Unresponsive Keyboard - How to clean the slate??

[Guest]

Hi All,

I've recently bought a new PC (winXP). The mouse that came with it wasn't
functioning quite properly, so I started fiddling about with other possible
drivers.

D'OH!

As a result, both my mouse AND keyboard stopped responding. I fixed the
mouse problem by buying a USB mouse and letting windows auto-install it -
phew! But the keyboard is still not working. It's a simple, generic cheap
keyboard. I have tried to uninstall it and let windows find it, but every
time I reboot it appears back in the device manager asif I'd never
uninstalled it. The same goes for the now redundant ps/2 mouse entry - I
can't get rid of that either. Both say:

"A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternative driver
may be providing this functionality". (Code 32)"

The keyboard works if I boot via winXP CD and go to recovery console, so
it's not a hardware fault. No luck in safe mode either. System restore does
nothing.

PLEASE help..... I don't have a clue about how to get this thing going.
Thanks all,

PeeDee

 

[Road Runner]

Hey there ... I'm curious when you uninstalled did you also remove the
folder in the windows explorer as well ??

 

[Guest]

I don't know of any folder I should remove - I just right click the keyboard
in device manage and click uninstall. It seems happ and disappears from the
list untill next time windows starts.

 

[Road Runner]

Hi ... Yes that is a good way to uninstall the driver but do you have a
software that came with your keyboard , If so ? Have a look in the add and
remove programs area and see if its listed , If there is a program for your
keyboard there , try to uninstall it from there , Then look for the same
program in the windows explorer >>> right click the start buttom and select
explorer , Then expand the C drive assuming that were your windows is
install , Then expand the Program Files , Now see whether you see that
program listed there , If so ? delete it , Then go to your recycling bin and
remove it from there as well ... Now restart your computer and reinstall the
keyboard driver ... If by chance you have a SP/2 mouse type use that
instead , sometimes those USB devise can cause a problem , but if not just
try what i mention ... See if that helps

 

[Ross Durie]

Cheap (US$8) PS/2 keyboards don't come with any software.

 

[Alphonse]

Have you tried uninstalling it while in Safe Mode? Has always worked for me
in these cases, usually finding two or three devices that don't exist.

Does anybody know what the inf file for the generic keyboard is?

 

[Road Runner]

Well I would suggest that you try to swap your mouse and keyboard with
someone else and see if their keyboard and mouse works on your computer and
your on their computer ... Once you get the result i am sure you will know
what to do next ... Good luck

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestions, but no luck yet. To answer some of your
questions...

1. The keyboard works fine on other computers. Other computers' keyboards
don't work on this PC.

2. I can't swap to my PS2 mouse, as it is unresponsive in exactly the same
way - it was just lucky for me that the USB mouse installed itself, otherwise
I'd be completely locked out!

3. As far as I can tell, there is no software related to this keyboard.
Windows is currently calling it a "standard 101/102 key or microsoft natural
PS/2 keyboard". This seems sensible, but it could be my doing (I was
fiddling about a lot...).

4. No luck uninstalling it in safe mode - the entries still re-appear in
device manager.

I'm sure this problem is all to do with windows and the drivers, not
hardware faults or incompatabilities. Is there any way to uninstall the
device or driver through recovery console or comand prompt?

Finally.. If I have to repair windows, the only windows CD I have is an old
one (SP1). Will my repair scrub SP2 updates? Do you think a repair will
work?

Thanks All,

PeeDee

 

[Peter]

You might want to download MS Intellitype and Intellimouse from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/Download.mspx

Regarding your CD. I also have the original XP SP1 CD. I slipstreamed it
with the full SP2 download using Autostreamer and Nero to allow for future
reinstallations of Windows. If you use only your original Cd it will take
you back to pre-SP2 state.