Keyboard Problems

I am running Dell with XP and everything has been good for years. Now, after using the pc for a couple of hours the keyboard craps out and sometimes I lose the mouse. I swapped keyboards no change, checked connections fine. I shut down the pc and restart and the keyboard starts up. Sometimes on start-up diagnosis will find a bad keyboard, but I override it with F1 and it works. I haven't installed any hardware or new software for a while. Any thoughts?

Automatic updates can cause problems, although I doubt that's the problem.

Download, update & run anti malware from malwarebytes.org

Look at the event viewer for error messages.

Thanks for the quick reply. I run malewarebytes all the time and I really don't expect a virus. The problem has been around for about a two weeks and I routinely ran a full check for viruses at least four times in that period. I'll run another one just in case. when I started up this morning the keyboard crapped out right from the beginning. I pulled the connection plug for the keyboard and inserted it again, mouse icon flashed and the keyboard started working again -- maybe, this will give you more ideas. The Event log came up with only an "inCD" error which is, I think, a Nero app. Thanks for the help.

Are the mouse & keyboard USB or PS2?

The keyboard is PS2 and the mouse USB.

Why don't you try a USB keyboard?

It's an idea, I just don't have one. Do you think this will fix it?

If there is a problem in the PS2 bus, it will fix it.