boot problems,....keyboard wont work....

Are these PS/2 or USB mouse and keyboard?

If USB, it sounds like the USB drivers got corrupted since the keyboard works to open BIOS setup, but fails once Windows launches.

Reboot and press F8 before XP starts to load. Choose "Last Known Good" from the menu. If mouse and keyboard work and you get to the desktop, shut down normally and reboot normally. You'll  be good to go.

If that doesn't work, reboot and press F8. This time select "Safe Mode with Networking" from the list. If keyboard works, you may be able to fix this by running a System Restore from Safe Mode by picking a restore point before the problem started. Personal files and software won't be affected, but you will have to reinstall any updates or hotfixes originally installed after the date used for the restore.

If Safe Mode doesn't work, you'll need to run a Repair/Reinstall of XP.  You'll need a Windows XP Reinstallation CD with the same version of Windows as on the hard drive, eg SP2 or SP3. Personal files and software won't be affected but you will have to reinstall most/all XP updates and hotfixes again.

Ron

EDIT: If either Last Good or Safe Mode work, be sure to run chkdsk /f  on the drive from a Cmd Prompt window to check for errors. If you have to run a Repair/Reinstall of XP using the CD, you should launch the  Recovery Console first, and run chkdsk /r before you do the Repair/Reinstall to make sure any errors on the drive are corrected. And either way, scan for malware.

Ron,

Yes I have a USB mouse and keyboard.

I tried the "Last Known Good Configuration", but the mouse and keyboard didn't respond.

Than I tried "Safe Mode with Networking" but to no avail...neither worked for me....

I did not see your edit before I went to option 3 here...(I had run a check disk just two days ago so should  not be any problems there), and was shying away from it but did not see any other options...this will be the 4th time I have done a clean nstall so am familiar with how to do it..

I even tried the repair and the recovery console but it didnt respond either...so the clean install was the last option....

On the bright side, I do have an external hard drive I use to back up all my settings and info (got it after doing the 1st clean install and losing documents then) so I have everything backed up on it with a recovery CD so putting everything back the way it was wont be any problems....soon will be up n running again

thanks for your help

Lee

Dell Dimension 3000 Series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor @ 2.8GHz with 1MB cache,

2GB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz

Windows XP Professional

yes I do hope it goes well.....it is in the process of copying files to the install folders  now ...sure takes awhile that is for sure...

"This might take several minutes to complete" it says ??????? LMAO...more like hours to complete

I have heard it is actually good to do a clean install every now and to get rid of junk ....what do you think of that ??

thank goodness I have two computers...

Lee

Some people do a clean install every year to get rid of all the junk that Windows accumulates. I think once a year is excessive, but then again I've got better things to do with my time.  :emotion-2:

A typical reinstall of XP, drivers etc will probably take ~3 hours, in my experience.

Ron

well i think I am screwed....the install ran for over 10 hours and did not get past 51%... so I stopped it and then tried to start it again since the instructions said about 2 hours to do...

now it wont get past the blue screen that says:

"Welcome to Setup"

This portion  of the Setup program prepares Microsoft (R) Windows(R) XP to run on your computer

• To set up Windows XP now press ENTER
• To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R
  
• To quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3

What do I do now???? Any help please!!!!

Lee

Do I assume correctly that you have an IDE hard drive, rather than a SATA drive? Did you disconnect all peripherals, including network/phone cable, leaving only mouse, monitor and keyboard connected during the installation?

What version of XP is on the CD, XP, SP1, SP2 or SP3...?

Reboot from the XP disk and check the color of the 4 diagnostic LEDs on rear of the tower when you get to that Welcome screen. If LEDs not all green, look up error code here. <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

If all green, reboot and press F2 before XP tries to load. Go into BIOS setup and set the OS Install Mode option to ON. Save the change and reboot again from the XP CD. Press R at Welcome screen to launch Recovery Console. At the prompt, type in:

chkdsk c: /r

Press Enter and go take a long nap while it checks the hard drive. If it fails or you get error messages, the drive may be toast.

When chkdsk is done, reboot from the CD again and press Enter to start the setup again. Remember to delete the existing C: partiton and reformat the drive during the setup.

Assuming the install goes well and you get to the desktop, reboot again and set the OS Install Mode back to OFF. Then install all the drivers -in the correct order!

Ron

I just ran across your post.

About the keyboard issue that I had. I finally got it solved.
I was working on a friend's Dell Dimension E521 when I experienced the exact same problem---loss of keyboard and usb ports.
I tried all the different ports that were suggested as a fix. None of that worked. Also this machine had no PS2 ports at all.
This is a friend's computer. After thoroughly looking over her computer, I noticed that one of
the front USB ports had a few bent pins. I thought to myself, perhaps that's got something to do with it.
(maybe causing some grounding/shorting problem). So I straightened them out the best I could. Then I did the unconventional,
unspeakable,unmentionable.......I removed the CMOS battery and turned the computer on (WITHOUT the CMOS battery installed).
and VOILA!!!!!  I had a keyboard again. I really don't whether it was straightening out those pins or re-booting without
the battery that actually did the trick but one of them  worked. I don't know if it will help anyone else but it worked for me. So, if you have no
bent USB pins, you may want to try the boot-without-battery trick. (At your own risk)

Hi

When I start my dell Inspiron n5010 it goes to bios. In the bios I can't select any menu where it seems like a key is pressed. I pressed ESC then it goes to Windows logo and again to bios. The same process continues. I removed keyboard connection and used a usb keyboard. Then everything worked fine. How could I know whether the whole keyboard is gone or the problem with any specific key? I cannot boot to OS with my keyboard connected. Please help......

My keyboard has problems when I write when you put the u pu pu and puresionar l lord l5. Do you have any configuration problems or damaged wine?

@Yoaniaaaaa1989

It's been a while since I visited this forum but I was curious. Did you ever fix your keyboard issues ?