Mouse & Keyboard Frozen!

[dina_g]

Hi,

I am having problems with my computer i would be really grateful if someone could help!

I had Windows XP on my computer but found that updating my windows did not allow me to use some of my programs that I had when having Windows 98. To solve this problem I uninstalled Windows XP and because the previous version (Windows 98) was there I was able to use the computer as usual as it was back to its previous state. However a day later when I switched on the computer the mouse and keyboard worked fine for the first few seconds after Window 98 had loaded up however after that it had just froze! With the mouse and keyboard not working i'm not sure what to do and now face quite a dilemma. :cry:

I have already tried going into windows through safe mode and there the mouse and keyboard seems to work fine but as I am in safe mode I am unable to access everything I want! Does anyone have any ideas to what might be causing the problem and what I can do??? :rolleyes:
Thanks!

[DMR]

USB kb and mouse, or PS/2?

[dina_g]

Its a PS/2 mouse. Hope that helps

[Puckdropper]

All kinds of suggestions come to mind:
1) At Windows Startup, try pressing and holding the "Shift" key. On some versions of Windows, it ignores the items in the startup menu.
2) Get in to safe mode, go to Control Panel> System and look for hardware conflicts. Fix those somehow. (I had to remove a sound card, uninstall all the drivers and insert it again to fix my Windows problem tonite.)
3) You may want to look in the registry at the "run" keys and see if there's something starting there that shouldn't be.

[dina_g]

All kinds of suggestions come to mind: 1) At Windows Startup, try pressing and holding the "Shift" key. On some versions of Windows, it ignores the items in the startup menu. 2) Get in to safe mode, go to Control Panel> System and look for hardware conflicts. Fix those somehow. (I had to remove a sound card, uninstall all the drivers and insert it again to fix my Windows problem tonite.) 3) You may want to look in the registry at the "run" keys and see if there's something starting there that shouldn't be.

Ive tried holding the shift key - doesnt work and i've also gone into safe mode and there doesn't seem to be any hardware conflicts! and I don't know how to go to the registry! So any more suggestions???

[DMR]

To view the run entries in your Registry:

- Start the Registry Editor: In the "Run..." option under you Start menu, type: regedit.

- In the left-hand pane of the Editor, navigate down to H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->Software->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion

- Scroll down to the "Run" folder and click on it; the items which are set to run at startup will be displayed in the right-hand pane.

Do not change anything in the Editor; you can severely cripple your system if you do!

[dina_g]

To view the run entries in your Registry: - Start the Registry Editor: In the "Run..." option under you Start menu, type: regedit. - In the left-hand pane of the Editor, navigate down to H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->Software->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion - Scroll down to the "Run" folder and click on it; the items which are set to run at startup will be displayed in the right-hand pane. Do not change anything in the Editor; you can severely cripple your system if you do!

I did that and it seemed ok...(i think). I couldn't find anything that said mouse or keyboard though. Any other ideas?

Dina

[DMR]

You probably wouldn't have seen much (if anything) directly relating to the mouse or keyboard in the registry entries- what Puckdropper was alluding to is that there might be some other program/process automatically starting when Windows starts which is contributing to or causing the problems. The "Run" entries in the registry are what control the auto-loading of such programs.

"i've also gone into safe mode and there doesn't seem to be any hardware conflicts..."

Meaning that there are no yellow "exclamation point" symbols or red "X"s next to any of the devices, yes? If the mouse and keyboard work in safe mode and Device Manager indicates no hardware problems, you almost certainly have a software conflict.

"To solve this problem I uninstalled Windows XP and because the previous version (Windows 98) was there I was able to use the computer as usual as it was back to its previous state."

The upgrade/downgrade process might not have gone as flawlessly as it might have appeared. I hate to suggest this, but do you have the option of backing up your data and reinstaling Win 98 from scratch? Considering that none of us can sit down in front of your computer and get a first-hand look at what's going on, that might be the less time-consuming way to go.

[laoli]

Maybe it has nothing to do with your system, just check you mouse and keyboard, make sure they are connected firmly :P
that's my advise

[DMR]

Maybe it has nothing to do with your system, just check you mouse and keyboard, make sure they are connected firmly :P that's my advise

Umm- except for this from the original post:

" I have already tried going into windows through safe mode and there the mouse and keyboard seems to work fine"

This isn't a hardware problem.

[caperjack]

I Nothing to add about the mouse ,keyboard ,except I agree with DMR,Reloard windows
I had Windows XP on my computer but found that updating my windows did not allow me to use some of my programs that I had when having Windows 98.
This is no reason to remove XP .all you had to do was right click on the 98 Programs Icon and choose Compatiabilty,and check of win98 and XP would have ramn the 98 program in 98 mode ! I have dozens of 95&98 programs that work just fine in XP

[dina_g]

The upgrade/downgrade process might not have gone as flawlessly as it might have appeared. I hate to suggest this, but do you have the option of backing up your data and reinstaling Win 98 from scratch? Considering that none of us can sit down in front of your computer and get a first-hand look at what's going on, that might be the less time-consuming way to go. [/color]

This is what I would like to do....I do have all my data on CD and I have reinstalled Windows98 but this made no difference. I want to format my hard drive now so that I can install Windows 98 on freshly........I have tried to do this but it doesn't allow me to do so....could you suggest ways I could format my hard drive?
Thanx! : :)
Dina

[caperjack]

go to control panel ,add/remove program and Create a windows boot disk .Boot computer to it and at the prompt type format c: /s

http://www.computerhope.com/formathl.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q255/8/67.asp&NoWebContent=1

[caperjack]

Also ,I forgot this ,make sure you have drives for all hardware ,before you format

[my2dogsmama]

I am having a similar problem on 2 computers running XP. The keyboard stopped working. I went to device drivers troubleshooting and found that there was a corrupted registry entry for the keyboard. I uninstalled the keyboard and the let plug and play reinstall it...It did not help. I think there must be a bug in the last XP update or some virus/adware problem causing this. I can't believe I lost two out of 3 computers in 2 days. How can I fix the registry entry? I have no problem writing in reg edit but don't know what to put in. Thanks.