john0320

Not too sure where to begin, so much has happened in such a short time..

Here's my setup:
10GB HDD - IDE Master - C:\
300GB HDD - IDE Slave - D:\ - this is where XP is installed
500GB SATA - E:\ - where the pagefile is
250GB SATA - F:\
CD/DVD drive - G:\

WinXP Pro SP2 5.1 build 2600
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon64 3200+ 2GHZ
Corsair 1GB(2 512 sticks) 3200 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6800XT

I was planning on using one of my HDDs as a virtual machine to install linux onto using VMware(the 10GB). So I moved files that I would use to drive D:. I then did a quick format of drive C:... Bad idea there! I hadn't noticed XP used C: for boot.ini and ntldr. Sooo after the HDD formats, I instantly lose connection to the internet, so I decide to reboot. Ouch! Great, now I can't boot.

Popped in XP CD and hit Enter and then R. Here's my mistake #2. About half way through the repair, I remembered that if I just went into the repair console(just hitting R at first selection screen) I could've done a fixmbr / bootcfg repair / so on. So I stupidly pressed the soft boot button while the repair was still taking place. I went into the repair console and did all that jazz, thought it was fixed. NOW it can't find drivers! Before I mess anything else up (losing data) I just decided to install a fresh copy of XP to drive E: so that I could move all the files in My Documents and Desktop to somewhere out of Documents and Settings.

So after I installed XP to the other HDD and cut all my files to a safe place, I went back to the XP CD and deleted both XP installations.

I then reinstalled XP where it originally was on D:, and everything worked...except the programs I had installed previously, because of a new registry. Doing a quick google, I found out that my registry was saved inside System Volume Information(Thank you Jesus!). I followed the quick guide by copying the 5 files inside System Volume Information\RP041\snapshot. Yes, I checked the date and it was before I foolishly formatted C:. Awsome I thought, now everything should work fine! Booted the comp up....and NOW my keyboard and mouse don't work.

So then I googled a bit, and found that doing a WinXP Repair (Enter -> R on the CD) will solve my problem. I let all the files copy and the comp rebooted. It began to do the repair..oh no! "The file 'asms' on Windows XP SP2 cd cannot be found"....ok, some more googling. All I have to do is hit shift+F10 to bring up a run dialog box, cool...oh wait, my keyboard doesn't work.

I am completely clueless as to why my keyboard isn't working.

I've tried 3 different keyboards and 2 mice like this:

G15 keyboard - USB / Some Logitech mouse, dunno - PS/2. The mouse works fine UNTIL I press a button on the keyboard. Then the green light on the receiver of the mouse disappears..shut down? None of the keyboard keys work.

OK then, I have a USB->PS/2 adapter which I then plugged the G15 into..oh no, BIOS says that there's no keyboard detected...great.

Bought a cheap $10 keyboard at Kmart - I thought if the keyboard were PS/2 then that would surely work! So I go hope happy and merry thinking this would surely work. The numlock indicator light lights up..good. Mouse receiver has a green light..good. Now at the asms prompt screen I try to hit shift+F10..crap, same thing happened. Now the mouse doesn't work again.

So then I went and dug out a Microsoft wireless USB mouse, but the same crap happens. The receiver light for the mouse shuts off as soon as I hit a key on the keyboard.

I really don't want to start a fresh copy of XP, because I have a plethora of programs that'll only work with this backed up registry.. Does ANYONE know what the problem is with the keyboards?

Yes, both keyboards and mice are detected in BIOS, and work fine. It's only after the Windows XP logo at the beginning of the repair where the keyboard locks up and makes the mouse turn off.

*edit* whew, that sure is a lot of text...man are my fingers tired.