Hello all on tom's HARDWARE - USB, PS/2 Ports Lose Functionality Upon Reaching Windows 7 Log-In Screen

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fossil123

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Jul 18, 2013
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First off, Hello Tom's Hardware, I just joined this site/forum, and this is my first thread...ever...on any site...hope it ends well.

System Specs / Info:
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58-USB3
CPU: Intel Core i7 950
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 470 1280MB
Soundcard: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium Fatality PRO
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
Power Supply: Corsair TX Series 850 Watt
Physical Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series DDR3 (3 x 2GB)
Chassis/Case: Antec Nine Hundred Gaming Case
Mouse: Gigabyte M8000X Performance Laser Mouse
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow 2013 - Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

USB Devices that are regularly plugged into my PC:

Apple iPod - always plug it into the same port on the front of the case.
Western Digital Elements SE 1TB External Harddrive - this device always gets plugged into one of the USB 3.0 ports which means either my mouse or keyboard gets unplugged and put into a port directly above it.
2GB Flash Drive - have only ever plugged into one of the 2 ports on the front of the case, and it gets a lot of use because I am a student.

A sequence of events: was on my computer one day listening to music, indication from windows action center that Kaspersky pure 3.0 was experiencing licensing issues was no longer working and needed to be reinstalled, uninstalled Kaspersky, didn't bother to reinstall, later that night went to log off computer to go to sleep and noticed windows had system updates ready for install, clicked "install updates and shutdown" ( i almost always put my pc to sleep and never shut it down unless it is for something like an update), next morning i booted up the pc instead of just moving mouse and waking it from sleep upon reaching log in screen my mouse and keyboard had stopped working...go figure

The Problem: USB mice and keyboards, as well PS/2 mice and keyboards no longer function upon reaching the Windows 7 log-in screen. Approximately 9 days ago, on either the morning of July 10th or the 11th I booted up my PC when I woke up and when I went to select my user account I was not able to because the cursor would not move. At first I thought my motherboard had died or somehow my Razer keyboard had killed my 2 USB 3.0 ports ( The plug for that keyboard requires significantly more force to plug in compared to the rest of my USB devices, just saying).

So, I started doing research on this forum and pretty much anything else I could find on many other forums and tech sites, and now I have finally given up after about 10 days. I am about to go traveling for what might be many months and I need to gain access to some work related documents on my computer and more importantly all my music! I can't sync my iPod and it is driving me crazy! LOL

I've come across these threads and they seemed very similar to my problem ( the closest I could find anyway )

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1695063/power-usb-ports-driver-update.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1677045/usb-ports-devices-stop-working-windows-boots.html

Things I have tried in an attempt to solve the problem:
-Pull out the power cord from the power supply, and press power button to "drain power stored in capacitance", let computer sit for a few minutes (mine sat for days, did this multiple times too, was getting desperate, or losing my sanity : ))
-Took the battery off the motherboard in an attempt to reset something that would allow me to once again use my mouse and keyboard ( I decided to partially disassemble my computer because it was getting to the point where I blow the dust out with compressed air, so I did this at same time)
-Changing some settings in BIOS regarding USB 3.0 host controller, USB legacy support for mice and keyboard
-Changed first boot priority in BIOS from hard-disk to Cd-Rom so I could boot Windows 7 from my installation disk in an attempt to do a system restore. The restore was successful, but it took my PC back to its state on the 11th, and didn't change anything.
There was also a repair tool called "system start-up repair" ( think I have that wrong), but I was not able to use it because it told I had to "unplug a USB device I had recently plugged in before I could continue"
-I tried an old PS/2 keyboard and mouse, but they only function in BIOS or when I have the Windows 7 disk in
-Removed my soundcard and Linksys PCI Wireless Internet Card that hooks up to an antenna to see if that would make a difference

I think that is all the detail I can supply on my PC and this particular problem I'm having with it, so what I ask now is what am I able to do about this?

 
Solution
quicksand10
Download a USB bootable version of Ubuntu linux, and boot from the USB. If your keyboard and mouse work there, it's your windows installation.

EDIT: Here's the link, forgot to add it
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/
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fossil123

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Jul 18, 2013
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It's really odd. Everything or anything I choose to plug into a USB has power, but does not function, however, when I reach the log-in screen the indicator lights for caps lock, num lock etc... on my keyboard go off as if I have deactivated num lock by pressing the button even though I haven't, and pressing it doesn't bring it or caps lock or any other button lock function back on.

iPod still charges from any port, lights on mouse remain on when plugged into an USB port...completely mystifies me.
 
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quicksand10

quicksand10

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Download a USB bootable version of Ubuntu linux, and boot from the USB. If your keyboard and mouse work there, it's your windows installation.

EDIT: Here's the link, forgot to add it
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/
 
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Solution
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fossil123

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Jul 18, 2013
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Alright, I'll try it and thank you quicksand. Another thing if it turns out that it is my windows installation, is it possible to recover files from the windows installation??
 
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gbryan101

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May 28, 2013
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I had issues similar to this with my Razer Blackwidow keyboard and Deathadder mouse, right after the Windows 7 install I was using at the time installed updates. Before you do anything, I would make sure you have everything backed up. Seeing as you can't access your Windows install, I would suggest using some type of bootable rescue environment. My preference is Parted Magic, mostly because the low, low price of free.

I was able to access my install by switching to an older USB keyboard that I had lying around. Once in, I manually reinstalled the USB controller drivers that had come with my motherboard's user CD that had been updated at some point by Windows and returned them to the older versions. This got my newer peripherals working. So far as I can tell, the newer drivers wouldn't let the ports put out enough power for my mouse and keyboard. This was on a Gigabyte 990FX UD3 board.

I have a suspicion that this might not work for you, but if you haven't tried it, it's worth a shot. The interesting part is that your PS/2 port isn't working. Usually, PS/2 ports have their own microcontroller and are separate from the USB ports. Are you plugging in the PS/2 connector with the machine off and then starting it?

At this point, you could go ahead and toggle your EHCI Hand-Off, if you have this option, just remember that you toggled it. Sometimes weird things happen after enabling it. I realize that having your hardware take over EHCI is redundant XP SP2 and later, but you are at the point where I would just start trying things in your position. A quick search on Google took me to a forum describing a quirk of some Gigabyte boards to disable the keyboard if USB mouse support was enabled in the BIOS, another thing to look into.

They talk about that here:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/362864
You probably have already found this but just in case you didn't. Good luck!
 
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fossil123

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Actually, gbryan I have not come across that information you linked, and I find it very interesting. In fact it might end up solving my problem. I mean I hope it does, as of right now I'm in the process of creating a bootable version of Ubuntu on a flashdrive like how quicksand suggested.

Oh, and that is why my problem is unique and especially annoying. In all the threads I have read most people were able to fix their disabled USB problem by using a different keyboard and mouse. I've tried 2 different sets. My microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse, plugged the reciever in with usb plugged, didnt work. Plugged it in with ps/2 plug still didn't work. Then and just for the sake of trying it I got out a mouse and keyboard that were apart of my families very first computer from the year 2000 and both the mouse and keyboard have ps/2 plugs and DID NOT WORK. (sigh) They are functioning and I plugged in the ps/2 connector while my machine was off.
 
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gbryan101

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While having a Ubuntu bootable around is always a good idea, I would suggest also creating a live CD of Parted Magic or another Linux rescue environment. There isn't much difference for what you are doing now, but a good rescue environment will have a variety of tools for everything from data recovery to disk management to anti-virus. Something like Hiren's Boot CD will contain this, as well as other tools.

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=start
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/
 
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gbryan101

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May 28, 2013
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While having a Ubuntu bootable around is always a good idea, I would suggest also creating a live CD of Parted Magic or another Linux rescue environment. There isn't much difference for what you are doing now, but a good rescue environment will have a variety of tools for everything from data recovery to disk management to anti-virus. Something like Hiren's Boot CD will contain this, as well as other tools.

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=start
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/
 
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fossil123

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Jul 18, 2013
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A couple of questions and thoughts gbryan. Was thinking I'll go your way first and attempt to do data recovery because if I can I can perform re-install of Windows and hopefully everything will go back to normal. Don't know how I will avoid this problem in the future though because I still don't know what created it. Ubuntu will be last resort. I was even thinking of accessing my hard drive as an external HDD from another computer, but I have to buy a hard drive enclosure for that and even then I'm not quite sure how that would work, or if it would work at all. I asked an employee at a local computer and electronics store near my house and he said I could, so I don't know. And the EHCI setting you mentioned in your first post. You said "if you have it", I don't think I do because I can't find it in BIOS. Either that or I'm lost.

What do you think??
 
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gbryan101

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You could very well not have an EHCI setting. I actually don't. It was just a possibility.

As for the external, you do that, but my laziness would cause me to just leave the drive in the machine and transfer my files to another drive or to something external like a flash drive. If you don't have an external HD to do backups to, I would suggest getting one and getting in the regular habit of doing backups. There is software to help with this, but I just use SyncToy and manually run it, personally.

I suggested the whole Parted Magic thing with the intent of leaving the drive in the machine. Parted Magic is Linux-based and boots from a CD and then runs from the RAM. It allows file manipulation. I have used one Windows install to retrieve data from another, and it usually works without much trouble. This process gets a lot easier if you have a friend with a machine set up for recovery work (Linux boot drive with utilities and external drive bays) but you can make an external work. I have had Windows react strangely to accessing another install (permission problems), something that Linux avoids.

If you go with the external enclosure, be sure to get something that fits the drive. You may have to get something that requires a wall adapter for a 3.5'' drive. I have tried to run a 3.5'' drive from the little SATA data/power to USB connectors and all I managed to do was burn the drive up due to low power. (This was an IDE drive with a SATA adapter hooked to SATA to USB adapter. Don't ask.) When you plug the drive into another machine, it will either be recognized right away or you will have look for the drive in disk management (diskmgmt.msc). Be careful not to format it and stop if you receive warnings of data loss. Initializing the drive will result in data loss. See if the drive is listed under Computer and then retrieve your files.

If this gets you nothing, you might have to go to Linux.

In all honesty, if you have reached the point of reinstalling Windows, go get an external drive (or make one from a bare drive and an external enclosure). Use another computer or have a friend make a rescue environment bootable disk. Plug in the external. Boot to the disk. Initialize the new external, if needed. Round up your data and transfer to the external. Eject the external and exit the recovery environment and then carry on with your Windows reinstall.

I have found very few cases of a problem like yours actually being resolved, and I did a good bit of searching. Sorry.

Sorry about being so slow to get back to you, I was out of town for the weekend.
If you need help from here, just message me. Cheers.
 
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