Solved Keyboard stops working.

[TheTalker]

Hello everyone,

I've been having a problem that began on December 9th, 2016. My keyboard, seemingly at random, stops working. The green indicator light that it's powered stays on but the buttons will not respond. I'm using Windows 7 x64.

I've tried various options and none have worked.
- Different USB ports
- Different keyboards (Logitech K120 and Microsoft Curve)
- Different mice, just in case. (Logitech Optical Gaming Mouse G400 and Amazon Basics)
- Unplugged unnecessary USB connections
- Full virus scan, nothing found
- Full system scan through command prompt, nothing found
- Disabled power options to turn USB ports off to save power
- Updated my nVidia graphics card
- Installed a few new updates for Windows
- A friend of mine did some changes in the BIOS that I'm not familiar with, (I can ask them), but that didn't work either.

Then I moved on to see if it's a program that's causing this. But I got to a point where I had closed all the normal programs I use day-to-day, (I also tried disabling all Chrome extensions), but the problem still occurred.

There's two instances where the keyboard stops working.
1.) When the computer is left to idle for fifteen minutes, the screensaver comes on and then my two monitors turn off. When I return, the keyboard no longer works. The mouse does, however.
2.) But this has also happened seemingly at random without the above coming into play. With and without certain programs running.

Oddly enough, the quick "fix" I have at the moment is going to the "switch user" screen. When I do that, it resets whatever the problem is and the keyboard begins to work again. Logging off does not work, only switching user or restarting the PC.

So, I'm at my wits end. The very last step is re-installing Windows but I would like to avoid that if at all possible. I'm coming here before I do that.

Thank you for your expertise, everyone!
Looking forward to your posts.

Edit: I updated my system specs below.
Edit 2: A suggestion was made to me that Filter keys may be randomly turning itself on. When the keyboard stops working again, I will see if this option is enabled. In the meantime, feel free to comment any suggestions! It's not filter keys.
Edit 3: We're going to update the BIOS and USB drivers to 3.
Edit 4: Updated to USB 3 Drivers and 24 hours later I'm without any freezes.

 

[pbcopter]

When you switch user, does the same thing occur with the new user as well?

 

[TheTalker]

When you switch user, does the same thing occur with the new user as well?

I'm sorry, I should clarify. I'm not actually switching to a new user. I'm just going to the switch user screen and immediately logging back onto myself.

 

[pbcopter]

I would try a new user account. It may be that yours is corrupt in some way.

 

[TheTalker]

I would try a new user account. It may be that yours is corrupt in some way.

Thanks so much for the suggestion! I updated to USB Driver 3 and so far no problems! It's so odd that this possibly fixed it---I've been on this custom build since April with zero issues.

Anyways! If the problem is just hiding and decides to return, I will be taking your suggestion before doing a BIOS update.

 

[TheTalker]

Posting an update that the problem appears to have been fixed. A simple USB Drivers 3 update is what did the trick.

(Thanks again, pbcopter!)

 

[Layback Bear]

Just a note.

I have found that if one has USB 2.0, one should use it and not USB 3.0 for mice or keyboards.

Your motherboard.

USBChipset:

1. 6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
2. 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 6 ports available through the internal USB headers)

The speed of a USB 3.0 port is not needed for a mouse or keyboard.
A human can not move a mouse or type the speed of USB 2.0 let alone a USB 3.0.

Both my mouse and keyboard are USB 3.0 compatible but I have found the USB 2.0 works best.

Jack

 

[TheTalker]

Just a note.

I have found that if one has USB 2.0, one should use it and not USB 3.0 for mice or keyboards.

Your motherboard.

USBChipset:

1. 6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
2. 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 6 ports available through the internal USB headers)

The speed of a USB 3.0 port is not needed for a mouse or keyboard.
A human can not move a mouse or type the speed of USB 2.0 let alone a USB 3.0.

Both my mouse and keyboard are USB 3.0 compatible but I have found the USB 2.0 works best.

Jack

Thanks for the tip! Although it's overkill, updating and using these drivers fixed my freezing issue.

 

[Layback Bear]

On my system with updated USB 3.0 updated drivers, at times I still have problems with my keyboard and mouse using 3.0. I'm really don't know why that is.

Jack

 

[TheTalker]

On my system with updated USB 3.0 updated drivers, at times I still have problems with my keyboard and mouse using 3.0. I'm really don't know why that is.

Jack

Hmm, that's interesting. I hope my problem doesn't resurface. So far it hasn't.