Keyboard only works with onscreen keyboard activated

[Rob_]

I have 2 PCs both operating with W10.
A few weeks ago, following an update, both keyboards refused to work until the on screen keyboard is activated. Once that's activated both keyboards will work happily as normal. I simply minimise the onscreen keyboard to get it off the screen.
Rather bizarrely, on both PCs the main keyboard will work initially to allow input of the password, but then won't.
One PC is an old Dell with a USB keyboard, the other a 1 year old HP with a wireless keyboard.
Anyone have any ideas how to fix this?

 

[Trouble]

Hello Rob and welcome to the forum.
Your USB ports and subsequently any peripheral device that might be attached to them, may depend on the actual drivers that Windows (when fully loaded) is using for them.
Windows 10 has native support for generic USB ports, but if your particular chipset requires proprietary drivers, you will likely have to look to the computer manufacturer and see what they have to offer in the way of the latest drivers for your USB hardware. That may even mean that you might need to resort to using a driver for a previous Windows OS. So that might be your best bet.... see what they might have.

I think my first step would be to try swapping the two devices between the two computers.
Plug the USB wired device into the newer computer and see if it evokes the found new hardware wizard with the associated sound indicating that something was plugged in.
Likewise try the USB dongle that supports the wireless input device into the old computer and see what that produces.