keyboard and mouse suddenly not recognized

Hi, I'm running Windows XP and have a Microsoft optical mouse and a standard Compaq keyboard. I've had no problems with these for the past year until now. Today I restarted my computer after the cursor started moving backwards on its own (to the point that I couldn't even restart properly because the cursor kept moving from the "restart" icon to the "standby" icon). After booting back up, the mouse cursor shows up on the screen, but I can't move it. The laser inside the mouse won't turn on and none of the keyboard lights will come in either. I'm stumped, because I can't even get into the BIOS, as the keyboard won't work.

I'm not even sure if this is a hardware problem. Is there a virus that causes symptoms like these?

Thanks for any and all help!

-Ian

 

Also, I've tried rebooting with different combinations of mice and keyboards. Even when there is no mouse or keyboard pluged in, there is a mouse cursor at the login page. I don't know if that means anything or not. Nothing is plugged in using usb, by the way.

 

You've already tried most of the alternative solutions that we would suggest.
Anyone else out there with another solution? Bazza

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OK, I found one. I removed the hard drive my operating system is on and plugged in into a second computer so I could do a virus scan. Sure enough, AVG found one (if I'd been thinking, I'd have written down what it was so I could post it here). I put the hard drive back in my computer and it works just like it did before. That's a pretty nasty trick, though, if you ask me.

 

Glad you found the solution. Goddam viruses. Bazza

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