Wierd computer problem. Is it a virus?

[thefed]

When I start my home PC, every time, my mouse doesnt work so I can't click on my username and log in. Then I hard restart the computer (push reset button on tower, ctrl+alt+delete doesn't work). My mouse works but my keyboard doesn't/ Hard restart....everything is fine.

Any ideas?

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i don't know if this would make a difference but my windoze doesn't always recognize the mouse which is plugged in with one of those flat plugs but does seem to see the keyboard which uses a roundy plug.

after machine is cranked up, if it doesn't see the mouse, i unplug and plug it right back in and then it makes a little noise and then the mouse works.

i hope i wasn't being too technical in that.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I have had a similar problem on a heavily protected corporate machine (so heavily protected that we could barely get anything done).

If your mouse is a USB mouse (little flat connnector), unplug and change USB ports.

Ain MS wunnerful?

Ed

______________________________________
Friends don't let friends use Internet Explorer.
(Firefox evangelist)

 

[donheff]

I recently had a somewhat similar problem with a Windows XP Pro PC. My PC would freeze up intermittantly, both the mouse and keyboard would stop functioning and I would have to kill the power to get it back up. I stopped all the unneccesary startup programs and killed various processes. I finally tracked it down to Firefox I had loaded a bunch of extensions so it was probably one of those. I had to uninstall and reinstall Firefox to clear the problem up.

 

[thefed]

thanks guys. i will do ome research. its not usb, but round.

i'll try firefox

 

[Aaron]

The round connector is the older PS/2 style and the small metal prongs can bend or beak off pretty easily.  I would check those first.

Also, the PS/2 connectors had a specific port for keyboard and mouse, which was usually color coded, so you might want to check that, or even switch the keyboard and mouse, to see if that's the problem.

You can pick up a USB mouse for less than $10 if you just want something basic and generic (assuming you have USB ports on your computer).

 

[thefed]

i do remember having to re-bend the prongs on the mouse once....but why the same routine, every single time?

turn on, mouse doesnt work, turn off
turn on, keyboard doesnt work but mouse does, turn off
turn on, everything works

makes me think its a BIOS setting gone awry...but i dunno much about that

 

[TromboneAl]

The old annoying standby, reinstalling Windows, will often solve problems like this.

Have you always had this problem?  If not, reinstalling is more likely to solve it. 

Try running in safe mode, or boot in the mode that allows you to control what devices etc. are loaded.

Do you have another mouse in the house that you can try?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

It doesnt sound like an OS problem to me. Could be power supply, could be something in the motherboard. Legacy mouse and keyboard stuff is sort of "off to the side" from motherboard developers perspectives these days. In other words, its not done particularly elegantly. I've seen stuff like this with linux variants that a reinstall solved, but those machines were highly hacked up by the owner and they had a lot more problems than keyboard/mouse failure to initialize.

You might have a bad keyboard or mouse, can you borrow someone elses to check that?

At the same time, try your keyboard and mouse on that someone elses known good computer.

Check the bios settings and if you know how to do it, and what you're doing, reflash the bios.

Go into 'system' under control panel, then device manager, then check the keyboard and mouse and see if there are any conflicts. If possible, try 'reinstall driver' on both. Make sure the driver names seem to match the hardware.

Have you added or changed any hardware around the time this problem started? I've seen some IRQ conflicts from machines overstuffed with hardware or with equipment that demands particular IRQ's.

Going back to power supply, if its an older machine the supply might simply be starting to drop in output and all the devices dont initialize right the first time. Once the supply is on for a minute or two, its good. If you've been using the machine for at least 10-15 minutes and reboot windows, do the keyboard/mouse reinit ok or is it just on a cold start?

 

[thefed]

It doesnt sound like an OS problem to me. Could be power supply, could be something in the motherboard. Legacy mouse and keyboard stuff is sort of "off to the side" from motherboard developers perspectives these days. In other words, its not done particularly elegantly. I've seen stuff like this with linux variants that a reinstall solved, but those machines were highly hacked up by the owner and they had a lot more problems than keyboard/mouse failure to initialize.

You might have a bad keyboard or mouse, can you borrow someone elses to check that?

At the same time, try your keyboard and mouse on that someone elses known good computer.

Check the bios settings and if you know how to do it, and what you're doing, reflash the bios.

Go into 'system' under control panel, then device manager, then check the keyboard and mouse and see if there are any conflicts. If possible, try 'reinstall driver' on both. Make sure the driver names seem to match the hardware.

Have you added or changed any hardware around the time this problem started? I've seen some IRQ conflicts from machines overstuffed with hardware or with equipment that demands particular IRQ's.

Going back to power supply, if its an older machine the supply might simply be starting to drop in output and all the devices dont initialize right the first time. Once the supply is on for a minute or two, its good. If you've been using the machine for at least 10-15 minutes and reboot windows, do the keyboard/mouse reinit ok or is it just on a cold start?

only hapopens on a cold start. i lost power before this started ahppening though, and had to select "load optimal' settings to get it boot windows.thats why i think its a bios thing?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Change it to load standard or default settings, or anything that lets you 'wipe' or start fresh.

Your lost power probably resulted in a power surge when it came back. Yeah, I know, you've got a power strip.... (showing my psychic powers). If it came with the computer or you paid under $40 for it, its either ineffective or shot. Probably smoked up your power supply a little or perhaps the kb or mouse took a little more voltage than they'd like through a transient...but since it doesnt happen after the machine is warm i'm going with a power supply, maybe a motherboard issue.

If after the power surge you had to reset your bios, you definitely took some bad voltage. Might be close to time for a new computer...get your critical data onto some other media or buy yourself an external disk drive housing to stick your hard disk into to transfer your data to the next machine...

 

[thefed]

Change it to load standard or default settings, or anything that lets you 'wipe' or start fresh.

Your lost power probably resulted in a power surge when it came back. Yeah, I know, you've got a power strip.... (showing my psychic powers). If it came with the computer or you paid under $40 for it, its either ineffective or shot. Probably smoked up your power supply a little or perhaps the kb or mouse took a little more voltage than they'd like through a transient...but since it doesnt happen after the machine is warm i'm going with a power supply, maybe a motherboard issue.

If after the power surge you had to reset your bios, you definitely took some bad voltage. Might be close to time for a new computer...get your critical data onto some other media or buy yourself an external disk drive housing to stick your hard disk into to transfer your data to the next machine...

funny you mention this...but every time i lose power i have to reset bios to load windows....even if i unplug and move the machine. ims sure the little battery in there is no longer good. where exactly, IS that little battery? on the motherboard?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh dear god, its old enough to have a cmos battery?

It should be on the motherboard, and should be one of those little round jobs about the size of a thumbnail, maybe a little larger. Probably has a little retaining clip that you snap off or lift up.

Dont you really want to get a new computer?