Hi --
Mine seems to be a two-part problem, a hardware problem (not diagnosed) leading to a Windows problem. My difficulty is that the second part of this has me stuck at the moment and I'd like some advice on how to get out of it in order to diagnose the hardware problem (and in the meantime, get some use out of my PC even if it's a little crippled). I posted to two different Microsoft forums (the moderator at the first suggested a second forum), but no one has responded. Even if some of this is an OS issue, I wonder if I might have more luck here...
Basics pertinent to my situation (let me know if you need more specs):
GA-X58A-UD3R rev2, BIOS FA
OCZ Gold 1600 6GB
Logitech G15 keyboard (rev1)
Win7 x64 Home Premium
It looks like a problem with my RAM has stuck me in a problem I can't get out of. I have Windows wake from hibernation every night to run scheduled tasks overnight, after which it shuts down. Last time, apparently on attempting to wake, there was a problem with my RAM such that only 2 of 6GB were recognized by the system. As a result, Windows was stuck while trying to resume from hibernation (it couldn't fit 6GB of information into a 2GB space, not surprisingly) and when I found my PC the next morning Windows asked whether I wanted to restart the system and lose the unsaved data from hibernation. (I also can tell that this is likely when it happened because the first scheduled task is to run a backup on my Windows Home Server, and that never happened.)
Fine so far. I would have been happy to restart fresh and lose the data in memory, but here's where the next problem arose. Windows does not recognize my keyboard, and so does not allow me to press Enter in order to restart. I have tried multiple USB ports, including one I could verify had juice (it was recharging my Droid at the time), but none worked. Oddly, when I rebooted I could get into BIOS and used the keyboard just fine there. It was only when POST was finished and Windows tried to restart that the keyboard no longer worked. So, the problem does not appear to be with the keyboard or the MB's USB ports. Just to make sure, I tested another USB keyboard, basic Dell model, with the same result -- fine in BIOS, no good when Windows is starting. (I couldn't locate a PS2 keyboard to see if that would make a difference.)
One more bit of information about the RAM issue. After my most recent attempts to restart while testing keyboards, POST indicated that the remaining 2GB of memory it recognized was running at the "wrong" speed, and downgraded it to 1066. I have not gone back into BIOS to change the memory settings yet.
So, I'm stuck. I'd like to abandon the wake from hibernation and start Windows fresh, but it won't let me until I press Enter confirming that's what I want to do. And even though my motherboard recognizes my keyboard, Windows doesn't. If necessary I can just do a full restore of my system using the image from my Windows Home Server, but I'd rather not go through all those steps just yet. And I assume I'll still have to do additional tests regarding the RAM issue after I get Windows to start properly.
And that leads me here. First, does it make sense simply to try to do a restore from WHS under these circumstances? Do you have a way around Windows' stubbornness? Second, what do these symptoms sound like to you regarding the RAM? What should my next steps be on the hardware side? By the way, I only have enough technical knowledge to be dangerous, so answers that walk me through steps to take would be much appreciated.
Thanks very much!