Error: No USB KB Input Device

Question

I own an Alienware x51 running Windows 7. It's a few years old and had some hiccups, but this is particularly perplexing. Upon startup, before user login, I receive a black screen error message stating:

"Error: No USB KB Input Device

Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility"

KB refers to keyboard here. So obviously, I can't press F1 or F2 because my keyboard isn't working. I've messed around for a bit and here's what I've found:

1. This isn't just an incidental issue that resolves itself upon restarting. I shut down and rebooted the computer a couple of times with no change.

2. The keyboard works. I plugged it into my Linux laptop and it worked immediately.

3. The desktop's USB ports work. My iPod can charge and my graphics tablet will turn on when they're plugged into the on computer. Moving my keyboard into different USB ports doesn't solve the issue.

I saw no solutions for this online, except one which involved editing the registry, which I can't do because I can't complete startup. What could possibly be done? I imagine it must be a software issue rather than hardware. I don't have a live CD of Windows to try out and my live USB of Linux is at home (I'm living at school). Please help.

NoUSBKB · Answer

Well fellas, I let it sit for an hour, turned off, while I ate dinner then tried again. And it worked. So probably just one of those weird Windows errors that rights itself. I did do a couple of things differently though -

I unplugged the keyboard before booting, then plugged it in after I received the error message.
I unplugged my graphics tablet and webcam before booting, which were both in USB ports. (reasoning was that maybe too many things were plugged into USB ports)

Consider this case effectively solved...

Tesla1856 · Answer

@NoUSBKBwrote:

Well fellas, I let it sit for an hour, turned off, while I ate dinner then tried again. And it worked. So probably just one of those weird Windows errors that rights itself. I did do a couple of things differently though -

I unplugged the keyboard before booting, then plugged it in after I received the error message.

I unplugged my graphics tablet and webcam before booting, which were both in USB ports. (reasoning was that maybe too many things were plugged into USB ports)

Consider this case effectively solved...

This wired-USB dead keyboard glitch and strangeness has been reported several times by several x51 owners.

Thanks for the detailed posts ... they should help someone.

Alienware Desktops

Error: No USB KB Input Device

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