Hey everyone, I've hit a snag with my PC. It was working just fine earlier today, but when I came back, both my keyboard and mouse were unresponsive at the Windows 11 login screen. The motherboard seems fine since there's power, but my keyboard doesn't light up when I plug it into USB port A. After rebooting, I found that they only work in the BIOS — once it boots into Windows, they turn off again. I can't boot into safe mode either, and I'm not sure what happened while I was away. I've been trying to press F8 to access safe mode, but that doesn't seem to work with Windows 11 anymore. Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas on how to fix it?
2 Answers
Just asking, is this a work computer or personal? If it's personal, was there any work software installed? Sometimes, bizarre settings by an admin can disable USB ports, but it's pretty rare. If it's personal, try powering the computer off while it's loading (usually at the spinning circle). Do this two or three times in a row, and it should take you to repair mode where you can try troubleshooting options.
Hey! It sounds like you might have encountered an issue after a Windows update. I noticed there was an update scheduled, but I'm unsure if it completed while you were away and might have caused the USB issues. If that’s the case, your best bet might be to wait for the update to finish. Sometimes, these updates can mess with your peripherals, but they usually fix themselves after a reboot once everything's installed.
To add to that, I've experienced similar problems after updates. In my case, the update was meant to patch a security vulnerability, and it disabled some USB functionality temporarily. After the update completed, everything worked fine again.
I forgot about fast boot—it makes powering off tricky. Thanks for the tip! I'll try that instead.