No keyboards/mice working....

I have a PC here and no keyboards or mice (mouses?) are working. I've tried 2 different USB and PS2 keyboards/mice and none have worked. Obviously, the motherboard is likely bad, but what I'm wondering is: can bad RAM or bad CPU (or anything else besides the mobo) cause the keyboard and mouse to not work? Both USB and PS2? The PC powers on, gets video, beeps, and loads to the XP login screen, but I can't even get in to the BIOS 'cuz the keyboard doesn't work, there's not even any lights on the keyboard, pressing NumLock or CapsLock doesn't light up anything either . . . . any ideas, thoughts, suggestions (besides "replace the motherboard") will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

If you have a USB PCI card, you could try that - but if the BIOS is set to halt on keyboard errors, it won't work either 'cos it ain't gonna boot to Windows to install it and allow you to use it ...

 

have you tried booting a linux live cd to rule it out?

 

I do indeed have one, and I was already planning on giving it a go, but read below.....

True to a point. If USB keyboard support is Enabled in the BIOS, I should be able to access the BIOS with a USB keyboard. On my home PC, I use a USB keyboard and it works in the BIOS just fine. I have reset the BIOS to defaults and it didn't help, but read below, something very strange has happened....

Nope. Good idea though

OK- here's the strangeness. There's 4 USB ports on the back of the PC as usual. One of these ports is 'broken', in that the plastic tab is gone, and only 3 of the 4 pins remain. Not knowing this port was bad, I plugged a USB mouse into it. When I powered up, I had full keyboard control (I had both a PS2 and USB keyboard plugged in and both were working!) and the PS2 mouse worked, but (obviously) the USB mouse plugged into the broken port did not work. Now, I know some of you are reading this saying "BULL@#$%!!!! Good ol' dlb is full of it!!!". But this is what happened!! Thinking this was VERY odd, I powered down, and removed the USB mouse from the broken port, and powered up again, and again I had no keyboard or mouse action!!! This is truly one of the CRAZIEST things I've encountered in my years of PC work, seriously. The only way to get KB/mouse action is to have a USB mouse plugged into the broken port!! I've tried plugging the mouse in to other ports and that doesn't work. I have NOT tried plugging something besides a mouse in to the port, but I think I will, just to see what happens!

Very strange, no? :confused

 

OK- so I plugged a USB printer cable into the broken port. Nothing on the other end of the cable, just a cable going to nowhere. IT WORKED!!! Both PS2 and USB keyboards are working, and both USB and PS2 mice are working!!! THIS IS FREEKIN' CRAZY!!!

 

not really, but i'm surprised the computer is even booting. had a similar problem, and it wouldn't let my pc boot up until i took care of the problem. luckily it was an external port on the case, and all i needed to do was disconnect it from the motherboard. anyway to disable the usb ports, and just use a pci usb card?