USB Ports not working on XPS 410

"If safe mode doesn't work, have you tried "last known good" from the same F8 menu?"

sorry Ron, the keyboard has died before then so it isn't a case of safe mode not working, I can't get to it or any other options other than the default timeout.

I have seen a few responses to this post but nothing helpful yet.  I also suffer from the same condition.  USB works fine while in bios but not past the windows startup post.  I have reformated my drives and have also done a complete wipe of my Raid Array and rebuilt it.  I am running RAID 1.  When I attempt to install the OS either using the XP Media Center Disk or the XP Pro copy that I have been using for the last 4 years this is what happens. 

First it begins to load off of the disk either you have to hit F6 to install the RAID driver so it can find your hard drives (Win XP Pro) or it loads it automatically if you're using the Windows Media OEM version that came with the system.  From there you get to create your partitions and format them as you normally would.  Once it asks where you want to install Windows and you pick either the Windows folder or some other named folder it then prompts you to place the Raid driver into drive "A."  Of course the XPS 410 does not have an "A" drive so I am using a Dell External USB floppy drive.  This drive works great up to this point but now that the message "Starting Windows" had appeared it no longer will respond to my keyboard or my floppy drive. 

I have looked in BIOs and my settings for the USB ports are correct.

Before formatting my drive I did go into Safe Mode many times and the mouse was never there.  I did notice that there was a yellow question mark on one driver that it reported as not having a clue what it was.  Of course since it couldn't tell me what it was I couldn't figure it out either.  I attempted to reload in a number of drivers but to no avail. 

Before this problem happened I did get a virus infection that I could not get rid of after trying a number of tools.  Of course without a mouse it is very difficult to move around in your system.  I decided a full reinstall would be best.  However, the USB issue is still present well after the hard drives have been completely wiped over 7 times. 

Any Suggestions? 

Have you tried using an externally powered USB hub (one with its own power brick)? Plug it into the wall and connect it to a rear USB port. Then plug the keyboard into that port.

Are you sure the problem isn't because you're using an external floppy drive to load the SATA drivers ??

Ron

Hi Ron,

I have not tried using an external USB Hub but I didn't have to do that when I installed Windows XP Pro the first time.  This USB issue is new and I suspect that it has been caused by the virus.  It has to be something in the bios since the hard drive has been formatted a number of times. 

I MUST load the SATA drivers per USB Floppy Drive since there is no other delivery method available to Windows XP (Only "A" drive support for external drivers) and the XPS 410 does not support an internal floppy drive. 

Thanks for the help.  I can't believe someone hasn't found a fix for this yet.  Seems to be an issue with a few people.

Thanks,

DrScott

KEITHG2 - Thank you so much!  When I first saw your advice, I frankly doubted its efficacy.  But I was totally stuck with all USB ports failing on boot (keyboard failure in BIOS, no USB-connected devices working in Windows, nothing going through the USB ports on the monitor), so I decided to give it a try - and IT WORKED!  I am back to functioning.  However did you figure it out? 

Thanks again!

I just tried this on our XPS 410. I had gone out and bought a USB 3.0 PCI card because all the USB ports had quit on the machine. Then today THAT card quit too. I tried KeithG's suggestion and now it's running normally again!

Thank you!

The solution that I used was I contacted Dell and bought a floppy disk drive for around $15 dollars I believe.  It's been a few months since I did this.  After installing the floppy disk drive I was able to install the OS with no problems and have not had a problem since.  

Oh my gosh.  I tried Keith G's suggestion and it worked.  Thank you. Thank you.  We were going to have to replace USB ports.

This problem just rose from the dead on my XPS after a 4 year absence.  Previously, the "hold the power button down" trick worked just fine.  This time, it didn't.  I could get the keyboard to work long enough to get into safe mode, but nothing after that.  I finally booted Ubuntu (11.04) to see if the problem was software or hardware.  The keyboard and mouse worked just fine.  I rebooted back into Windows (maybe did the power button trick again) and lo and behold the mouse and keyboard worked again.