Mouse and keyboard has stopped working completely in one of the installations of Windows XP Pro

[Jack]

Good morning! I hope I am posting this to the correct forum.

I have two installations of XP Pro on my PC, one on C drive and the other on
D drive. Everything was working fine till a couple of days back when I
noticed that I could not use the installation on C drive because the mouse
and keyboard were completely frozen even though I could see the desktop. It
doesn't seem to be a hardware problem since the same keyboard and mouse work
fine when I boot into my D drive. I have tried connecting another keyboard
and mouse while booting into C drive but with the same result. Since they
are completely frozen I can't go in and delete them from the Device Manager,
open the registry, or reinstall the drivers. That's the Catch-22 situation.
I can access C drive through the Windows Explorer when I log into D drive
but that doesn't help much even though I replaced some related drivers on C
drive with those on my D drive..

I would be grateful to receive any advice regarding this tricky problem.

Thank you!

Jack

Windows XP Pro; MS Wireless Optical Mouse and Keyboard (USB); Another corded
mouse (USB) and a PS/2 keyboard.

 

[db]

from the d drive you have the capability of running
check disks and defrag's.

however, now that you replace drivers via the d
drive,

you may simply have to consider initiating a
"repair install" on the c drive.

I would begin moving my documents
from the c drive and onto a safe place
because the problem may cascade into
a "re installation" of windows.

as to the cause of the issue,

I would guess that the o.s. on the c
drive ran out of page file or couldn't
access it because of the installation
on the d drive.

with little or no virtual memory (page
file) the o.s. would freeze up eventually.

--
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DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Rich Barry]

Jack, on next startup select the XP on C from the Menu and immediately
tap F8. You should get an expanded menu. Choose safe
mode. If XP loads in safemode then go to Start>All
programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore. Do a restore from at
least a few days before problem started. Just follow instructions.

 

[Jack]

Thanks for your response. First I should mention that I have been running
the two installations without any problem for quite a while. The problem
only arose recently so the installation on the D drive is not the problem.
chkdsk did not reveal any problem on any disk and I defrag on a regular
basis. There is ample free space on all my drives and the pagefile is on E
drive so I don't think the problem is with virtual memory.

I think the problem is with corrupted drivers. If there is no way to
replace them from the second installation then I'll have to go with your
suggestion to try the "repair install". I have the data backed up already
but I have programs installed on C drive which I wanted to use. That's why
I didn't just format C drive and reinstall windows.

Thanks!

Jack

 

[Jack]

Rich, thanks for your response.

I should have mentioned that I have already tried to load XP in safe mode.
It loads up fine but the mouse and keyboard still remain frozen.
Interestingly, the few keys on the top of the keyboard that are
pre-programmed to open "My Documents" or to get on to the "Web" work just
fine after Windows has loaded but those are the only keys that work.

Since the safe mode didn't help I was unable to do a system restore but I
did use F8 and go to "last working setup" or some such thing but that did
not help either.

I jogged my memory to remember what I might have done before this problem
started. One, I had run Autoruns.exe from SysInternals but don't think I
disabled anything important. I have used it many times before but one can
always make a mistake. Two, I had gone to the BIOS and changed an I/O
setting from Normal to EPP to improve the scanning speed. This did not
affect the installation on D drive. Of course, I changed it back to
"Normal" but that didn't help either.

My guess is that either the mouse and keyboard drivers are corrupted or they
are not loading up because of what I did with Autoruns.exe or there is a
problem with the registry.

Is there any way to access Device Manager or reinstall drivers or open the
registry on C drive by logging on to the installation on the D drive?

If I do a repair install on C drive would that likely solve any corruption
issue with drivers?

Another thing. If I remove the keyboard and mouse and reattach them to a
USB port, Windows recognizes that two new devices have been connected but
then gives a message like "the hardware was not installed properly and it
may not work properly". Sometimes I get a window asking me to select where
to get the drivers from but I am unable to make a selection because neither
the mouse nor the keyboard is working.

Thanks!
Jack

 

[Rich Barry]

Jack, give this a try. I have use it many times and it saved my butt.
You can do this from D:

First, go to Windows Explorer>Tools>Folder Options>View. Check " Show hidden
files and folders". Uncheck " Hide protected

Operating System files". Then go to C:\System Volume
Information\restore\RPfolder\Snapshot Folder. X=Your drive and RPFolder will
be numbered ie: RP1. Copy the first five files after

the Repository Folder. Then go to C:\Windows\System32\Config Folder. When
Config folder is open create a new folder. Then

move SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, SAM, DEFAULT and SECURITY files that already exist
there to new folder. Now paste the five files you copied from

Snapshot Folder. Rename each file by removing REGISTRY_MACHINE_ from each
file. You should now have a recent working

Registry. Recent being keyword. If you used the five files in the Repair
Folder it will put you back to the registrys original state when first
installed.

Note: Usually you will see a few if not many RP folders. Choose the Fifth
most recent. So if your most recent RP Folder is

numbered RP20 then choose RP15 to select the registry files.

 

[db]

yeah,

I had a dual installation of xp myself.

but I kept one of the installations
a virgin and update free.

-----------------

I think that the registry needs to
be replaced.

you can either try a repair installation,
method 2 at here:


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

or

utilize the method to repair the registry
at here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545



--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Jack]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the detailed instructions. You were absolutely right. It worked
perfectly!

I had tried this once but gave up when the SVI folder gave me an error
message and also I wasn't sure if I was on the right track. After I read
your message and followed your step by step instructions there was no
problem at all.

A lot of people have similar problems but search engine searches have
confirmed to me that very few people know the solution that you gave me.
There is a lot of misleading information out there. Perhaps, Microsoft
should include an article in its support files with your instructions.

Thanks again! You were most helpful.

Regards,
Jack

 

[Jack]

db,

Thanks for your response and the links. You were on the right track but I
think in my case these files had also been rewritten.

Rich suggested going to the System Restore files and his instructions worked
perfectly.

Thanks!
Jack

 

[db]

glad it worked out.

what you might try to do is
to make a new restore point
and entitle it mouse-keyboard

that way you can be assured
you have a current restore point
for the current environment.

--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Rich Barry]

Jack, glad to hear that my solution worked for you. I realized a few
years ago that I could do that instead of using the five files
out of the Repair Folder that the MSKB Article suggests. There fine
except they give you a copy of the Registry as it was created
during the install of WinXP. Anything done after will not be entered
there. Using the five registry files from the Snapshot folder
gives you a much more up to date registry.