Help! While attempting a repair install...

I have come across an issue. My HP offers a "repair console" prior to the end-user license agreement, and that takes you to a c:\ prompt. I quickly abandoned that, as I was bad at DOS 15 years ago and have only gotten worse since. Following through to the end-user page, I attempted to press f-8 only to find that my keyboard has stopped working. I have tried every USB port to no avail. The serial port has been bad for quite some time, so it's not an option. The keyboard in question is a Microsoft Digital Media Pro and I have IntelliType installed. Any assistance will be appreciated.

USB no go, Serial- no go, that leaves the old PS2 keyboard out in the garage as a last resort.

When you start up using that one, go straight to the BIOS and make sure USB keyboard support is enabled.

There is usually a quick flash of a message showing the correct key to access the BIOS.

I didn't think to check BIOS (and by that I mean that I didn't know that the option existed within BIOS). I will try that now, and hope that it works. otherwise you'll have to send me a PS2 keyboard next-day air. I would like to note that XP was reinstalled on a freshly formatted drive 2 days ago, with a USB keyboard and no problems. Since then I seem to be having trouble with my USB ports and the system crashes at random. Hopefully this site is accessible via Android in case this all goes horribly wrong. Thanks for the quick reply.

@Tig: I'll assume that "Enable USB Legacy Somethingorother" is the parameter you were referencing. I changed it from Auto to Enable, keeping my cd drive first in boot sequence, and instead of taking me into the setup menus, my system loaded XP and took me straight to the login screen despite the fact that the XP disc was in the drive.

I was attempting a repair install of XP, which was apparently successful since I found myself at my login screen after the install was completed. I received two error messages re: .dll files missing during the installation, and I'm searching those right now. The initial problem was twofold. First, and primary, my system wouldn't boot with ANY usb-connected media or storage devices present at startup. The second issue was crashing with no discernible common trigger. I did neglect to replace the heat paste between the cpu and the heatsink a few days ago when I cleaned everything, but I was very careful not to wipe any of the old stuff off. I'm not sure if an overheated CPU could be to blame for the crashes or not. As of now I have no idea what could cause the issue with USB connected hard drives, card readers, and phones. all of these devices were ever-present before I did the initial reinstall and I never had a problem with any of them.

Do this:

Go to Control Panel, Power Options. Click the Advanced tab and look near the bottom for an entry that says, "When I press the power button on my computer:" It should say "Shut Down" and if it doesn't show that, change it.

Unplug every USB device except the keyboard.

Now go to System and open the device manager, and remove everything under Universal Serial Bus Controllers. To remove them, double click on each of the entries under this category and choose Driver from the tabs up at the top. There are several buttons under this tab, one of them is Uninstall. Click this button - it will warn you that you are about to remove the device from your system. Click OK, as this is what you want to do. Repeat this with every entry under Universal Serial Bus controllers until they are all gone. Reboot your system, and windows will detect the new hardware and re-install the drivers. Under normal circumstances, this should be enough to get your USB ports working again.

You will loose USB keyboard control when doing this. Hopefully, the last one you uninstall will be handling the keyboard. Press the power button for just a second to invoke the Windows shutdown, then re-start.