Solving Boot Problems With USB And Wireless Periphial Devices

Does your PC hang during the boot process when you have a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, or some USB device attached? It is a common problem, and quite an irritating one. Here are a couple of tips to help you get your PC booting the way it should!

Sometimes things that ought to work easy enough do not—and for oddball reasons. You will find a few different ideas in this post that should help you get things working correctly.

If wireless keyboards and mice are causing your PC to hang at boot, the tip for how to change USB support in your BIOS is often a simple fix…that many people are not aware of—mostly due to it not being an intuitive change to make.

This is meant to be a quick reference guide that will show you a few ways to troubleshoot your boot issues when you have a USB device attached to your PC, and is not the final say on the matter by any means. The majority of such issues can be solved with the simple steps outlined in this post. While focusing on issues under the Windows OS, the settings in the BIOS will likely produce similar results under another OS as well.

Let’s jump right in…

Why Your Devices Halt The Boot Process

Simply put, there is a conflict in the boot process. Either the BIOS or the operating system see the attached USB device and does not treat it the way you would like it to and the way you hoped it would work out of the box.

Instead of throwing your PC out of a window into the driveway, jumping in your car and doing donuts on the remains of your system, you should calmly look for a solution. Where can you find it? The solution can usually be found in one of three places: the device drivers in Windows, configuration settings for the device, or more likely in the BIOS settings.

Step 1: Check Device Configuration

Look in your Control Panel and check the configuration of your wireless mouse and keyboard to make sure they are set properly. If you don’t know what the settings should be, consult the manufacturer’s website or user manual. Another option is to uninstall the devices and reinstall them.

Keep in mind that many wireless keyboards and mice can be reset to default settings by repairing the installation rather than uninstalling the device. To do so, go to ‘Add or Remove Programs’ in your Control Panel, double-click it to open, and highlight the wireless device software. Click on ‘Change’ or if it shows a single ‘Change/Remove’ button click on that.

It should offer you an option to uninstall, repair, or remove. Select repair and start the repair. This usually resets the devices to default settings. Some device applications will do the repair without having to insert the installation CD/DVD into a drive on the PC while some may require it. It will let you know if the CD/DVD is needed.

If repairing the install does not work. Try completely uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it anew. If that does not work, move on to step 2.

Step 2: Update Your Device Drivers

Make sure you have checked to see if your device drivers are updated to the most recent version. Check the manufacturers’ web site for updated drivers. A fix may already exist that was released after the version that came with your device was shipped. If this doesn’t solve your problem go to step 3.

Note that I suggest this as step 2 rather than step 1 because repairing an installation sometimes reinstalls the default drivers. It does you no good to update them and then repair the installation in that case.

NOTE: Yes, this means you will need a serial/PS2 mouse and non-USB keyboard handy to perform this. Install the USB keyboard and mouse and wireless device software. When your boot halts, shut down, plug in the PS2 mouse and keyboard, get online, update the drivers, and then shutdown. Unhook the standard set and boot with just the wireless keyboard and mouse and associated device and see if things work now.

Step 3: Change Your BIOS Settings

This is the one that is often scary for computer users who are not techies and geeks by nature, yet it should not be scary at all. However, caution should be used because you can foul things up if you go changing things you shouldn’t. So, stick to just the settings I mention and you should be safe.

However, you are warned that changing your BIOS can create problems that did not exist before if you change the wrong settings! If in doubt, seek out a PC tech. I assume no liability for any problems that may arise from using the techniques described in this post. You assume all risk, which may include data loss.

Now, if you didn’t get scared away, this is really easy. Please note that you may need to use a non-wireless mouse and keyboard to make these changes before your wireless keyboard and mice will work. It varies. Some will boot far enough for you to use the very wireless keyboard that is causing Windows to hang just after you get past the point you would enter setup to change your BIOS settings…which is almost humorous.

Also keep in mind, there are three main items to scrutinize in your BIOS. I list them in the order you should address them, which is basically from least dangerous to most dangerous. And dangerous is relative. If changing a setting does not solve your problem, simply reboot and enter the BIOS again and change the settings back to what they were before.

That means you should write them down! Let’s get started…

CHANGE USB SUPPORT SETTINGS

• Boot your PC…
• Enter the BIOS. You do this before you get to the hanging spot. On my PC, you simply press the Delete key at the appropriate time. Not every BIOS is the same and the manufacturer of yours may require a different key, such as F10 or F2 or some such. Watch your screen…
• In your BIOS look for something like Integrated Periphials…
• When you find the appropriate settings for USB Support (USB Device Legacy Support in my BIOS), you will likely see options for ‘disable’ or ‘all’ or ‘no mice’ perhaps—again, this may vary from BIOS to BIOS…
• Choose ‘Disable’ from the options…
• Look for any USB emulation settings, such as ‘USB 1 emulation’. While not absolutely necessary to disable this setting, it may make a difference. I set mine to ‘disable’ as I have no USB 1 devices (The older, slower USB standard. The current USB standard is USB 2)…
• Save your changes and exit the BIOS. There is usually a menu at the bottom of the screen that tells you how to ’save changes and exit’ or ’save changes’ or exit. Pretty much every BIOS will ask you if you want to save your changes when you exit. Many allow you to press F10 and automatically save the changes you made and exit back to the boot sequence.

Your PC should boot up with your wireless transmitter plugged in or with your USB devices (such as flash drives, joysticks, etc…) plugged in. If so, congratulations! You are just a little bit geekier and a bit more techy than you were a minute ago.

While it sounds counter-intuitive to disable support for USB devices when you are wanting to use a USB device, it is quite often the solution that works.

CHANGE OS PLUG AND PLAY SETTINGS

• Boot your PC…
• Enter the BIOS. On my PC, you simply press the Delete key at the appropriate time. Not every BIOS is the same and the manufacturer of yours may require a different key, such as F10 or F2 or some such. Watch your screen…
• In your BIOS look for Plug and Play settings, usually under PNP/PCI Settings or something similar…
• When you find the appropriate settings for Plug and Play devices, you will likely see options for ‘disable’ or ‘enable’—again, this may vary from BIOS to BIOS…
• Choose ‘Disable’ from the options…
• Save your changes and exit the BIOS. There is usually a menu at the bottom of the screen that tells you how to ’save changes and exit’ or ’save changes’ or exit. Pretty much every BIOS will ask you if you want to save your changes when you exit. Many allow you to press F10 and automatically save the changes you made and exit back to the boot sequence.

Finish booting and see if this solves your problem. If so, congratulations. If not, there is one more thing to try.

CHANGE POWER MANAGEMENT SETTINGS

• Boot your PC…
• Enter the BIOS. On my PC, you simply press the Delete key at the appropriate time. Not every BIOS is the same and the manufacturer of yours may require a different key, such as F10 or F2 or some such. Watch your screen…
• In your BIOS look for Power Management settings…
• When you find the appropriate menu for Power Management, look for something like ‘USB Wakeup from…’ This may vary from BIOS to BIOS…
• Choose ‘Disable’ from the options…
• Save your changes and exit the BIOS. There is usually a menu at the bottom of the screen that tells you how to ’save changes and exit’ or ’save changes’ or exit. Pretty much every BIOS will ask you if you want to save your changes when you exit. Many allow you to press F10 and automatically save the changes you made and exit back to the boot sequence.

Finish booting and see if this solves your problem. If so, congratulations. If not, you may need the services of an actual tech. Or spend a lot of time searching for an answer with your favorite search engine.

I have found that disabling USB device legacy support solves the problem most of the time. I hope you find this useful. If you do, tell everyone where you read about it.

Have a great day!