Which drivers are for PS/2 keyboard and mouse?

[gyoungdahl]

Hello all,

I recently performed an upgrade to the system I use for my Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The upgrade included a new motherboard (moving from an Intel DG35EC with a 2.2 GHz Core2 Duo to an Intel DH67CL with a 3.1 GHz Sandy Beach i5-2400). The old board had PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse, the new one doesn't (providing only USB ports). I had a nice, lean configuration of XP Pro SP3 with all my DAW applications installed and configured, and so I followed a procedure I found to switch over to generic drivers (primarily for the disks, but cleaning up some other items as well), and then changed out the MB/CPU/RAM, rebooted and downloaded the drivers for the new MB from the Intel web site. This seems to have worked well, but I'm having one issue and I suspect it may be related to the old PS/2 drivers.

First... since my old PS/2 keyboard and mouse no longer had places to plug into the new MB, I bought a nice wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse pair (Logitech Wireless Combo MK520). This includes what they refer to as a "unifying" USB receiver that supports both the keyboard and the mouse into a single USB port. This works quite nicely, once I get it booted - and this is my issue.

When I first boot up the system, I get the Windows banner screen with the green bar moving under the Windows word (I don't think one would call it a "logo", but perhaps it might be), and then a BSOD. The actual contents of the screen varies among at least 2 or 3 error codes and such, but usually complaining about newly installed hardware. I press the reset button, and the system starts up again, coming this time to the menu about problems with the previous boot and giving various Safe modes and a Normal Boot option. I choose the Normal Boot option and the system comes up and runs fine with the new unified USB keyboard and mouse.

So, my somewhat naive theory is that there may be some lingering PS/2 driver(s) left over from the old MB configuration being loaded that then finds no PS/2 ports resulting in the BSOD. Does this seem like a likely scenario? Are there some driver(s) that I should find and uninstall (PS/2 keyboard and mouse drivers)? What would they be called, and how might I find them?

Or is this a red herring theory, and perhaps there is something else I need to investigate, configure, or implement to overcome this BSOD on initial boot up? One weak spot with my theory is that it does come up the second time. Perhaps the boot menu also figures out what the available keyboard/mouse interface is? My other concern is that there may be some issue with the wireless connection, or the fact that both the keyboard and mouse share the USB port with the unified receiver?

Thank you for any help or advice,
--
Greg

 

[AntiZig]

Hi Greg. Hmm, Sandy Beach, huh? Lol, that's a new one. I guess you're due for a vacation

Well, to start off, it would help if you wrote down and posted those BSOD error codes and descriptions, they are helpful in identifying what is actually causing the problem instead of taking random guesses.

As far as lingering PS2 drivers, that should be of no concern as new motherboard comes with new drivers and I think you should have reinstalled your OS as well. If you didn't, there obviously could be programs that still wish to interact with PS2 port, but they should not be loaded until you log into windows. So, I wouldn't expect them to be causing BSODs.

I cannot comment on the reliability of this wireless connection, however since this is powered through USB and you are able to use the keyboard to select safe mode vs normal mode and thus navigate the boot menu before windows has started, you don't appear to be having any problems in that department.

I would recommend to check your BIOS settings, make sure legacy USB support is enabled (but it seems that it is since your new usb keyboard is working fine during boot) and also a common culprit is the IDE mode for HDDs.

If you can provide the full computer specs with model numbers, etc for what motherboard you upgraded to and what other hardware is plugged into it, that could help identify any compatibility issues you might be having.

Lastly, have you checked in windows device manager? Is it reporting any errors? How about event viewer?

That's all for now, hopefully we can figure this out soon

 

[gyoungdahl]

Hi AntiZig,

Is the new Intel i7/5/3 CPU architecture not refered to as Sandy Beach? Thats what I thought it was, though I've also seen Sandy Bridge. I could use a vacation, even though I've been looking for a job since May 20 when my SW development contract expired (any leads?

Anyway, I can jot down the codes. Didn't know they meant much to anyone outside the developers at MS. I will copy and include them next time(s).

The OS was not reinstalled. I just pulled the old motherboard out and dropped the new one in. Prior to the replacement I followed a procedure that set up generic drivers for disk drives and such, and removed a bunch of "hidden" drivers that were greyed out (hardware that no longer existed on my system). Then, when the new board was in place I went to the Intel web site and downloaded and installed all the latest drivers for the new board (chipset, video, network, audio...). This seems to have worked fine (I had to re-authenticate with MS once the new board was running).

I did have to be sure the new MB was in IDE mode, rather than ACHI, since that is how the original system was installed. From what I understand, it shouldn't be much of an issue for my setup.

It may not be an issue with PS/2 drivers. I've discovered that if I power down and reboot within a short time (like a minute or two - haven't tried to find an upper bound), it comes up just fine. I think that the keyboard and mouse power down after some period of time to conserve their batteries. My current theory is that if they haven't powered down before I reboot, then the system comes up, if they have powered down, then I get the BSOD.

I have never experienced an issue once the system comes up, even if I go away for a long time (even overnight) with the system running, I can come back and type and mouse and it works fine. Presumably the keyboard and mouse have powered themselves down by that time, but the USB receiver is still powered. So maybe there is some issue with the power up sequence for the wireless receiver and the keyboard/mouse not powered up.

I have tried typing and moving the mouse before powering up (to wake them up), but find that hasn't helped. So maybe there is something going on as the receiver powers up that expects to communicate with the keyboard and mouse, but they are somehow not in sync with the receiver once they have powered down and don't give the receiver what it needs at that point in time, causing the problem. Then somehow during the reset everything comes together and boots.

Perhaps it is a timing issue between the peripherals (kbd/mouse) and the receiver. Once they have powered down it may take longer for the receiver to establish communications with them again, and so something bad happens on boot up. When they are still up it may be easier (faster) somehow for the receiver to find them. Obviously by the time the reset occurs the keyboard is functioning (I can move the highlight down to "Normal Startup" and select that) and the system boots fine from there.

So, perhaps this isn't a driver issue. Still any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Perhaps the suggestion of a better group to post this issue in would be appropriate?

Thanks,
--
Greg

 

[gyoungdahl]

You asked for a system description:

MB: Intel DH67CL
CPU: i5-2400 LGA1155
RAM: Corsair xms3 1333 MHz CAS9, 4 GB DDR3

Using the onboard video (no adapter card)

2 SATA hard disks (Seagate 250 GB boot, 500 GB audio)
I/O Magic SATA 24x DVD drive
Frontier Designs Dakota PCI card (audio (16 in/16 out) and 8-port in/out MIDI interface)
Logitech Wireless Combo MK520 (the wireless USB keyboard/mouse)
600W Cooler Master Power Supply

This computer is my Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), running primarily Sonar X1 and Sound Forge 10.

What else would be useful to include?

Thanks,
--
Greg

 

[gyoungdahl]

You also asked about errors in the Hardware Manager or events in the event viewer. As far as I can tell there is nothing related in either place.

The HW manager shows all devices active (no ! or ? items), and functioning normally. I further looked specifically at all Human Interface devices, and Keyboard and Mouse entries. Interestingly none of them mentioned Logitech as being a manufacturer. They all seemed to be "standard windows device" (whatever generic statement was there), and mostly Microsoft as the manufacturer - even though I don't think I have any peripherals that are actually Microsoft. There were several (like 6) HID devices listed. Not sure why that is. I just have a keyboard and a mouse. No external controllers or anything else.

The Event Viewer is similarly docile. A warning every few hours about no network connection (which there isn't). A couple ERRORs a few days back about an application ending unexpectedly or incorrectly (that was Sonar in one case and Dimension Pro (a soft-synth) in the other). Several informational messages about services starting and the like.

I'm guessing it doesn't boot far enough to register or log any events or errors before the BSOD.

Thanks,
--
Greg

 

[gyoungdahl]

OK - checking with the Intel web site, I guess it is the chipset rather than the CPU that is refered to as "Sandy Bridge" (not Beach). Though in my defense there seem to be many associated references to "Sandy Beach" that crop up in a google search.

--
Greg

 

[AntiZig]

Alright, I've got to say it's a pleasure reading your posts, very informative and thorough, not to mention in proper English! (majority of what we get here you'd get the impression of communicating with a caveman)

Anyways, to clarify for you, the 2nd generation i-3,5,7 CPUs are codenamed Sandy Bridge, the chipset or motherboard in your case is codenamed Cougar Point (link)

Alright, from what you describe you could be having issues with the new mouse and keyboard as you mention due to receiver having to connect to the wireless devices, which takes a bit of time, which motherboard could be interpreting as malfunction. Although I don't know why it would give you a BSOD for that. So, in attempt to alleviate that you could try installing the Logictec drivers if the new keyboard + mouse came with a CD? If not, take a look here: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/support-downloads
There should be drivers available for your model (in theory after you install the drivers you should see the Logitec Pointing device in Device Manager instead of generic mouse driver windows is using at the moment)

Alright, so next step either looking at those BSOD codes or try installing Logitech drivers. Let me know.

 

[gyoungdahl]

Well, there was no disk with the hardware (and none pictured in the picture of things that come in the box). I followed your link, and after a little digging I found some SetPoint software for this keyboard (which apparently enables access to the additional functionality buttons - which I don't need and would prefer not to install on that system), but no driver. One might assume there would be some driver, but apparently they are content to rely on the standard Windows driver.

So I guess I'm reduced to noting down the BSOD codes next time they crop up. Interestingly, I just booted, assuming I'd get some, but it came up clean. It had been off for a couple of hours at least. So, perhaps it will be tomorrow morning or so before it crashes again. Assuming the problem persists (and I can collect codes), I'm thinking of another tack of troubleshooting. I may connect up a wired keyboard/mouse pair (USB) and see whether they exhibit a problem. Really, aside from this booting issue, I do like the wireless freedom, and (depending on the range) may find it useful to go inside my recording booth (away from the fan noise) and control the recording software through the window, but if I can't eventually resolve the BSOD issue, I may well forgo the luxury.

BTW (off-topic) - I keep thinking your tag line should end "Ones that understand binary and zeros that don't."

Anyway, thanks for your help, and I'll get back when I have some codes or other ideas.

--
Greg

 

[gyoungdahl]

Good morning AntiZig,

Well, once again this morning I booted into my BSOD. So, I have some codes to report. The messages were generic, no specific HW or SW called out ("A problem was detected...", "If this is the first time...", "Check to be sure you have adequate disk space." (I do), "If a driver is identified in the stop message..." (none was)). Here is the STOP message (transcribed by hand, of course):

*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xA86C6108, 0xB9D07978, 0xB9D07674)

Power off, few second pause (until all fans were quiet - for no particular reason), power on and the system came up fine.

I did notice today, but don't recall previously, that when I first powered up it seemed to take an unusually long time before the BIOS splash screen came up, like maybe as much as 30 seconds. There did seem to be some disk activity (the HDD light flickered occasionally), but the monitor's power indicator remained amber (it turns blue when it is getting a signal from the video card). Since the disk activity LED seemed to be an indication that something was happening, I waited, otherwise I would have probably pressed the button and started over. Finally the BIOS splash screen came up, and then the Windows XP splash screen with the little progress bar scanning, then the BSOD.

So... is there any clue in that STOP data? I'll keep the Logitech stuff in play for now, in case the STOP indicates something to try, but my next idea is to pull it out and use a wired keyboard and mouse to see if that cures the BSOD, or if I'm barking up the wrong tree blaming the wireless.

Thanks,
--
Greg

 

[gyoungdahl]

I suppose I should clarify that by "the system came up fine", I did have to select "Normal Startup" from the menu of boot options after an error (which offers the "Safe" modes and such). I can (and just did to verify) shut the system down ("Turn off computer" and let it power itself off), wait a few seconds (and probably more), and then power back up again and it comes up into Windows normally (without displaying that menu).
--
Greg

 

[AntiZig]

Ok, very strange that it doesn't single out any driver. You mentioned before that these BSOD errors were sometimes different in the information they provided, so if you get any other ones that differ from the one you already posted, let me know.

From what I can gather it's basically an exception based on memory access violation, since there's no driver listed explicitly, could be hardware.

You think that there are leftover drivers from your old system (PS/2), so in this article there're instructions on how to clean out drivers: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330182

Ok, alternatively it could be bad hardware, download memtest86 and run it to check your RAM sticks are working properly. http://www.memtest86.com/download.html
http://www.carrona.org/memdiag.html - Here you can find a detailed guide on how to do testing with memtest86 and what you can conclude from it.

Lastly, you could try contacting MS support to see if they can do stack analysis based on those codes, because I can't find anything similar to what you have.

If none of those help, reinstalling windows might do the trick, since you mentioned you haven't done so. But that would be last resort, since it's a pretty big ordeal to back up all your data and settings.

Alright, hopefully, one of the easier solutions works for you.