Keyboard not working in Windows XP with Bootcamp

I'm trying to help out a friend of mine who has a Macbook Pro running Leopard 10.5 and bootcamp 2.1. Recently he had a problem when running Windows XP that was making the processor max out for no apparent reason. I read on-line that this could be because of a Windows XP update that wasn't compatible with bootcamp and to upgrade the bootcamp. I upgraded it from 2.1 to 2.1 and the issue went away. However the keyboard no longer works. I've seen a lot of posts on-line but it seems some people are just not able to get it to work so I'm hoping someone here will know. The most common answer was to reinstall or re-run the drivers from the original boot disk. I've tried that and it still does not work. Another issue I saw was that bootcamp sometimes has issues with USB devices plugged in while reinstalling the drivers and to unplug them and try again...I've done that too. I'm seeing the Apple keyboard in device manager and it says it is working...however I also see a HID Compliant Keyboard that will not start due to a corrupt or missing driver. When I go to update that driver from Windows it always tells me that I have the correct driver installed. I have a feeling that this is where the issue is. I would try and reinstall Windows XP but the keyboard doesn't work so I can't enter the product key. I hope someone know something else to try that I have not.

Thanks

Remove the Apple keyboard and try using a cheap Windows USB keyboard which you can buy at Wal-Mart for around $15. If the cheap Windows keyboard works OK, it's a likely problem with the firmware for the Apple aluminum keyboard.

Well the Apple keyboard worked fine before I did the bootcamp update. I'll try another keyboard though. Is the firmware for the on-board keyboard upgradeable?

Yes. The original aluminum Apple keyboard needs a firmware upgrade. If you have a newer one, a firmware upgrade is not required.

That could be it then...I hope so. Will try again when I get home from the office.

Well I tried an external keyboard today and that did not fix the issue so I doubt it is a firmware issue on the internal keyboard.

Any other ideas?

See if you can update the version of Boot Camp you're running. You mentioned Boot Camp 2.1 which is an old version. I believe but not sure you can update to Boot Camp 3.0 or maybe later. That will provide newer drivers. Your friend may have to update OS X in order to gain access to later drivers. He should be running at least Snow Leopard if possible. Only $19.99 from the Apple on line store.

(Apparently, the keyboard hardware is not the problem.)

Got the keyboard working now! Found a post about the HID keyboard in Windows with a registry fix that was needed to get it working. However now there is something wrong with the network settings. The cards show fine in device manager but I'm not getting any IP addreses via DHCP.

Well got everything working finally! I ended up having to re-run the boot camp drivers several times to finally get the network cards working. Thanks for the suggestions!