I was playing a game and the keyboard and mouse abruptly stopped working.
The computer boots up fine, and gets to the login screen. I cannot log in, however, because the keyboard and mouse do not work.
I tried rebooting / reconnecting cables / reconnecting keyboard and mouse / checking for dirt in the ports / powering down and bringing it up a day later. Nothing worked.
The USB ports seem to be working, though. I plugged in an external hard drive and it lit up (I tested all of the ports). So, power is getting to the USB ports.
So, without losing all the data on the computer, how can I restore functionality with the keyboard and mouse if I cannot use the keyboard and mouse in the first place?
I did look at other topics, but I am not sure any of them would help here.
Could a boot drive be used to access the computer (and the keyboard and mouse)?
Are Keyboard and Mouse have a Cable Connection or connected with a Dongle or Bluetooth? Do You have other Keyboards and Mice that You could connect and check if they run?
Hmm ... When You pluged in the external Drive: Was it detected by the System? I mean, did you got an Notification in the upper middle Section on Your Display that a Drive was pluged in? And was in the Taskbar on the right Side a Triangle with a Stripe under it as Symbol that a Drive was connected?
All I have is the login display screen. Plugging the external drive did not change anything at all on the login screen. The external drive lit up, indicating power, but no other changes.
Using the Grub Menu, you can access the Terminal Prompt.
Boot the computer and tap esc or tab to pull up the grub menu after you see the motherboard splash screen.
From the grub menu, select the option for (Recovery)
In the recovery menu, arrow key down to the last option: Drop to Root Prompt
From here, (tap enter or ctl+d) you can use a terminal.
Check if your USB ports are detected:
ls /dev/input/
If the devices show, see if using the module prober gets them working
sudo modprobe -r usbhid && sudo modprobe usbhid
You would need to exit the menu and then boot up to test.
If still no good, see if it is a udevadm issue. Return to the recovery menu and the root prompt and try:
Unfortunately, regardless of many attempts (at least twenty minutes using these keys -- esc, tab, option, left shift, alt, F2, F12, delete, enter -- the computer is not responding to keyboard input. I am unable to get to the grub menu. I am not sure how many more times to try this?
Out of curiosity, I also tried booting up with the boot drive for the newest Zorin OS, following the installation instructions, and it did not recognize the boot drive or the keyboard either.
I have hooked the keyboard and mouse up to a splitter (which is lit) so there is power available to all of these devices. I can see that with the splitter.
I have another question, though, based on an observation I just noticed. The other computer I have that uses the Zorin OS gives both the Zorin and the computer manufacturer logos on the start-up screen. However, I do not see one for the Apple. Is that normal, or should there be a logo?
If there is supposed to be a logo, any idea why it might be absent?
That logo is drawn from the computer's BIOS. I know nothing about Macs, but if Apple doesn't set up a logo or doesn't set one up in the same way non-Apple computers do, it wouldn't show. That disparity doesn't seem likely to be related.
The problem began with the keyboard and mouse in their own ports. I tried the splitter afterward to see if it would help. The splitter shows power, like the external hard drive, but otherwise the keyboard and mouse remain unrecognized. That is my fault for not making that clear. Sorry.
Okay, I understand. Hmm ... For me here it is weird that nothing seems to work right what You plug in on all of Your Ports. I mean, You can plug in but it doesn't work. Did You take a Look in Your BIOS if there are Settings for Your USB Ports? Maybe something there blocks them or they are not active or something.
I think his keyboard and mouse aren't working. So he can't really do anything on the iMac that requires a keyboard or mouse. Do you have a computer that you used to connect to this iMac remotely? What kind of keyboard and mouse do you have. Are the ports USB 3.0 or 2.0? Do they keyboard lights (or ie caps lock) come on at all? Is your bluetooth on? Have you connected your phone to this computer? Have you tried just the keyboard, or the mouse one at a time? For keyboard, first in the 3.0 usb port, then in each following usb? I really don't know just trying to figure out how to help.
All USB ports seem to be dead in regard to the mouse and keyboard. I have swapped keyboards and mice as well as ports and the results are the same. I get a light when I plug an external hard drive into the USB port, but otherwise do not know if it is working. So, there is power, but no response to keyboard or mouse prompts.
I am unable to activate any of the keys upon start-up to allow me to go to the grub menu.
This is a standalone computer, not connected to any network. I do not have bluetooth equipment or a phone I can use to try and dial into the computer remotely.
I think at this point I may need to focus on this problem as a hardware failure of the USB ports. Maybe something is broken inside the machinery.
The only other thing I can think of to try is to create a DVD/CD to somehow access the computer to at least auto-run to the grub menu or BIOS and reset them to defaults, maybe allowing me to get in, but I do not know how to do that or if it is even possible.
So, unless I can find a way to do something like that, I will be taking the computer apart to see if there are physical problems. I am otherwise out of ideas.
I do appreciate all of the offered help and thank you for that.
Unfortunately, the LiveUSB stick did not work either. I tested it in all ports. None of them acknowledged the presence of the stick.
It looks like this is a hardware issue, which means I will need to take the machine apart and see what is going on.
I will keep this page marked in my browser for future reference and, if the matter is resolved within the auto-close period, present the solution (if only to let you know it was a hardware-related issue).
Thanks again for the help. If you have any new ideas on this, let me know. I will check this thread from time to time to see if anything has been added.