Keyboard driver stops functioning??

[Dinosaur]

Windows XP system seems to lose the Keyboard device driver.

In the midst of using a word processor or a spread sheet, the keyboard stops functioning. Ctrl-Alt-Delete does not bring up Task manager. None of the alpha, numeric, or punctuation keys cause anyhing to display in a document.

If I shut the system down and restart it, all is well. When this problem occurrs, the word processor reacts a bit strangely to Mouse clicks, suggesting that the keyboard driver is not the only problem.

Has anyone else encountered such symptoms?

[123456]

What word processor are you using? And what are your system specs?

[Dinosaur]

I run Home Edition of XP on a system which was leading edge about 3+ years ago. It has an AMD CPU in an ASUS motherboard. It is rated at about 2.2 Ghz or faster. I have 2GB of memory & lots of disk space.

I usually use WordPerfect. When the problem occurs, I start Notepad, which also fails to respond to the Keyboard.

Note that using Ctrl-Alt-Delete has no effect. This indicates that the problem is not related to any particular application. Since I can start applications using a mouse, the system is not hung.

The symptoms indicate that the Keyboard driver is either not functioning or XP is ignoring Keyboard interrupts and failing to activate the driver.

Shut down & restart makes the probem go away, but I wonder what causes it.

[mjc]

What kind of keyboard...PS/2 or USB?

[Dinosaur]

PS/2 Keyboard

[mjc]

Try a USB keyboard, but I think it may be time to start looking at a core upgrade. The kind of problem you are describing is usually the first signs of the PS/2 controller going flaky (yes, it will eventually affect both keyboard and mouse).