Computer won't recognize keyboard or mouse?

have a look in the bios--even though xp is not recognising the keyboard you may still find you can enter the bios with it--check that usb keyboard and usb mouse is set to enable

The problem is, I can't see the screen. The monitor stays in a standby mode until the mouse moves causing the monitor to become active. So I can't look in the bios.  

are you sure its not the monitor thats the problem?

normally even with no mouse or keyboard plugged in the monitor still shows the post screen

check your monitor connections are in securely

I'm pretty sure it's not the monitor. The monitor responds by turning on, however the light stays orange. Even with the mouse, this is normally the case; however, by using the mouse the light turns green and allows the boot up screen to become visible.

I even rechecked the connections, only to get the same results.

I agree with McNumpty, At bootup your monitor should be active regardless of the mouse or keybd even being connected. If you dont know how to shut off your pc blind its (xp: windows key> u>enter) (win7: win key> rt arrow> enter) or just hold thepower button in for 6 seconds when theres no HDD activity for force the PSU off.

If you have nothing on the monitor at boot up I would be borrowing someones old GPU to test with.

Even though the monitor does seem like the problem, it doesn't explain why the keyboard light and mouse light doesn't turn on either after bootup. They both work fine on other devices just not this computer, could it be a Motherboard issue?

Sorry, but I'm blaming the moniter. The fact it isn't displaying the bootup/POST sequence indicates the moniter is the primary problem. Are you sure the PC is even booting correctly?

borrow a mouse and keyboard to double check or get a usb to ps2 adaptor if your motherboard has a ps2 port--though still think the monitor should work without them but theres no harm in double checking

id be inclined to think it a motherboard problem... disconnect the monitor from the pc and turn it on. if you get a no signal message the monitor is likely to be fine. reconect it and turn it on. now turn on the pc. if the monitor jumps into standby mode then its likley your motherboard or worse your cpu has died.

So here's the thing, after unplugging the monitor from the pc and turning it on I received the "no signal" message. However the monitor was green, therefore it is not a monitor problem. I continued HEXiT's advice and plugged in the pc via VGA cable after the monitor was on. And the monitor went back into standby, as the computer apparently booted up.

So is this a motherboard problem? Did it just come randomly, I mean the computer worked fine the day prior? Anything else I can do to confirm this?

Basically, the moniter isn't getting a signal, which almost certainly means you aren't even passing POST, as you should be getting SOME display, even if the OS were totally fried.

So is it certain that my problem is my motherboard? And if so, what should I go about doing to fix it. This computer is close to 8 years old, I believe. Was it just a matter of time? Should I just go buy a new PC?

if your cpu has gone you would get no video or if the graphics have gone you would get no video so not necessarily the motherboard thats gone

if the pc is that old it may be an idea to replace it--finances allowing of course

Yeah, I have no problem replacing something that doesn't work. However, that's the question. What exactly is it that's broken? Is it worth replacing? This computer ran well before this incident, so is something like this likely to happen? Should I take it into Geek Squad and have them take a look?

If your pc is 8 years old and 1 part is causing it not to work, (i.e mobo) it's not only going to be a hassle to track down an old part but kind of a waste of money to spend on something outdated, if you have the spare money I'd invest in a new build (can make yourself an entire i3 build for ~$500) however if it is say the power supply, you can easily find a replacement for it and in the future if you upgrade you can reuse it. You should be able to keep all your data from your hdd, and if you go for a new build you can still reuse alot of the parts such as the hdd,cd rom,case etc to save some coin.

imo paying a tech to come look at an old machine isn't worth it, not sure how pricey they are for you, but in my area they charge about $100 an hour which is more then the cost of a cheap motherboard.

Though helpful, you have still left my main question unanswered. Is there anything I can do to find out the sole problem in this PC? It seems like there are a lot of a possibilities...

How do I know if it's the power supply? Or the Motherboard?

You'd probably have to spend the money getting a multimeter to test your PSU or you could buy a new PSU that would work for your unit.

The easiest test would be with a known good PSU, if your motherboard worked otherwise, it would be the PSU, if it didn't, it'd be the motherboard.

But is finding out worth it for you? Unless you have another working PSU, probably not with a ten year old system.

Okay, well I have come to the conclusion that my PC must be officially dead. So thank you for all of your help.

Best answer selected by The Hurricane42.

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey