Windows 7 Keyboard and mouse problem at BEGINNING of installation

[deezel]

Hello,

I got an extremely peculiar thing going on. I had windows vista 64 bit on my machine and it kept booting to BSOD so I decided to re-install. I fired up my windows vista DVD and much to my dismay, neither the keyboard nor the mouse were responsive. I tested 2 separate keyboards both are ps/2 and the mouse is a microsoft wireless mouse.

I then proceeded to fire up ubuntu 10.04 LTS and everything worked as smooth as it could get and keyboard and wireless mouse were working as they should. I should also note that I just ran the OS from live CD so I can back up my data.

Frustrated, I thought something is wrong with the vista install and I decided to install windows 7 (another 64 bit)...only to find out that the exact same thing is happening. I have no idea what this is about, never encountered this in my life. I should note that they keyboard does function up until windows finished loading files then its dead...even modifier keys like caps lock and num lock don't flash.

I tried booting into safe mode, safe mode with command prompting, disabling forced driver signature...nothing seems to work. I seriously don't have the slightest clue as to what might be causing this. Again, everything is perfectly normal when I use ubuntu live CD (I even formatted my C: drive from there because I thought maybe some files were messing up the driver installation process, but that didn't solve anything).

Any help on the issue is appreciated. A friend of mine suggested that I set up an unattended installation of 7 and I just want to see if there is any other alternative method.

Thank you

 

[TorrentG]

Could be malware. Low level format the hard drive and install Windows after.

 

[deezel]

Could be malware. Low level format the hard drive and install Windows after.

mind elaborating more? How can a malware execute on formatted C: drive? and I'm not sure how level formatting is different from regular formatting.

Thank you

 

[cybercore]

Have you scanned your system FIRST?


Low level formatting means erasing every sector, not just TOC. There is something called:

Active@ Kill Disk Hard Drive Eraser. Low Level Format.

 

[cybercore]

1. Scan for malware:

e.g. Free ESET Online Antivirus Scanner


2. Try the repair function:

How to automatically repair Windows Vista using Startup Repair


3. Make sure the drivers are up to date and are actually installed. New batteries for wireless.

4. If nothing helps, low format and reinstall

 

[deezel]

@Cybercore:

Thanks for the help about the low level format =).

I currently cannot scan for malware because I already formatted the C: drive from ubuntu's Gparted; there is absolutely no data there but the problem still persists. Also whats perplexing is why is everything fine on ubuntu but not on windows install? How can a malware affect my setup if I already formated the C?

Thanks

 

[cybercore]

Did you have the drivers installed for the keyboard/mouse? Did you have all the system updates and the drivers up to date?

If it works well in Ubuntu but fails in 7 - a mystery indeed.

If possible, you can try a different USB/PS/2 port.

 

[deezel]

@ Cybercore: never needed the drivers to install either of them. I got a microsoft ps/2 keyboard and microsoft wireless mouse and the other one is just a generci ps/2 keyboard.

 

[TorrentG]

How can a malware affect my setup if I already formated the C?

It's common for malware to be able to continue doing it malwareness (lol) after a format. Some are specifically designed to withstand a normal format.

 

[deezel]

It's common for malware to be able to continue doing it malwareness (lol) after a format. Some are specifically designed to withstand a normal format.

any idea on how does that work? because im thinking maybe i can just delete my C partition and reformat it. EDIT: I also want to ask if there is a tool that i can run in ubuntu that would get rid of said malware.

 

[TorrentG]

Cybercore's post #4 above is the way to go about it.

 

[deezel]

damnit! do you think buying another HDD would fix it then? im asking because you said a malware can withstand a format, from what little I have read this means that it would be a BIOS malware. Any thoughts on this?

 

[TorrentG]

Again, Cybercore's post #4 is the way to go about it.

 

[cybercore]

damnit! do you think buying another HDD would fix it then? im asking because you said a malware can withstand a format, from what little I have read this means that it would be a BIOS malware. Any thoughts on this?

It is all up to you. I personally would go the long way, reformat and reinstall. Then get the latest drivers for the mouse and the keyboard. I would not install much software yet until I got clear about the keyboard and the mouse, working or not.

I am a little confused how come it works fine in Linux but fails in Windows? Unless it's designed for Linux or something ...

 

[deezel]

It is all up to you. I personally would go the long way, reformat and reinstall. Then get the latest drivers for the mouse and the keyboard. I would not install much software yet until I got clear about the keyboard and the mouse, working or not.

I am a little confused how come it works fine in Linux but fails in Windows? Unless it's designed for Linux or something ...

That's what's really puzzling about this, I mean if it is an actual hardware problem it shouldn't work on ubuntu =/.

EDIT: I have been running windows on this machine for 3 years, so no nothing is specifically designed for linux. I only loaded ubuntu on this machine like a week ago and that was AFTER this whole thing happened.

 

[TorrentG]

If there is malware designed for Windows like almost all the malware, then of course it would not affect Ubuntu.

That's a possible and very likely reason why it keeps happening only to Windows installs.

Still highly recommend to low level format all drives in the system, or leave only one drive and low level format that one.

Then proceed to clean install Windows. This shouldn't be made more difficult than it is. It's quite simple to solve, if in fact, it is malware.

And in the slight chance it's not, at least it will be ruled out.

----

Also, make sure Windows is from official source or official DVD. Any torrents could be littered with malware.

 

[deezel]

If there is malware designed for Windows like almost all the malware, then of course it would not affect Ubuntu.

That's a possible and very likely reason why it keeps happening only to Windows installs.

Still highly recommend to low level format all drives in the system, or leave only one drive and low level format that one.

Then proceed to clean install Windows. This should be made more difficult than it is. It's quite simple to solve, if in fact, it is malware.

And in the slight chance it's not, at least it will be ruled out.

You got a point, I was just trying to see if there is any alternative method because this sounded like an all out approach. I think I will proceed to backing up my data and long formatting and see what happens.

Thanks alot.

 

[cybercore]

I would really try as TorrentG suggests.

 

[deezel]

I would really try as TorrentG suggests.

will do...thanks =)

 

[deezel]

Problem solved, did a low level format and that fixed everything. lost some files in the backup process and don't have exactly a full picture on the losses but nothing seems to be major. Thanks alot for the help guys.