Computer needs startup repair, but can't use mouse or keyboard

[agcorder91]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but recently on my girlfriends computer we installed a webcam and everything kinda froze. Upon restarting the computer it comes up with the screen saying a device failed and may need a startup repair. Also gives the option to start windows normally. The problem is the keyboard is not recognized to choose an option. It counts down and goes to the screen to start the startup repair, but again no mouse or keyboard. I have tried accessing the BIOS but considering the keyboard is not working i cannot do that either. I'm not sure what all is in it as I got it from a friend when he built a new one. It is a custom computer, not from a typical manufacturer. It has worked perfectly up until trying to install the webcam. I have tried using every USB port and also tried using a ps/2 converter to no avail. I'm not sure what to do anymore, and I'm afraid of messing with it too much or hard-booting it too much. Please help if you can. I'm at a loss. I'm not exactly new to computers, but I've never had a problem where i couldn't use the keyboard at all.

 

[agcorder91]

sorry, just saw that this is for the blue screens..which I am not getting, I'm sure the thread will be moved. Sorry again, i'm just at a complete loss and it's really late

 

[agcorder91]

I just tried turning it on again and it did the same thing. This is what comes up after the countdown for selecting to do startup repair or start normally. Again with no keyboard I can't do anything, not even access the BIOS. I've done a lot of searching but can't find this exact problem. Only suggestions i'm really seeing is to reset the BIOS but i've never done it nor sure how.

Windows failed to start. A Recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your langugae settings, and then click next
3. Click "repair your computer."
Status: 0xc000000e
Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

 

[agcorder91]

wow still nothing? Guess it's a lot worse than i had hoped...

 

[agcorder91]

think i got it, maybe by luck, maybe doing right thing at right time, go ahead and delete this thread, thanks anyways

 

[gregrocker]

Sorry you had to wait.

Trying another keyboard normally solves this.

Startup Repair should offer to System Restore to before the install which should resolve it. If not let us know.

If the webcam prob persists just don't install it's bloatware package which only allows you to look at yourself on your own computer. Only take the driver Win7 delivers when you plug it in or shortly thereafter via Optional Updates when you Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware.

Then use the webcam with the actual program that you need it for, e.g. Yahoo, Facebook, Live Messenger, etc.

 

[agcorder91]

I did try multiple keyboards, I cleared the CMOS on the motherboard and then the PS/2 adapter worked and let me get into BIOS setup and enable usb keyboard and mouse. Didn't even have to repair everything is was just one of those failsafes Windows does to give you the option. But since the BIOS wasn't recognizing my keyboard i couldn't do anything. But after clearing the CMOS and re-configuring I got it all worked out.

 

[kenax]

I installed w7 on a macair so that I can do both, as I need Windows for work and use mac for video editing. Everything worked like a charm for about half a year until, BAM, while working in W my keyboard and trackpad stopped working. I thought a restart might help so did that, but when entering the bootcamp screen my keyboard still did not work. So I was forced to wait until the timeout finished and it started automatically in mac. There my keyboard and trackpad worked fine. While there I spent a few hours reading up on the issue and it seems that there is some issue with the machine's USB 3.0. Usually I have everything set to "notify me of upgrades and wait for my decision". Perhaps something automatically updated the USB 3 driver, but some forums (with this precise mac/W problem) were discussing that the solution was to uninstall some Extreme USB 3 hub etc. Another forum suggested using an external keyboard to get into Windows to solve the problem. Because I thought this might happen again, I went out of my way to buy a portable, rollup keyboard. This worked and I was able to use the cursor key at bootcamp startup (bootcamp installs on the mac OS and through this can install W7 after a partition of the disk, startup in Windows is direct and not virtual within a running Mac OS, which is also possible) to startup in Windows. Now I'm in W with this extremely difficult-to-use keyboard, but at least I'm in, and from memory of reading the forums I thought I'd try the uninstall USB 3 Extreme (the name looked like Extreme but not exactly - can't remember now). I was rather hesitant, worried that I'd lose my two USB, so I created a system restore point. Even so, I was still worried, because without functional USB slots, how the heck was I supposed to get back into W?
And that is precisely where I am now. A beautiful machine with no arms and legs for Windows. The external mouse and keyboard (other keyboards were tried) worked up to a certain point when booting from an install disk (I put an external CD rom with the original Windows7 install disk into one USB and external keyboard into the other USB), whereby I am staring at the language option window and where I can press Install. After pressing Install, according to suggestions on the web, I would press Repair and then choose the restore point to just before, albeit insufficient trepidation, I uninstalled the USBs. So close yet so far. Tried putting in other keyboards, external mouse, obviously had to keep the CD rom in there so couldn't remove that from one of the two USBs. Not sure why I still saw that screen because, if the USBs stopped working at that point, would not the connection to the external CD rom be severed and the screen disappear? Should I try an external USB hub so that I can put more devices into the left USB slot where the CD rom seemed to still function?*
When logged into mac I have read-only access to possibly all my files on the Windows partition. Would rather not reinstall W because of this minor issue. If I can just get to the restore point I'll be back in Windows with the crappy keyboard, and then can at least continue with my experimentations. Strange but thankfully the power button still works on the machine's keyboard, otherwise i would have to dismantle it and rip out the battery, as it is not accessible on this machine.*
And if you are curious, yes, I find myself in these quite absurd situations on a fairly regular basis, and it does not necessarily have to concern the computer. Looking forward to some suggestions.

 

[gregrocker]

Can you get into Safe Mode?

Have you tried all USB ports in boot mode, or confirmed it is only the external OD that is functioning which it always will from boot mode using drivers in the disk? You may be able to rescue your files using Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console dragging them to USB storage device you have plugged into the other USB port or a hub.

Then you can reinstall to see if the drivers will be reissued as they should be since they were at first install - although all bets are off using Apple hardware which is not supported here.

 

[kenax]

There are only two USB ports and they are both USB3, which is the problem. One other solution which just occurred to me is I could try some USB physical hub after the USB3 and before the install disk. Maybe the USB hub with additional usb2 outputs will be usable by the external mouse. I just need to press Repair and then System Restore. Another option I thought would be to try a bluetooth mouse, although i don't think the bluetooth was set up in W when i noticed it in the device manager, with big fat yellow exclamation mark. never use it.
I can get into safe mode but the mouse and kb through usbs don't work either. maybe in that mode i can get something working through the bluetooth??
I can read-only access all my win files while in mac, but a reinstall would cost at least two weeks of work and something i'd really rather avoid. i've always found a solution to reinstalling and have learned much in the process.

 

[gregrocker]

First case I've seen with no USB2 ports. Are you sure? These should be backwards compatible. This is a problem since Win7 installer has no USB3 drivers in SP1 due to MS pretending Win7 is going away even though the business world is migrating off of final XP almost entirely to Win7.

You could try slipstreaming them into the Win7 installer using 7Lite, or manually using this method to Windows 7 USB 3.0 Slipstream Drivers.

You can also try moving HD to another PC with USB2 support for install, install the USB 3 drivers there, then Adjust Win7 to boot on new hardware with Paragon Adaptive Restore CD to start it on the problem PC, see it will load the USB3 devices.

 

[kenax]

looked into 7lite and the system requirements said:
WAIK - Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for windows 7
DOT NET Framework 3.5
VMware Workstation 7.0 or Virtual PC (For testing your customized OS virtually)

I imagine I don't have those, as it is a basic w7 install only and I didn't make any fancy changes.
Probably just one of Billy's ways to make himself richer by forcing everyone to upgrade to his latest bells and whistles just to get usb3 working. probably bribed the usb manufacturers too.
but putting the ssd hdd on another computer is certainly a new option to explore.

 

[gregrocker]

I think you only need a component of WAIK which it will prompt for when installing 7Lite, and you don't need to test in VM to just slip in a driver.

 

[kenax]

Looked into it further and found:
You cannot use a slipstream Windows 7 installation disc to do a repair install with on a currently installed Windows 7 SP1.
You cannot use a slipstream Windows 7 installation disc to do a repair install with on a currently installed slipstream Windows 7 SP1.
You can use a Windows 7 with SP1 installation disc (ex: Technet, MSDN, or retail) to do a repair install with on a current slipstream Windows 7 SP1 installation.

Will go to shop and see if something works. Thanks for the headsup on 7lite. will look into that further to secure the system better into the future.

 

[derekimo]

Is this info any help?

Winclone Support

 

[gregrocker]

I'm not sure why the driver isn't present in installation media for repair when it was there for the original install? It must be something else. What changed? Where did you uninstall the USB Extreme 3 software?

Derek's link suggests it is a Boot Camp driver that's missing, which may explain why you were able to install Win7 with no USB3 drivers in the Win7 installation media if it was provided in Boot Camp.

As to the slipstreaming warnings you quoted from tutorial, you're not doing a Repair Install or slipstreaming SP1, only a single driver which is the simplest operation 7Lite performs. But of course this is a gamble since we're dealing with Apple hardware which is rarely seen here. But you may need Startup Repair or System Restore from the disk System Recovery Options.

I would cross-post to an Apple forum.

 

[kenax]

already ran across Derek's suggestion a few times while going through mostly mac threads, freaked me out at the time, but decided to go for it, but still no go. I'm sure I gave it enough time to find the keyboard and trackpad because, during that time I managed to reinstall the soundpost on my viola. But made me think, could I possibly try entering Safe Mode with Command Prompt and get to the Bootcamp install that way? Seems the bootcamp has the right drivers for the machine but at some point windows upgraded perhaps, adding this extreme3 thing or whatever, causing a conflict with the keyboard and trackpad, as the mac forums are saying.
okay, will give this slipstream a go.

 

[kenax]

oh, and the reason I was trying Repair is because then I could just System Restore to the point before I uninstalled the Extreme3, because at least then the USBs were working and I could function in Win, albeit with external kb and mouse.

 

[gregrocker]

That would be my first thing to try, too.

Please reply to all my questions which remain unanswered. You may know the answers but we need to know them to help you better. There are others looking into the thread who might see a solution if it is complete.

 

[kenax]

not sure which questions I didn't answer, but hope this covers it:
- looked up macbook air specs and say usb3 only
- uninstalled extreme3 from Device Manager while in Windows, after reading tons of mac forums. Maybe I was supposed to roll back instead.
Not sure if it was there already, or maybe I should have uninstalled the software and not the driver. Will have to be more careful next time.
To recap, everything worked well for about half a year, all of a sudden kb and trackpad stopped working while in W. I'm assuming some automatic upgrade of drivers, which I usually don't have set to automatic. When back in W, after reading a bunch of mac forums, i got in using an external keyboard, but after uninstalling the extreme, i could no longer get in cause usbs were not working and couldn't use ext kb/mouse. Set up System Restore before uninstalling Xtr, so would like to Restore so can at least use the USBs. Will probably be a continuing struggle after that. need to get the keyboard and trackpad working again. The mac forums say the Xtr driver was conflicting with the kb and tp. Lots and lots of discussions there on that. Maybe once/if I get it operating I should consider upgrading to W8, and then 8.1? With 8.1 and Bootcamp 5 can apparently open W virtually in a box within mac OS. Or at least maybe won't have this driver issue again. Usually though i prefer to do my work directly booted into Win and not within a box, because I need speed for work, and only occasionally video edit or do more demanding graphics stuff (when monster Windows in a box consuming what's left of the 8gig ram certainly won't help things).