Mouse and Keyboard Failure after Power Outage

[StompinPangin]

I was playing a game on my PC several days ago during a thunderstorm, and unfortunately the power went out briefly. My computer is plugged in to a surge protector. When I restarted my computer, immediately I noticed that my USB wired mouse and keyboard were both not operating. The lights on both were on, but when I pressed the start menu key or tried to wiggle my mouse, nothing happened. I tried another mouse to no avail. All my other USB devices seemed to be working fine. I researched the problem and didn't find many answers, only a suggestion to do a system restore. I should note that both the mouse and keyboard work perfectly fine in BIOS, but fail to work once Windows is actually started. I used my Windows 7 OEM disk and did a system restore to a point a few days earlier that apparently was saved before a critical update (my mouse worked in that too). After finishing and restarting, the mouse and keyboard both worked fine. All was well until I shut down my computer for the night and came back on the next day to find, once again, my mouse and keyboard didn't work. I simply continued to restore to that same update for a couple of days until today when I realized that that specific point was no longer on the list, even when I clicked show more restore points. Now I don't know what to do because I can not make any input to my computer after windows has started. If anyone has any idea on how I can fix this, please let me know.

Note: I have tried booting into safe mode, deleting then re-plugging in the devices, and using a different USB port for the devices all to no avail.

 

[Digerati]

I was playing a game on my PC several days ago during a thunderstorm

Never a good idea. Surge and Spike protectors can stop "some" excessive surges and spikes, but cannot stop your computer from suddenly crashing during dips (opposite of spikes) and sags (opposite of surges), or brownouts (long duration sags), or, of course, full blackouts - any of which can result in corruption on your drives, your data, and critical system files. At least get yourself a "good" UPS with AVR.

Have you done a total power shutdown? That is, shutdown Windows, power off the computer, then unplug the computer from the wall. This totally removes the ATX required +5Vsb standby voltage present at many points on the motherboard when the PSU is plugged in. This standby voltage provides for many "Wake on..." commands, like Wake on LAN, Wake on Mouse and Wake on Keyboard. A total shutdown will reset some of those settings that were being held by the standby voltage.

Note, if your PSU an optional master power switch on back, you can set it to off to remove the +5Vsb.

Have you tried connecting your mouse and keyboard to a different pair of USB ports?

I should note that both the mouse and keyboard work perfectly fine in BIOS

That could suggest the Windows drivers for those devices are corrupt. Any errors in Device Manager? You might try uninstalling the drivers, shutting down, unplug from the wall for a few seconds (10 - 15) then reconnect and see what happens.

 

[StompinPangin]

Hey Itaregid! Thanks for the reply. Yes, you are right. Using my computer during that storm was very ill-conceived and I have definitely learned my lesson. Before your reply, I called up Microsoft support and they offered only the advice to have my computer looked at by a technician since they couldn't access my computer. I took it into the shop yesterday; hopefully they will be able to fix it. Again, thanks for the help and I'll keep the thread updated once I get my computer back.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

It's of course after the fact but a surge protector isn't even half of the protection you must have IMHO. A fully charged UPS is mandatory for brown and black outs as well as the surge and other peak/spike suppression.

APC BX1300G Back-UPS XS Battery Backup - 10-Outlet, 1300 VA, 780 Watt, 120 V, 355 Joules, USB, LED Indicators at TigerDirect.com