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Hardware issue - no keyboard; no mouse

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by thomasdq

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Very strange issue. Running XP pro and three days ago, my keyboard and mouse stop working on my Dell Optiplex GX-280. This machine doesnt have any legacy ports - ALL USB (ie no PS2 ports). I thought initially maybe the ports were bad, so I've done the following:

* Moved the devices to different ports, nada

* Used the keyboard & mouse in different machines. They worked fine.

* Running out of idea, I decided to try a different SATA hard drive - it worked fine, both devices.

Here's where I start pulling the stubs outta my bald head. When I put my hard drive into the machine that I pulled the 2nd drive from IT ALSO DIDN'T work.

Huh, what kind of conflict would cause this type issue. In the past week, I've installed the following devices:

* Zone Alarm - FreeEdition
* Zune MP3 player

Outside of this, nothing else out of the ordinary comes to mind. And the fact that I've got the same issue using the same hard drive in a system that has PS/2 has me bewildered.

Thanks in advance for your time & consideration.

5 replies

by nicknielsen

Insert the XP CD in your CD driver and boot from it. Select "Repair" from the menu and follow the instructions.

by thomasdq

I will certainly give it a try this evening, because I'm at my wits end.

Thank you for you quick response Nick

by bincarnato

Open the case up and look for swollen, bulging, leaking caps on the system board. Dell has a recall on system boards for the Optiplex PCs and was replacing them under warranty. I can't remember if it was the 270 or 280 series that they were doing for warranty but the issue you are having sounds like the goofy type of thing that this caused. I have replaced dozens of system boards for this reason. Just Google "Dell Swollen Caps" and you'll see how many other folks have had the issue.

by Former member

Re-install your motherboard drivers and update them. look in the "device manager" to make sure there are no conflicts with other programs. Or go into "safe mode" and do a restore from there.

Please post back if you have more problems or questions.

by surfdaworld

have you tried booting off a live CD to check if the mouse/keys work then? that will at least tell you if the problem lies in windows, or at the machine level.

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