external Keyboard and mouse non responsive in docking until login

[berlow]

having a problem with 840G2 win8.1 :

when booting up while connected to a docking station, external keyboard and mouse are non responsive until logging in to windows

[freedomdwarf]

This is quite normal.

A docking station is just another external device like a printer and usually requires drivers to make it work.

Ergo: until Windows has loaded the driver(s) to access the docking station, it is an unknown device and won't be available to your BIOS or anything else until Windows has started.

[berlow]

not the issue, other models external keyboard and mouse work before the Alt+ctrl + del pashe

[freedomdwarf]

It depends on how the docking station is wired and how it connects to the internal motherboard through the physical connection and also what type of connection you are using for the external devices.

I have an older HP and the docking station just doesn't work until Windows loads the drivers for it.

I checked with HP Support - and even paid for it as an out-of-warranty support call - only to be told that it's how it works on some models of laptop/notebooks.

My daughter has a Toshiba with similar problems with external keyboards and mice and they gave me the same advice - it depends on your particular model and the docking station used - especially if it is a USB type connection and the BIOS does not have native/legacy USB support built-in.

My HP notebook's BIOS has the same problem - no built-in native/legacy USB options (at least none that I can select) so I can't use external USB devices until Windows loads.

If your notebooks' BIOS has that option, it should work if switched on/activated.

If it doesn't have that option, you'll have to wait for Windows to load a driver for it otherwise it doesn't 'see' the device to use it.

Just because other models have it, doesn't necessarily follow that your particular machine or BIOS version has it.