Help needed from computer whizz.

[The Highway Man]

I have a USB keyboard and mouse. Whenever there is a power cut and my computer stops suddenly, I get the usual screen prompt to start in safe mode, last good settings etc. I can't enter the set up menu, I have to wait till the countdown finishes as the keyboard and mouse wont work till the start up process has completed. Is there anything in the bios that will let the computer activate the keyboard and mouse as soon as the computer starts instead of waiting for the start up process to finish. I'm running 7 Ultimate. Many thanks for reading.

[_Dan_]

Go into the BIOS settings (usually you press F2 or DEL at the first screen as soon as you turn the PC on) and look for a USB keyboard setting in there. If you find one, and it's set to off, then change it.

You may not have the option though.

[Funk]

If your computer won't let you into the BIOS (because it's not recognising the keyboard from boot-up) you can reset the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery from the motherboard; this will reset the BIOS to standard and should allow you to access it with the keyboard. Also try making sure that the keyboard/mouse receiver is plugged into the PC itself and not into a USB hub as the PC may not be picking it up until it gets to the Windows bootscreen if it's connected to the hub.

[mattley]

The Highway Man said:

Whenever there is a power cut and my computer stops suddenly

You make it sound like power cuts happen often, are you way out in the boonies or do you have a local wiring problem?

I'd get a small UPS, they're not expensive and will at least let you shut the machine down cleanly, if you're losing power regularly it's only a matter of time before you get unlucky and corrupt the hard drive.

[The Highway Man]

We've had RCB's fitted when the house was rewired, every so often, if the circuit gets overloaded it trips. Luckily my computer was only on the once, which is why I noticed that it wouldn't work till fully booted up.

[davepoth]

Hmm. That sounds a bit more like an electrical problem than a PC problem. You probably need to either get one of the rings split or get a higher capacity RCD.