-bit Windows only supports up to 4 GB of RAM.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2299-clean-install-windows-8-a.html

 

[RichSl]

Just a sidenote...I disconnected the back up Sata drive for the install to see if it would help the load times.
So far, I am 11 minutes into the process and still looking at the blue :winkey: with rotating dots...oh well, it was worth a shot

going 64 bit this time...

*Edit- 1:23min to get the select language screen up
*Edit- 1:03min and still counting of "Setup is starting"
*Edit- 2:19min to product key entry
------

4:35min total just to get to format drive and start install....painful for me as not sure why the excruciating slow speed...but if it loads and is stable.

 

[RichSl]

Install starting at 1837 hours...

 

[Brink]

Oh my that's long.

You should also do a scan of the hard drive with manufacturer's drive test tool (ex: SeaTools for DOS) to see if your hard drive passes. If the hard drive is failing or as a lot of issues then it could account for these extremely long times.

Do you have another hard drive to use on the computer just to see how it behaves using only it instead?

 

[RichSl]

still chugging away.
it's at the stage where it is rebooting and wont restart w/o my manual turn on...nothing on screen, but a couple more times and win8 screens should show for my inputting the data on the last few screens. (at least that is the way the 32 bit version went)

*Edit- just completed the second manual turn on...nothing on screen yet.

I will definitely run the Seagate tools on both drives...hopefully from a functional win8pro 64 bit window.
I will also create password disk after the fact.

I appreciate the continued input. It would be nice to finally figure out what the root issue is for my own curiosity and for forum members who might peruse the thread in the future. I will note that when I did the 32bit version install, that once it was up and running, all seemed fine...et boot up time, speed on accessing files, switching between apps, even copying over 9k+ images to the new drive from the back up drive.

 

[RichSl]

*Update Brink-
the install was successful and when windows booted up...no keyboard or mouse.
So, on a lark I harkened back to your alternate keyboard thought. I pulled out that wireless kybrd/mouse again and put another set of batteries in it. This time, I plugged the USB into a USB port on the top of the machine and it worked!

Haven't tried plugging the wireless setup into a rear of computer port yet.
I did download the newest seatools but haven't run it on the drives yet. (should I download the DOS version and run the tests outside of windows?

Appreciate the info and assist

Rich

 

[Brink]

Great news so far. You might also test the old keyboard in the same USB port to see it may work as well.