Fingerprint Reader Error??

[Rock5656]

During the initial login, I am unable to finger swipe to gain access . . . At the login screen I get a message to please Connect the fingerprint reader. Have a mistakenly disabled this feature without knowing?? (maybe a keyboard shortcut??) I am 1000% sure that it is enabled in Bios and within XP.

Any ideas what could be causing this error??

Do you think that a very thin faint scratch on the reader's lens would cause it to not connect during bootup? This is very frustrating!!