Windows 98SE mouse and keyboard not working

[mauricemeledi]

I picked up this windows 98SE pc last week.

It boots perfectly but after the Windows startup screen it starts searching for "Plug and Play Monitor" drivers.

If I try to click "next>" with the enter key, nothing happens. If I try to change the selection with the TAB key to cancel, nothing happens. And there is no mouse on the screen too.

So I tried to boot in safe mode by holding F8 during boot.
Things went better and i got to the desktop. But only the keyboard is fully functioning. Mouse doesn't do anything, but the laser on the bottom does light up.

I navigated to the device driver manager and reinstalled all USB drivers I could find, and even reinstalled massUSB.exe that I found in the D:\ directory.

USB sticks don't get recognized if I plug them in while running windows.
But inserting them in before powering will result in a system error and it wont even boot windows.

What can I do to fix this?

 

[DeadRam]

The USB ports might be disabled in the BIOS.

 

[smorizio]

if the mb has ps/2 ports see if a local pc store can let you use there cable to connect a usb to ps2 port. then when it done see if you can get online or use a dvd drive to install the missing drivers. if not see if someone has a old ps2 keyboard.

 

[mauricemeledi]

If the USB ports are disabled in the BIOS, why is the keyboard working in safe mode and the mouse isnt? I tried 3 different mouse

 

[190221]

I don't think ports are disabled, but the problem is windows insists to try to install a driver for your monitor before the keyboard for some reason. The reason they work in safe mode is because of USB legacy. In safe mode, they are treated as PS/2.
Sounds crazy, but maybe if you start the PC without a monitor attached, but with mouse and keyboard attached and hook it up once it seems to have stopped doing things, it might work. The idea would be it *might* go straight to installing the keyboard drivers