Generic USB mouse and Keyboard not recognized

[Scott T.]

Hi.

I have numerous Dell Optiplex desktops running XP. Recently, I've been
having a problem with the USB ports.

These are new computers. They are all setup with the same programs and
setttings. We've done about 30 computers in the past year or two and we just
started having the problem recently.

We setup the computer the way we need and somewhere along the way the USB
ports get messed up. All of a sudden the computer stops recognizing a basic
Dell USB keyboard or mouse. When we plug one in we get the New Hardware
Wizard. We run that, but XP says it can't find the driver. These are the
free keyboards and
mice that come with the computers.

What's more, if we go into Add Printer, all of the resident print drivers
are gone. They were definitely there at the beginning. It seems like
Windows loses it's connection to the USB drivers resident in the OS.

The USB ports do function as they will recognize a USB flash drive. The
keyboard functions in BIOS.

We can't figure out when this is happening. Most of the time we get the
computers fully setup and ready for install without a problem. Something is
happening along the way. The crazy thing is we haven't changed the way we
setup systems. We follow a written set of instructions.

We've done virus scans and found nothing. Dell is of no help either.

Any ideas?

 

[sgopus]

Possibly a problem with the Motherboard, check the USB connections to the
motherboard.

 

[Scott T.]

Nope. Thanks for the replay, but the USB ports do function as they will
recognize a flash drive. They just don't recognize the keyboard and mouse.

 

[DellCA]

This is John, a support analyst at Dell headquarters.

How many systems are affected, and are they all the same model? Are you
using a custom image on these machines? Does the keyboard respond in the
System Setup screen? You can get to the system setup by pressing <F2> at the
Dell splash screen upon system startup.

 

[Scott T.]

( I'm posting this a 2nd time. I lost internet connection when sending the
first reply. I don't think it made it to the discussion group.)


Hi John!

I hope you can help. I tried calling Dell Support, but they weren't able to
figure out anything.

We have about 35 Dell computers, but this only started happening with the
last 5 or 6 that we bought in the past 2 months or so. All are refurbed
Optiplex computers.

We build the systems separately, not from a custom build.

Yes the keyboard works in System Setup, so we're confident that the keyboard
and usb ports are functioning (hardwarewise anyway).

One other interesting thing - sometimes I can get either a rollerball mouse
or an infrared mouse (both basic Dell mice) to work in one usb port. But it
won't recognize the other type of mouse. Same thing happens with keyboards.
We have 2 slightly different Dell basic keyboards. Sometimes one or the
other will work in only one port, but the other won't. Sometimes neither
will work.

This is the strangest thing I've run into with computers. Any help would be
greatly appreciated!

 

[DellCA]

Very odd, I would agree.

I would recommend reinstalling the chipset drivers for your specific model
if you haven't already. You can find these drivers at support.dell.com.

It definitely sounds like a driver issue to me. Are these keyboards/mice
recognized in safe mode?

 

[Scott T.]

no to safe mode.

It doesn't seem like reinstalling the chipset would fix since the USB ports
do work for flash drive and in Dell Setup.

Another interesting thing I found.... I was able to get both to work if I
plugged in the mouse and keyboard into the exact same ports that I used to
setup the computer. If I move them, I get the Hardware found wizard. I run
that and Windows says it can't find driver.

I then tried to manually install driver. When I click on "Choose best
driver to install" and then click Mouse, the driver window is empty except
for "Unable to find any drivers for this device". I then tried looking at
the other hardware entries...all say the same "Unable to find any drivers for
this device".

It really seems like somehow Windows lost it's connection to all of it's
resident drivers.

Does that help any?

 

[Scott T.]

I FOUND THE SOLUTION!!!!

Windows somehow lost its link to all native drivers. I don't know how this
happened, especially since it happened on 6 computers that were all setup
separately. But the fix works!

Start the Registry Editor (Run -> Regedit). Check if under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion the item
'DevicePath' points to '%SystemRoot%\inf'. Additional items, separated by
semikolons, are ok but '%SystemRoot%\inf' has to be one of them.
Then delete the file C:\WINDOWS\inf\infcache.1 - XP will recreate it.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Intriguing. I suppose you realise that you could have solved
the problem by using System Restore, although this would
not have told you what was wrong. I strongly suspect that a
piece of software you installed caused the problem.

 

[Scott T.]

Yes, problem was on a couple of the systems I didn't have a good restore
point to work with. I do agree that some install caused the problem, but
we're having a problem isolating it. We load the same set of programs every
time and use the same disks to do so each time. We loaded programs one at a
time and rebooted each time, but haven't been able peg the offending program
yet.