April 14, 2006 11:16 AM PDT

Boot Camp Special Report: USB keyboard not responding -- fix

by CNET staff

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There is an issue where keyboard input is suddenly not recognized when running Windows XP -- a problem generally resolved by either restarting or disconnecting then re-connecting the keyboard.

One reader writes:

"No problems installing Windows XP SP2, but in use, on a couple of occasions, the keyboard simply stops working. Even logging out of Windows fails to revive it. A reboot always restores contact. No pattern that I can see so far. Most times it will work fine for hours. Other times, it'll lose contact after a fairly short (20 minutes) time."

MacFixIt reader Laura Wichman adds:

"I am having troubles installing Windows XP using the new Boot Camp Assistant on my iMac 4,1 Intel Core Duo machine. I am running OS X 10.4.6 with the firmware update. I downloaded and ran the Boot Camp Assistant. When I attempt to install Windows XP (I have a single CD), the screen displays the prompt for selecting which OS I would like to install and the cursor begins flashing. However it does not seem to accept any input from my USB mouse or keyboard? Any suggestions?"

It appears that the problem is related to the 'AppleCDEject' process, which watches for the proprietary Apple eject key to be pressed. Launching the Windows Process Manager and killing the process by that name as soon as Windows starts up will usually prevent the keyboard from becoming unrecognized.

MacFixIt reader JB writes:

"I had been having problems with my Apple USB keyboard (standard one) vanishing from the bus on my iMac, requiring a unplug and replug in order to be re-recognized. I have narrowed down the cause: it seems to be due (or closely correlated) to a crashing 'AppleCDEject' resident process, which I presume watches for the 'Eject' key on the Apple keyboard to be pressed. I haven't figured out how to disable it yet (it's not in Startup Items, and it doesn't show up as a Service that's running) but if I kill that from the Process Manager as the first thing when I start up XP, I can run XP for hours on end with no keyboard glitches (although, of course, I can't use the Eject button). I can still eject CDs by using the right-click on my Mighty Mouse, since the MM's 'right button' function appears to be hardware within the mouse, not driver-based."

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