Windows 8 Login Screen - Mouse/Keyboard Stop Working

I seem to only be able to re-create this issue when plugging in a xbox controller or other microsoft hardware. No other brand hardware can trigger this as far as I can tell.

So why does this only happen with microsoft hardware?

It doesn't make any sense. I'm a power user and the only thing I can think of is directinput, directx, and the windows kernel are closed source so there's no way to really track this thing down.

I seem to only be able to re-create this issue when plugging in a xbox controller or other microsoft hardware. No other brand hardware can trigger this as far as I can tell.

So why does this only happen with microsoft hardware?

It doesn't make any sense. I'm a power user and the only thing I can think of is directinput, directx, and the windows kernel are closed source so there's no way to really track this thing down.

Interesting as I too have a Microsoft Keyboard and mouse. Don't have a spare to confirm this, might try and borrow one from work on Monday

Random thought came to me seeing the possible link about Microsoft Mice and Keyboards mentioned. (Running with MS Touch Mouse, MS Mouse, MS Keyboard, and 2-point Touch Screen here, and never seen the problem, so its just a guess.  Though I HAVE already been editing how the below runs to make it work.)

Try killing off the iPoint.exe and iType.exe programs in Task Manager (Details) if you can, and see if that gives you basic mouse functionality.  If that does work, run iPoint.exe and iType.exe with Administrator privileges to get their functions back and see if the lock-up doesn't happen again.

iPoint.exe and iType.exe are part of the MS Drivers for their line of mice/keyboards.  They have a problem though, as various functions DO NOT WORK (specifically Touch Mouse stuff) when a program has Administrator privileges, hence why I have a Task to run both iPoint.exe and iType.exe with Administrator privileges.  If you are running with a different UAC or different Administrator access/privileges, then those two programs could be causing problems.

(Edit: realized you may not be able to even log in.

  You can disable iPoint.exe and iType.exe from auto-starting by finding the files in Safe Mode, right-clicking on them, "Change Settings for all users", and check "Run this program as an administrator".  Windows doesn't normally run administrator programs (unless via Task Manager), so that should prevent them from loading on Boot for you to test.  If this doesn't do the trick though, remember to undo that change for both.

 Files are found at "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center")

This is just a guess though.

The only other thing I can think of, is it may be USB Controller Drivers acting up.  I would probably try to change the drivers to a generic USB drivers instead of the auto-downloaded ones, but that is a trial and error method and something to be careful with.

Hi,

Just had the same problem this morning. Both the keyboard and mouse were not working anymore at login screen (no problem at bios level where both are working). This is a new PC bought 3 days ago. Worked like a charm until this morning. No new installation since a few reboot yesterday without any problem. So I can't link the problem to anything installed recently....

No way to start the PC in safe mode and even a PS2 mouse was not working (except in bios...).

Luckily I had installed teamviewer on the PC and could login and see what's wrong (thanks to Gaz25 who mentioned remote control, as I had forgotten about it and would not have tried...).

I had two USB Controller not working. Only had to disable and re-enable them for both the mouse and the kb to work again.

Intel(R) 6 Series/C600/X79 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 1D26

Intel(R) 6 Series/C600/X79 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 1D2D

Rebooted and same problem again, but this time only one controller down.... So the problem is NOT fixed, but at least with the help of another computer I can temporally fix the problem until next reboot....

Still working on it and if I get a proper fix, will let you know.

EDIT: Tried what was suggested by Gaz25 to uninstall the two controller drivers and reboot. It worked. Now I need to see with time and multiple reboots if it doesn't happen again. But I will keep for sure teamviewer installed in case ....

EDIT: Did not survived at the 3rd reboot.... but for some reason the PS2 mouse was working (first time) so I could use it to start the virtual keyboard, login and disable-enable the controller to re-enable my mouse and kb again.... So still no proper fix but a better workaround than using another computer with teamviewer...

EDIT: As suggested in the forum below, I have set the USB Legcy mode to "disabled" in the bios and it seems to have fixed my problem. At least after 5 reboots no problem. Let see with time.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itprohardware/thread/991e94d9-359f-4f81-960b-7c4e8c9e768f

also try what I mentioned about switching off and then removing the power cable from back of pc for 10 seconds. the issue has not returned for me yet to repeat.