I bought a refurb Acer desktop with Win 8.1 a week ago. It's gone through a few rounds of big Windows update installations and after restarting the most recent time, my keyboard and mouse do not work. Both light up initially when the computer is started up, but the lights go out within a few seconds. I verified that the keyboard and mouse work on another computer. Basically, the computer appears to boot up normally, but I can't click or type anything, so I'm completely stuck at the date and time screen. I've seen others with similar problems talk about booting into safe mode, but I don't think I can do that without a working mouse and keyboard. Any advice?
keyboards and mice stopped working with Windows 8.1, can't log in
- Thread starter harpsm
- Start date
Solution
Darkbreeze
Retired Mod
- Jun 24, 2014
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Are you sure the keyboard isn't working during POST? Usually if the problem is related to an update or driver issue the problem won't affect use before windows loads? Does the keyboard power or number lock lights come on? Mouse? They are USB right?
I'm not sure what you mean by POST, but the keyboard num lock light and mouse red optical light do appear for a few seconds after I turn the machine on, but then disappear when Windows loads. Yes, they are both wired USB devices, but I have also tried a USB wireless mouse with no luck.
Also, I have tried all of the USB ports on this machine - 4 USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0.
Darkbreeze
Retired Mod
- Jun 24, 2014
- 80,411
- 7,631
- 176,790
So what you need to do is begin hitting F8 as soon as you power on the computer and keep doing so until the repair screen appears with safe mode and repair options. Just because the mouse and keyboard don't work IN windows, doesn't mean they won't work prior to windows loading drivers. If you can get to the safe mode screen then boot via safemode. Once in windows, if the mouse and keyboard are working, go into control panel and then open device manager.
If there are any devices that are showing a problem, it will already be open to that device if there is one, right click the device and select update drivers and update automatically. If it won't update because of safe mode you may have to manually find and reinstall drivers for that device from the motherboard or computer OEM website. If there are no devices showing issues then double click on keyboards and then right click on your keyboard and select uninstall. Check the box that says uninstall driver as well if one is present during the uninstall and then reboot afterwards.
If this works you may to do the same procedure for the mouse. After uninstalling the mouse, it will not work until after reboot so you'll have to navigate using the keyboard by pressing the windows key on the keyboard and then using the arrow keys to get to the restart menu.
If there are any devices that are showing a problem, it will already be open to that device if there is one, right click the device and select update drivers and update automatically. If it won't update because of safe mode you may have to manually find and reinstall drivers for that device from the motherboard or computer OEM website. If there are no devices showing issues then double click on keyboards and then right click on your keyboard and select uninstall. Check the box that says uninstall driver as well if one is present during the uninstall and then reboot afterwards.
If this works you may to do the same procedure for the mouse. After uninstalling the mouse, it will not work until after reboot so you'll have to navigate using the keyboard by pressing the windows key on the keyboard and then using the arrow keys to get to the restart menu.
Problem solved! But I honestly don't know how it got fixed. Here's what I did:
I found a trick to get into the BIOS: Turn off computer by holding power button; Very quickly unplug and replug the PC; Hold Delete as PC automatically reboots.
I fumbled around in the BIOS for a bit (the keyboard worked in BIOS, as expected), but I couldn't find any relevant settings, so I exited without saving and Windows loaded. To my surprise, the keyboard and mouse were working! After I logged in, a dialog box popped up saying something to the effect of "system updating." The process looked like it was hung up at about 10% for 2 or 3 minutes, the quickly finished and another dialog box appeared, indicating that keyboard drivers were being installed. I'm wondering now if I may have turned off the computer while an update was still running. In any case, everything looks good in the Hardware Manager now. I didn't get to try your latest advice, but hopefully your solution or mine helps someone else with the same problem. Thanks very much for your help, darkbreeze!
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