Failure to Boot; Unusual(?) Cause

Background:
When I bought my current computer from Dell it came with Vista installed. Due to slow booting and other problems, I upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate. The computer still took too long to boot. I tried all of the recommended fixes, but nothing made a noticeable difference.

The problem:
A week or so ago my computer would not boot up. I got a message stating that a component was missing... I tried booting from the Windows 7 disc, but got the same result.

The solution:
I took my computer to a colleague who is more knowledgeable about computers than I. I had brought my mouse and keyboard along, but he plugged in one of his spare keyboards. The computer booted up! He replaced his keyboard with mine (a Logitech lighted keyboard) and the computer failed to boot. I was surprised and happy to have a solution to the problem. At home I hooked up a spare keyboard and not only was the problem solved, but the computer booted faster than it ever had! I never timed the slow boot, but I estimate that the machine is booting five times as fast as before.

I am posting this in case someone else has a Logitech lighted keyboard and is having similar problems.

CharlesE

 

Thanks for the info, CharlesE - good stuff.

 

That's really interesting. I have seen "keyboard failure" messages before, but nothing like this. Did both keyboards use the same interface? I am assuming USB as that is the most common these days.

 

Well that is unusual, are you sure that keyboard has not been modified to record keystrokes?
Try cracking it open and see if you can see a small piggyback PCB with a chip on it, I cant really see that slowing the boot down but you never know.

 

The keyboard was delivered with my computer and was in its original packaging. I never modified it in any way. Both keyboards use USB connections. In fact my computer has no other keyboard input, so USB is the only choice.

 

That would be spooky. Of course, that would mean someone got a hold of the keyboard without you knowing. Note there likely is a small PCB - printed circuit board - or two already inside but they would look like they belonged there, in proper mounting places and soldered in place. Something added by a bad guy would look out of place, possibly with wires soldered as if the device was added as an afterthought or modification. If there, don't touch it - call the police. And check your bank accounts and change your passwords.

***

Okay, I see while typing the above, you replied Charles, with reassuring news. Though I suppose if you went on vacation, someone could have come in and modified your keyboard, but that seems unlikely unless you were specifically targeted by a professional who knows you and it was not a random break in. A burglar would just steal the computer.

I suspect the old keyboard (or its cable) was just bad. It would be interesting to try it on another computer.

 

I am afraid that those of you who would like me to examine the interior of the keyboard will be disappointed to know that I tossed it into the garbage. I think it is unlikely that it was tampered with. As for a bad cable, I don't know if that would have caused the problems. This thread has aroused more interest than I anticipated. My thanks to all who have responded.

Charles

 

That's because it was so unusal. As for the cable, if there was a broken or frayed wire in one of the connections, a stray wire strand may have been shorting out another circuit. USB ports provide power from the power supply to USB devices that need it. I suspect a short was putting an abnormal condition on the power supply or motherboard regulator circuits, causing your problem.

 

All,

Some of the things you guys mentioned may have caused the failure to boot, but what about the slow boot problem from day one? There is something else I didn't mention that also was a problem before the failure: The keyboard was not active until after boot up. For example, if I wanted to boot in safe mode, pressing F8 would not work. If the computer stopped during the boot up process because of an improper shut down I could not use the keyboard arrow keys to select an option for start up. I thought that this was the nature of USB keyboards, but my current USB keyboard works fine in this respect. I just tried it out and was able to chose booting in safe mode or Windows 7. In other words the keyboard was acting strangely from day one. The complete failure may or may not be related to this, but I am very glad to be rid of the original keyboard!

CharlesE

 

Well, you said in your opening post that migrating to Windows 7 fixed your slow computer problems.

If this was a problem from day 1, and the computer is still under warranty, call Dell and get a new keyboard.

 

If you will reread my original post you will see that Windows 7 did not fix my slow boot problems. If my computer/keyboard had been under warranty I would have contacted Dell, but that was not the case.

CharlesE

 

You sure did. :-o Sorry.