Solved No mouse or keyboard when system is booted

I'm having big problems booting my Windows 8 system. When I first boot in the morning, the keyboard and mouse do not work either on the boot screen or once the system has finished booting. However, the system appears to be running normally except that I can't interact with it. After a few reboot attempts the keyboard/mouse do work and the system is then useable. I did originally have the same problem when I installed Windows 8 some weeks ago, but it disappeared and now has come back. I'm concerned that eventually I will not be able to reboot at all with a working keyboard/mouse.

The system is dual boot with Windows 8 on one disk and Windows 7 on the other. The keyboard/mouse are wireless usb, but a PS2 mouse does not work either. Also the wireless keyboard always works OK in BIOS setup.

I cannot find anything anything relevant in the event logs. Can anyone suggest what I can do to further investigate?


The system summary is:


OS Name MicrosoftWindows 8 Pro
Version 6.2.9200 Build9200
Other OS Description Not Available
OSManufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name ARTHUR
SystemManufacturer System manufacturer
System Model SystemProduct Name
System Type X86-basedPC
System SKU To Be FilledBy O.E.M.
Processor Intel(R)Core(TM) i3 CPU 530 @ 2.93GHz, 2933 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4Logical Processor(s)
BIOSVersion/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1302, 25/04/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Embedded ControllerVersion 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoardManufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
BaseBoard Model NotAvailable
BaseBoard Name BaseBoard
Platform Role Desktop
Secure BootState Unsupported
PCR7Configuration Binding Not Possible
WindowsDirectory C:\WINDOWS
SystemDirectory C:\WINDOWS\system32
BootDevice \Device\HarddiskVolume5
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware AbstractionLayer Version = "6.2.9200.16442"
Username ARTHUR\Arnold
Time Zone GMT StandardTime
Installed PhysicalMemory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Total PhysicalMemory 1.90 GB
Available PhysicalMemory 500 MB
Total VirtualMemory 3.84 GB
Available VirtualMemory 1.47 GB
Page File Space 1.94 GB
PageFile C:\pagefile.sys
Hyper-V - VM MonitorMode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second LevelAddress Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V -Virtualisation Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - DataExecution Protection Yes

Motherboard problem?

Rebooting this morning many many times I just couldn't get a working mouse/keyboard at all.

Eventually I decided to boot my Windows 8 installation disk and go from there. Disaster - the BIOS would not boot the DVD drive - the Windows 8 boot screen from the disk drive always came up. I know the DVD drive is working, and I've booted from it many times. This has to be the motherboard - the Windows 8 installation doesn't mess with the BIOS, does it?

Eventually as I was trying everything I could think of, I got a working mouse (at about the 30th boot attempt). For the moment I have a usable system and won't shutdown (until there's a power failure).

I'm now almost certain I've a motherboard problem. Can anyone think of any other possibility?

If anyone has any comments or suggestions I'd really appreciate it.

If that's a PS/2 mouse+keyboard, you could plug it into USB ports (via such a standard adaptor) and see what that brings.
If either already is USB connected try another USB hub (like the ports on the front of the PC will use a different hub vs those on the back).

If you can't get into the BIOS (press Del or F2 during booting) then at least it's not Windows doing it to you. Btw, if you can get into the BIOS change the bootsequence so the DVD comes first. If that still doesn't boot from the DVD, it is bootable.

Just a thought : when there is some lag in the electrical connection of mouse/keyboard, they may never be seen anymore, although I'd think that USB always "plugs and play" them. Not so with PS/2 connection.
Maybe one of them is at fault and blocks the other ? So you could also try to boot with only one of them (or replace them both).

Nasty situation ...

PeterSt said:

If that's a PS/2 mouse+keyboard, you could plug it into USB ports (via such a standard adaptor) and see what that brings.
If either already is USB connected try another USB hub (like the ports on the front of the PC will use a different hub vs those on the back).

If you can't get into the BIOS (press Del or F2 during booting) then at least it's not Windows doing it to you. Btw, if you can get into the BIOS change the bootsequence so the DVD comes first. If that still doesn't boot from the DVD, it is bootable.

Just a thought : when there is some lag in the electrical connection of mouse/keyboard, they may never be seen anymore, although I'd think that USB always "plugs and play" them. Not so with PS/2 connection.
Maybe one of them is at fault and blocks the other ? So you could also try to boot with only one of them (or replace them both).

Nasty situation ...

Click to expand...

Peter, thanks for suggestions. Unfortunately, I'd tried them all Neither a wireless, direct usb or PS2 mouse/keyboard work, and I've tried different ports. However, as I said the keyboard does work when in BIOS setup - that's why I expected to be able to boot the Windows Install DVD and was dismayed to find the Windows 8 boot manager continued to come up.

I had endless problems with the Windows 8 Boot Manager when I installed the system. I wanted to keep my Windows 7 system (which is on a separate drive from the W8 system), and select which one I booted through the BIOS, but Windows insisted on overwriting the W7 boot area so it always booted to the W8 Boot Manager whichever drive was selected in the BIOS.

I've ordered a new motherboard and a SSD, and don't dare to switch off my existing system until I'm ready to install the new hardware. If I'm installing W8 on a SSD, it surely won't mess any more with either of the existing systems on my hard drives.

Once I've got the new system working, I'll investigate my current system further. I'm almost certain there's a motherboard problem, but I've had so much trouble with the Windows 8 boot manager, that I'm not completely convinced W8 is not involved.

Arnold,

I don't think you can decide in the BIOS wich OS to boot from. This is to be done via BCDEdit (open a command prompt and type BCDEDit /? and you will see it is easy to tweak).

An exception would be a DVD (or CD) but then the DVD drive has to be set as the first drive to boot from *and* it must be bootable. And to be clear : this back and forth switching you might do is not dual boot. What you have -as I read it now- is (but I guess you talk about two separate situations).
I think that you will have managed to put in two OS disks (created apart from eachother) but that is not dual boot either. But, I guess you can make it that afterwards. It will require some more knowledge from BCDEdit plust it won't be convenient with GUID stuff to create; but I think it is doable.
Next time, create the one OS when the other is running. That will give you Dual Boot.

Hey, good luck with you mouse and keyboard ! It's quite inconvenient to be without !
(and then to think that I myself am working on a situation where one can shut them both off and on again (eh, without reboot) - failed so far )

I bought a new motherboard for my main system, and have had no problems running windows 8 on it. On this basis, I'm marking this thread as answered.


However, I've returned to the investigation of the problems I had with my old motherboard and windows 8, and I've started a new thread here