My Windows XP computer is running well, except for a strange problem with the mouse and keyboard which started occurring about 1 month ago. When I do a cold-start, everything works correctly. However, should I do a warm-restart (i.e. Restart through Windows, or press the Restart button on the computer) the computer starts OK, but the optical mouse and keyboard stop working (i.e. neither the optical mouse LED, nor the keyboard indicators will illuminate) after the Windows splash screen disappears, and the desktop appears. Then, if I do another warm-restart the computer starts OK, and the mouse and keyboard work in Windows. Doing another warm-restart causes the mouse and keyboard to again stop working. Then, doing another warm-restart the mouse and keyboard work. I have done this routine 18 times, and this pattern continues (so the problem is not random). Moreover, should I turn-off the computer and do a cold-start, everything works correctly. The computer is a Pentium III 500MHz with 256 MB RAM.

The first procedure we can try is checking that all the Windows system files are intact and not corrupt. For this procedure we can use the Windows System File Checker (SFC) utility. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type ’sfc’ (without the quotes) and click OK. The SFC should start running. During the procedure you may be prompted for your Windows XP CD, so make sure you have this disk on-hand. Once the SFC has completed, it will exit silently and you will not receive any feedback. Once the SFC window has disappeared, you can assume it has finished operations. Restart your computer to check whether the problem has been fixed.

If there are still problems, try starting Windows XP in Safe Mode to see whether the problem presents itself. Restart the computer and just before the Windows splash screen appears (after all the BIOS messages) press the F8 key. In the window that appears, select ‘Safe Mode’ and press ENTER. Windows will load into Safe Mode, a special diagnostic mode of Windows. Should the keyboard and mouse work, restart the computer and repeat the procedure to boot into Safe Mode again, to check if the devices still work. Should they still work, it is possible some program or driver running in the Windows background is conflicting with the keyboard and mouse. In this case, restart the computer and it will boot back into Windows normal mode. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes) then click OK. From the System Configuration Utility window that appears, click the ‘Startup’ tab. All the programs which are ticked are enabled to load at startup. Write down which programs are ticked and then untick all non-essential programs. NB: Only disable a program/process if you know what it does - some of these processes may be essential to Windows operations. Click OK and restart the computer. Check if the problem persists. If not, one of those programs was causing a conflict. Now it is just a process of elimination to find the problematic program. However, if the problem continues after disabling all programs from loading on startup, re-enable all the programs which were previously enabled.

Should the problem continue, we need to check whether it is related to USB. If your keyboard and mouse are USB devices, try reinstalling any drivers and software which came with the devices (since I have seen quite strange behaviour from USB keyboard and mice, which do not have their proper software installed). Where the problem continues, we need to narrow down whether the issue is actually related to USB. Try replacing the keyboard and/or mouse with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse (of course, this assumes your PC has PS/2 ports). Should the problem not occur when using a PS/2 keyboard and/or mouse, it seems Windows is having difficulties recognising and starting the USB devices after a warm-reboot. There have been similar instances where this problem occurred and the issue may be solved by installing Windows XP Service Pack 2. Visit WindowsUpdate (windowsupdate.microsoft.com) and download any critical updates and Windows XP Service Pack 2.

As a final suggestion, should the above not fix the problem, try disconnecting the USB keyboard/mouse, wait 1 minute, then reconnect the devices to see if Windows can recognise the devices. If Windows recognises the keyboard/mouse, it seems like Windows is having problems recognising the USB devices on startup. Unfortunately, in this situation will be more difficult to fix. If you have reached this stage, please let me know and I will try to provide more advice for this specific circumstance.