Keyboard doesn't work at boot and BIOS settings reset every time I restart

morning,
so I just finished putting together a new PC,
and I tossed in an old hard drive I had lying around that still had Windows XP on it
but here's the thing: when I try to get into the BIOS, neither my mouse nor my keyboard works. They only kick in once Windows actually boots up because, I guess, it needs to load the drivers..
except it seems to be reinstalling those drivers every single time I turn it on..
then I realized something else
I’d actually uninstalled Avira and put Avast on there instead
I also installed Opera, CPU Temp, and a few other programs, and everything seemed fine at first
but then I shut the computer down, rebooted, and suddenly the keyboard drivers were being reinstalled again
plus Avast was gone, CPU Temp was gone, Opera was gone
and Avira was back like nothing happened 0_0
Does anyone have a clue what's going on?
Btw, before I added this hard drive and booted from it, everything was working perfectly
but ever since I plugged this specific drive in, things have been weird...
Maybe I should try a different hard drive, since I have two others that work fine
One has Windows on it and the other is blank?

thanks in advance

Why not just wipe that drive and load up some newer Windows...

William Richardson12 said:Maybe just format the drive and install some newer Windows versions on it?

I can't even format it... nothing. My DVD drive isn't being recognized at all. I tried two different ones already, but I've got a few more lying around, so I guess I'll try those now.

Also, I forgot to mention that my CMOS time keeps resetting itself. I actually swapped out the battery yesterday because it was doing the exact same thing then, too.

William Richardson12 said:Maybe you should just wipe that drive and load some newer Windows on there?

So, I finally swapped in a new optical drive and now the keyboard actually works, so I managed to get into the BIOS.
I fixed the date and enabled USB legacy support, so I guess I'll try installing Windows 7 64-bit now and see what happens. I'll let you guys know...

Jack James65 said:can't even format anything... drive won't recognize any discs. tried two already, still got more to test...

also forgot to mention my CMOS time keeps resetting. swapped the battery yesterday because it was doing the same thing then too...

pull the CMOS battery—power must be totally off, obviously—hold the power button for 30 seconds, pop the battery back in, hit BIOS, restore defaults, fix the boot order, and install Windows on a formatted drive. problem solved. though, honestly, who knows what's actually broken here... could be the motherboard or the PSU causing that CMOS reset...

William Richardson12 said:Pull the CMOS battery—with the power disconnected, obviously—then hold down the power button for about 30 seconds. Pop the battery back in, jump into the BIOS, restore the defaults, fix your boot order, and install Windows on a formatted drive. That should fix it. Though, I guess the real question is what’s actually causing the issue. If the CMOS is failing, it could be the motherboard or maybe even the power supply.

I'm not really sure what the actual glitch was.
I tried everything mentioned above, but nothing worked.
Somehow, I managed to get it running once I plugged in this DVD/CD drive.
Since then, thank God, the CMOS hasn't been acting up. I tried unplugging it from the
power supply, plugging it back in, and then rebooting... and it stayed stable.
Right now, I'm just installing Windows 7.

Maybe some kind of short circuit or something 🤷 gotta look at it to actually know what's going on.

William Richardson12 said:Maybe there was some kind of short circuit or something. I don't know. 🤷 I guess you just have to see it for yourself to really get what's going on.

Ugh, looks like my CMOS just reset on me. Again.🙂 🙂

So, I think I finally figured out how to get my keyboard working again. Turns out, I just have to reset the CMOS. Guess that was it.
I guess I’ll just flip the breaker on and off really fast, then bridge the ground and power with a screwdriver. Maybe that'll work.
don't even have a case

Jack James65 said:CMOS reset itself again...🙂 🙂

but I figured out how to get my keyboard working again whenever that CMOS resets
just kill the power fast and then bridge ground and power with a screwdriver.
(not using a case)

Something probably fried or there’s a short somewhere. A repair tech should be able to track it down.

William Richardson12 said:So, it’s probably just some component failing or maybe there's a short circuit somewhere. A technician should be able to track it down.

I swapped out the hard drive and did a fresh install of macOS and everything seems fine—it isn't resetting anymore.
I'm actually typing this on it right now...
But if I completely cut the power at the wall or flip the PSU switch, the CMOS resets. It's fine though, since I don't usually kill the power entirely, so it works okay for me...
thanks