Resolved NumLock wont boot to on

I have 3 new, identical Lenovo M92p ThinkCenters. They are recently fresh out of the box, Windows 8.1, fully updated.

When I turn two machines on that require the user log on, the numlock key is off even though the bios and registry are set to have the numlock in the on state.

When I turn on the one machine that does not require the user to log in, the numlock key is on as it should be.

Is there a way to set the two machines that require user login to have the numlock key on at startup before they log in?

Thanks

 

Did that Evan but it won't enable numlock if the user has to log in.

 

If you boot directly into the BIOS instead of the OS, is numlock on?

And for sure, some have found it confusing that the Registry setting for on is "2" instead of "1" for on. It is "0" for off, which makes sense.

If there is no InitialKeyboardIndicators entry in the Registry, that may be your problem as a missing entry will (pretty sure anyway) default to "0" or off.

 

There are a few InitialKeyboardIndicators registry keys - two of which have a value of 2 and the others with a value of 2147483648

HKCurrentUser\Control Panel\Keyboard = 2

HK_Users\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard = 2147483648
HK_Users\S-1-5-18\Control Panel\Keyboard = 2147483648
HK_Users\S-1-5-19\Control Panel\Keyboard = 2147483648
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2333870405-1336571502-3219787339-1001\Control Panel\Keyboard = 2

Which one(s) would you suggest I change?

The users are Microsoft accounts, not local.

 

Yes, the numlock is on when booting into BIOS

As for registry entries, see the reply to Evan

 

That fixed it Evan, thank you very much.

 

Spoke too soon

On a restart it will retain the numlock on status but after a shut down the numlock is off when I start it back up

 

disable Fast Startup doesn't make any difference

Numlock is on on startup if I choose restart

Numlock is off on startup if I choose shut down and then restart

This next bit is interesting:

Numlock is on on startup if I remove the power cable from the machine between shutdown and start up

I think we'll just live with it...

 

That is interesting. If you don't remove the power cable (or flip the master power switch on the back of the PSU to off - if yours has the optional switch) then the ATX Form Factor standard requires your ATX PSU supply +5Vsb standby voltage across several points on the motherboard. Unplugging (flipping the switch) removes the standby voltage too.

On some motherboards, when in standby mode, this +5Vsb is also used to keep the CMOS memory data "alive ". When unplugged, the CMOS memory data is kept alive by the CMOS battery.

Any problems with the date and time being off if you unplug for any length of time?

If me, since they are only a couple $$, I would unplug from the wall, open the side panel, touch bare metal of the case interior to discharge any static from your body then pull the CMOS battery and make a road trip to your local discount store for a new battery - most likely a CR2032.

Do not touch the new battery with your bare fingers as skin oils promote corrosion and attract dust. I put a clean sock over my hand. Touch bare metal of the case interior again and insert the battery. Make sure the case interior is clean of heat trapping dust while in there, and that all cables are securely fastened. Close side panel, connect power and boot directly into the BIOS Setup Menu. Reset date and time, make sure numlock setting is set and your drives are properly detected, then Save and Exit to boot normally. Cross fingers and see what happens.

 

Machines were unplugged overnight waiting to be moved to a new office location tomorrow.

Date and time are fine. These are two new Lenovo M73 mini towers that I received last Monday so the batteries "should be" good...

 

Well, I tried. Since they are brand new and this is not right, you might call tech support. Also, since they are brand new, you might check to see if there is a BIOS update for this problem. I don't normally recommend updating the BIOS just because a new update is out there because most updates only add support for new CPUs or other devices released since the board was new. But since new motherboards might sit on the shelve before being installed and shipped, it might be working checking out.

 

I did call support and they said that "that is the way it is supposed to work ". I asked why every other computer I have ever owned (and I have owned dozens) has never done this and they couldn't answer that.

The only thing I thought that was out of the ordinary was that they are logging into a Microsoft account however, I now have a 3rd M73 for another customer and it is doing the same thing with a local account (non-MS).

Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders

 

Not the biggest crisis I have ever had to deal with

Thanks for all input