A very odd Win2000 problem...?

[Kenneth]

Howdy,

We have a Win2000 Pro box on our lan that is used
(nominally) as our server. That is, it is not used as a
workstation, but holds files that other systems access.

Earlier today, I had to do something on that system even
though other systems were having no trouble with it.

I immediately saw that it had no keyboard, or mouse
functionality.

I shut down other systems, and intended to reboot the
"server."

I then saw the Dell splash screen, and the progress bar
saying "Starting Windows."

Next, I saw the Windows splash screen, and its progress bar.

When the bar indicated completion, the screen went black (as
it always does) but nothing further happened, that is, it
remained black...

Next, I tried again to boot, but this time into Safe Mode.

That succeeded and the system ran fine (with the Safe Mode
limitations.)

At that point, I thought it best to restore a clean
(Acronis) image of the system's active partition.

But, I could not do that from Windows because in Safe Mode,
the needed services would not start.

That did not seem to be much of a problem because I also
know I could restore by booting from an Acronis Rescue CD.

And now, the interesting part...

I booted off the CD (which uses a Linux kernel) and
discovered that, once again, I had no mouse.

Without the mouse, I could not navigate to the image I wish
to restore.

So, at this point, I am flummoxed.

I should add that I have just run the (brief) complete Dell
diagnostics, and everything passes...

Might you have any thoughts about what could be causing the
difficulties I have described?

Sincere thanks for any help,

 

[Kenneth]

Howdy,

We have a Win2000 Pro box on our lan that is used
(nominally) as our server. That is, it is not used as a
workstation, but holds files that other systems access.

Earlier today, I had to do something on that system even
though other systems were having no trouble with it.

I immediately saw that it had no keyboard, or mouse
functionality.

I shut down other systems, and intended to reboot the
"server."

I then saw the Dell splash screen, and the progress bar
saying "Starting Windows."

Next, I saw the Windows splash screen, and its progress bar.

When the bar indicated completion, the screen went black (as
it always does) but nothing further happened, that is, it
remained black...

Next, I tried again to boot, but this time into Safe Mode.

That succeeded and the system ran fine (with the Safe Mode
limitations.)

At that point, I thought it best to restore a clean
(Acronis) image of the system's active partition.

But, I could not do that from Windows because in Safe Mode,
the needed services would not start.

That did not seem to be much of a problem because I also
know I could restore by booting from an Acronis Rescue CD.

And now, the interesting part...

I booted off the CD (which uses a Linux kernel) and
discovered that, once again, I had no mouse.

Without the mouse, I could not navigate to the image I wish
to restore.

So, at this point, I am flummoxed.

I should add that I have just run the (brief) complete Dell
diagnostics, and everything passes...

Might you have any thoughts about what could be causing the
difficulties I have described?

Sincere thanks for any help,

Hi again,

I tried again to boot off the Acronis CD, and after a few
minutes, the mouse started to work.

So, I am now restoring the active partition, and in a few
minutes should know if I am having a hardware, or a software
problem.

All the best,

 

[David W. Hodgins]

I booted off the CD (which uses a Linux kernel) and
discovered that, once again, I had no mouse.

My guess is a usb mouse, and a dead battery caused the loss of cmos
settings. Check the bios settings.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

 

[Kenneth]

My guess is a usb mouse, and a dead battery caused the loss of cmos
settings. Check the bios settings.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

Hi Dave,

Four bucks, and I am up and running again...

Please accept my sincere thanks!

All the best,