Windows XP Keyboard Errors »
We ran into an issue where the (PS2) keyboard and mouse stopped working altogether. In the Device Manager, it showed them as having errors, and the message was "A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality (Code 32)."
After uninstalling all drivers that may conflict (IntelliPoint), and trying to redo the standard PS2 drivers, nothing. Until I stumbled upon this old post from Google Groups that pointed the way to a registry key that did the trick.
Navigate to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services, then look for the special service i8042prt and set the value of "start" to "1" (automatic). At this point, you can either reboot or try the command-line option of net start i8042prt, which should work as well. Restarting did the trick for us in this case.
Comments (11)
THIS WAS GREAT! THANKS.
Posted by LR | September 6, 2005 10:40 PM
This really helped! Thanks!!!
Posted by a.e.m. | September 20, 2005 12:04 PM
That's the trick!
Posted by Anonymous | September 27, 2005 9:35 AM
I accidentally installed a driver for a Bluetooth keyboard instead of a PS/2, and have been using XP's On Screen Keyboard and Google for the past 3 hours trying to figure out what to do. Just came across this and it worked great - thanks a lot! :)
Posted by se0siris | October 10, 2005 7:47 PM
A great help for me.I was almost giving up just before I found this post.Thanks a lot.
Posted by Anonymous | May 1, 2006 10:18 PM
Thanks...
Posted by Sandzu | May 25, 2006 12:50 PM
Thanks! Your solution really worked!
Posted by Jim White | July 13, 2006 10:29 PM
This information was the best!!!
Really helped solve my problem.
Posted by Wayne AKA ibfishing | February 7, 2008 3:08 PM
As soon as Windows Media Center Edition loads I have no keyboard. The Keyboard works fine before loading windows.
Posted by Luis | February 11, 2008 10:16 PM
Worked great for me thx!!!
I think what caused it was when i tried anything to get my keyboard to stop working completely as it is currently broken and keeps pressing keys which is quite annoying. I installed another keyboard driver that i knew would not work so as to dissable it that way. bad idea, cause the touch pad is hooked into the keyboard and caused it to turn off in the Registry. No matter how many times i reinstalled both it would not work. so i did as you said and it fixed it. again many thanx.
I am running:
Averatec Laptop
AMD Athalon 1.5ghz
256mb ram
SG3 64mb video card
AC '97 codec combo driver
Posted by Very Gratefull Indeed!!! | August 23, 2008 2:52 AM
I actually have to be the one to report a failure! =( I have the same error message and changed this registry setting but it did not fix the error with my keyboard. I was able to fix the mouse by uninstalling and plugging in a USB mouse, when it loaded, I rebooted with the PS2 and it worked, however, this is not the case with the keyboard. Is there anything else in this part of the registry that would only control the keyboard driver being installed properly?
Posted by tom | November 19, 2008 3:35 PM