USB Keyboard or Mouse Does Not Work in Windows 98

• Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS

When you start your Windows 98-based computer, your Universal Serial Bus (USB) keyboard and mouse may not work correctly, and you may receive the following error message:

Windows did not detect a mouse attached to the computer. You can safely attach a serial mouse now.

To attach a mouse to a PS/2 port, you must first turn the computer off.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the USB input device registry keys are missing or damaged.

RESOLUTION

To work around this issue, use any of the following methods:

Install a PS/2 or Serial Mouse or Pointing Device

1. Turn off your computer, connect your PS/2 or serial mouse or pointing device, and then restart your computer.



2. If you are prompted to log on to your computer, click Cancel.



3. Click Start, point to Settings and then click Control Panel.



4. Double-click System, and then click the Device Manager tab.



5. Right-click the USB keyboard and mouse entries, click Remove, right-click Computer, click Refresh, and then click Close.

Repair Entries in the Usb.inf File

1. Restart your computer, press and hold CTRL, and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup Menu.



2. Click Start, point to Settings and then click Control Panel.



3. Double-click System, and then click the Device Manager tab.



4. Double-click the USB controller, click the General tab, click to select the Disable in this hardware profile check box.



5. Click OK, click Close, and then restart your computer.



6. Click Start, point to Settings and then click Control Panel.



7. Double-click System, and then click the Device Manager tab.



8. Double-click the USB controller, click the General tab, click to clear the Disable in this hardware profile check box.



9. Click OK, click Close, and then restart your computer.

Reinstall Windows 98

MORE INFORMATION

In order to have a USB-only system, the BIOS must support USB keyboard functionality natively, as it does with PS/2 keyboards, or you may be unable to use a USB keyboard in MS-DOS mode or in Safe mode, because there is no driver support in these two modes. In order to initialize the device, the USB driver relies upon the registry entries for the device. Plug and play enumeration occurs very early when you start your computer, but the Hardware Wizard starts only after you log on, permitting you to be authenticated on your network, and obtain access to your network resources. If, when you start your computer, Plug and Play Configuration Manager detects a USB device, either the Usbd.sys driver file or Openhci.sys driver file is loaded, which automatically turns off BIOS support for the keyboard because a device must be disabled before it can be configured and re-initialized. If the Registry entries for the USB input devices (mouse, keyboard, or composite input device) are missing or damaged, user input is required to get past the "Windows did not detect a mouse" error message that may occur when you start your computer, and the USB driver did not have the initialization information it needed. Composite devices include keyboards with PS/2, USB, or serial mice, or USB hubs built in. If the registry keys are missing or damaged, the drivers for these devices can no longer be found and loaded. Your computer does not search for new drivers for these devices until after you log on to your network so you can get the drivers from the network if necessary. Because the drivers are not loaded, you cannot get past the network logon dialog box.

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kberrmsg win98 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: June 25, 1999