Bingo! it worked!

I switched the keyboard, and nothing happened...but I then noticed that the CD-drive was making a funny noise like it was trying to read the CD but failing, a little click-whirr like noise. Fine. I just unplugged the drive completely, tried again, and this time the keyboard worked, allowed me to choose my "restart" option, and the machine booted up fine.

I will check out the CD-drive to see if it's really malfunctioning, but the important thing is that the machine starts up again.

Thanks for all your help!
Zepeda

sounds like the cd read/write head is (or at least was) malfunctioning. try a new disk drive

The CD hint was a good one. I had this problem on a notebook. I popped out the CD using a paper clip - and hey presto, was able to choose the option "Delete restoration data and proceed to system boot". Other sleuthing revealed that the "delete restoration data' is not as terrible as it sounds - if has something to do with the way the computer holds the state data when going into hibernation, evidently it can get corrupted - the recommendation is to turn off hibernation.

hi, i am having the exact same problem...however, i do not hve the same soln as the cd rom drive... usb keyboard is inoperable during this "delete restoration file" in dos/booting up...i can enter the bios settings so i know the keyboard works in there. plz help

i've tried everything...changing bios settings, unplugging things, fiddling with insides of computer, opening cdroms, holding power for a minute, pushing del during boot up, turning off power bar...

eek

It sounds as though the driver files for the USB that are contained within windows may be corrupted. If this is the case then you will need to reinstall or repair windows itself.

Is the keyboard a USB or PS/2 device. If its a USB try and ask a friend if they have a PS/2 keyboard you can borrow for a short time. this will rule out whether the keyboard itself is at fault.

Another thing you could try is unplugging the keyboard and then booting the machine.

let me know how you get on.

It is indeed. Just use JANINE's tip (borrow ps/2 - keyboard) and you'll be up and running again

Regards Niek

I'm having the same issue. I have a USB keyboard with the same scenario where I could use it to pull up BIOS but when it came to selecting an option, the system did not detect the keyboard. I tried plugging the keyboard into PS/2 port using a USB-PS/2 adapter, resulting in the keyboard being undetectable even to pull up BIOS o_O
I'm going to try and get a purely PS/2 keyboard, but in the meantime, any suggestions?
thanks!

-dw

the bios isn't able to recognise usb or any kind of adapter to convert usb to PS/2 so your only option is to lay your hands on a PS/2 keyboard in all honesty. these are cheap and also widely available now. goodluck

I had the same problem with a tablet pc, where XP asked

"The last attempt to restart the sytem from its preveious location failed. Attempt to restart again?"
the choices are:
"Delete restoration data and proceed to system boot menu" and
"Continue with system restart""

and it ignore the "mouse" and the usb keyboards the I could plug into. I was able to get around this by:

1) mounting the hd on a linux box
2) removing (deleting) a file called "hiberfil.sys"
3) popping the drive back into the tablet pc and booting.

It worked like a champ! Hopefully this will be of use to someone.