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awesomefennis

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mouse keyboard inactive after boot

Okay I am in desparate help.  

I am running windows xp  - amd was using my machine fine yesterday.  However, when I switched it on today it got to the windows logon screen and i was unable to use my mouse or keyboard.  I checked the obvious like the plugs at the back of the machine but still nothing.  I rebooted and tried to get in to setup, which  I could, and in the bios setup i was able to move around using keyboard keys.  Which I think shows that my keyboard works to some extent, meaning that it is not broken or something!

I then went in to safe mode, and tried to logon, but again my mouse and keyboard didn't move.  I tried all these a few times, and switiching the machine off (as if that helps! - its sometimes seems to do the trick).

I then used my  windows xp cd, to boot off that and go and repair my setup which I did, and manged to get in to dos.  Where i can type no problem.  What shall I do?

Does this sound like a virus? I have installed some software recently, I thought norton would have picked anything up, but obviously not!

Please help.

Fennis
Avatar of AlexJ
AlexJ


Hi Fennis,

seems to me a real frustrating issue!!
But here are the overcomes

1. Just becoz u cannot get to safe mode or normal mode. U will not be able to run System Restore and we need to restore the system coz it was working fine earlier. Hence U have 2 options

a->Restore the registry
     http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545
     
     But I won't advise it coz it will restore the registry back to first time when U installed windows XP. U might not be able to run
     programs installed later. And In case U don't have any restore points, it will be a pain. plus its too long to follow i.e. all 4
     parts in the article.

b->Perform a repair install. This will not only repair the damaged registry but also keep your existing programs intacvt. But U
     will loose system restore points but not a big concern if U r getting windows back again with all the previously installed
     programs.


Perform a Repair install of windows XP
**************************************

I recommend you to follow the steps below to repair Windows
onto itself to resolve this issue. It will reinstall all system files with this
method. You may need to reinstall some applications to upgrade some files to a
higher version, because they may be replaced during the installation of Windows.

The steps below will not damage your documents and registry. However, it is always
recommended to backup your important information and files to other partitions or
other disks.

1.  First, disable any Anti-Virus program and BIOS-level Anti-Virus protection.

2.  Make sure you have set your CD-ROM as the first priority boot device. You may
refer to your computer manual for information on how to do this.

3.  Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM and reboot your computer.

4.  When you see "Press any key to boot from CD" on the screen, press a key to let
your computer boot from the Windows XP CD.

5.  When the computer boots from the CD-ROM, it checks your hardware and then
prompts you with the following options.

*To set up Windows XP now, press Enter.

*To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

*To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

6.  Please press ENTER.

7.  Press the F8 key to agree to the Licensing Agreement.

8.  You will see your current Windows XP installation is listed in a box and get
the following options:

*To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R.

*To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.

9.  Please press "R".

10.  Then the setup program will repair Windows XP automatically.




All the best

Alex

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ASKER

I think it has gone from bad to worse!
I booted the computer from the windows xp disc and then repaired windows xp like you said.  After it completed it restarted the machine and then started to "install" windows or at least some components of windows.  However, the problem cam when it came up with a question about a bestcrypt driver it wanted to know the location for.  I wasn't able to move the mouse or use the keyboard and so was  stuck :(

I am not sure if this helps but, I had bestcrypt installed on my machine, I uninstalled it yesterday.  It uninstalled it fine, but then it asked if i wanted to restart my machine now or later, so I chose later as I was working on my machine.  In the evening i shutdown my machine as usual - today was the first day I actually tried to start my machine since then.  I only say this as it asked me something about bescrypt driver when windows was installing.

I am really confused as to what to do now. I know the keyboard works as when I get to dos through booting the disk from XP cd I can type no problem.

Do I need a windows automated recovery disk? I don't have one - can I download from somewhere?

Any ideas?

I am on my other machine at the moment - but if anyone has msn i am on awesomefennis@hotmail.com

Thanks,

Elli
Avatar of SheharyaarSaahil
the problem is with ur bestcrypt software......it didn't uninstall completely from ur hard drive......and thus creating problem now......and the worse is we can't do anything to froce it out of the machine.......as no mouse and keyboard :(

the only thing which i will suggest here is to do a clean installation.....means no REPAIR.....u have to completely format ur drive and then have to do a fresh INSTALLATION....BUT in this case u will loose all ur data and installed programs from ur machine......so it's a little bit annoying thing.....but no other way to get the system back as we just unable to run into the safe mode even :(

BTW one thing.....i have read abt BESTCRYPT softwares.....but here u have written abt the DRIVERS......drivers are actually the softwares which we install for the hardwares....are u sure u have installed DRIVERS and not SOFTWARE :)

and in the case u actually installed BESTCRYPT DRIVERS then u should have its HARDWARE also attached to the machine.....that's the reason Windows asked for its drivers during installation.....if it's a hardware then disconnect form the machine......and then try to repair XP.....see if this time it is asking for the DRIVERS or not!!

I agree. The error might have come during Installing devices stage. The windows found a hardware  and looked for the device driver. But just becoz U have already uninstalled the software, it did not find it on the disk and asked from U to specify the source path.

Unplug all the hardware externally attached leaving only keyb, mouse, monitor, microphone
and try repairing again.

If its not a hardware device attached to it, and still happens, Can try a parallel install with the option of leaving current file system intact

When U see the repair installation option as I suggested in my last log, Hit ESC
It will skip the Repair option.
Next choose Leave current file system intact option below the format options

Then go on installing new windows.

No I dont have any hardware for bestcrypt it was software.

I have spoken to a few people and they think it is most likely a trojan.  They say it is quite easy to disable mouse and keyboards....what a hassle!

Anyway, I have norton running on that machien so i am not sure why it didnt pick anything up.

Is there anything i can do in recovery console (as i get in to that through the windows xp when i boot up)? Can I run anything to remove the virus/trojan? as i really don't want to have to reinstall if i can help it.

Thanks

elli
I found this on the norton website it may help:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/pfdocs/1997120173239?Open

But i am not sure how to go about getting around it now.  Although they say that symptoms would be that mouse and keybaords won't respond, they presume you are able to get in to windows!!  I can't....SO I am still stuck.

Fennis
hmmmmmmm i have read this link.....but all their solutions require either mouse or keyboard.......and here we can't use any of them.....even we can't get into the system. then how to perform these solutions??

one thig more......if this is the trojan problem then it should be related to BESTSCRYPT.....coz this problem occured when u uninstalled form the machine.....and then when u tried to repair xp.....it stucked at the point where it asked abt the BESTSCRYPT software or driver whatever.

and the remove the trojan we have atleast one thing available, either they mouse or the keyboard, but no one is working!!
the only remedy to remove the trojan is by DOS....as u said u can use the keyboard in DOS....
so u can scan for viruses in DOS....but for scanning in DOS u need rescue disks......see the link below which describes how to do a NORTON VIRUS SCAN is DOS.....

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sunset3.nsf/fd015af9ed014e8c88256a2200124a9c/531a01fcbba90f8088256a220030718a?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam

So, u have to get the rescue disks form another clean systme which is free form any viruses and trojans.......but scanning in DOS can be dangerous coz if any of the system file is affected then antivirus will remove it immediately......and hence u will be unable to start the system...unless u install it again!!

So, in both case u have to format ur dirve and reinstall windows again.....we have no other way now......:(

But Hope for the BEST....im still finding for any remed which can solve this problem withour formatting the drive and reinstalling the windows again......meanwhile u just check the above suggestions and decide what u want to do now :)
GOOD LUCK anyway.....!!
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SheharyaarSaahil
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oops sorry...

yeah in the end i reinstalled windows..i didnt lose my data but i had to reinstall all my programs again.

I appreciate all the help from teh various people.
thanxx......but why to accept that comment which i just asked for ur come back !!
if none of tha above comments helped u then u could go for the refund awesomefennis.