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April 4th, 2009 06:00
Keyboard failure after updating BIOS
Hi there,
I recently installed Vista Home premium on my Dimension 5150, which worked fine. I downloaded the requisite drivers from the main drivers/downloads section of the support site, and one of which was a BIOS upgrade from A05 to A07. This is where my problems began.
Once I restarted the machine after the BIOS update, the USB keyboard wasn't being recognised, with a generic keyboard failure error before the OS started. This prevented me getting into the BIOS settings or doing anything apart from letting it continue booting into the OS. The USB mouse at this point still worked fine, but I couldn't enter the password to get to the desktop.
I had a look aound some other forums, which suggested removing the BIOS battery and blue jumper cable attached to the drive inside the machine. I powered off and did removed both of these, leaving around 10 minutes before I replaced them and restarted the machine. Once the machine started again, it appears to believe there is an issue with the "floppy" drive (of which there isn't one), and the keyboard failure remained. The BIOS version still shows as A07 (not sure if removing the battery is supposed to default back to battery settings, but that was my understanding).
So now I cannot really do anything of note, with no access to the keyboard and no (apparent) access to the OS. Can anybody provide any advice on this?
Many thanks,
Neil
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fireberd
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April 4th, 2009 08:00
I have an E510 which is the US equivalent of the 5150.
Have you tried moving the keyboard to a different USB port? I have the keyboard and mouse plugged into the USB ports next to the RJ45 (Ethernet port). On many PC's only certain USB ports are active at boot up (I'm not sure on the E510/5150 models).
I upgraded my BIOS to A07 before I installed Vista as it fixed a compatibility issue with Vista (according to the Dell Vista Readiness test).
The floppy drive problem is because you reset the BIOS by removing the battery. It is now at the factory default settings. I have no idea what "blue jumper cable" you are referring to.
Unfortunately, the BIOS update could have corrupted the BIOS and the reason the keyboard is not being recognized. If the BIOS is corrupted (and you can't get into Windows (Vista) to try and reflash the BIOS) the only option is to replace the motherboard.
Neil Topping
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April 4th, 2009 09:00
Thanks for the quick response.
As for the jumper cable section, I wasn't clear on that. It was actually a little plastic cover on the motherboard - http://www.diy-computer-repairs.com/2009/02/reset-bios/ Apparently this does pretty much the same as removing/replacing the battery.
I suspect that you are correct and that the BIOS is corrupted. That being said, the BIOS update was provided through the correct section on the Dell website, so I'm surprised that it's did the damage here.
fireberd
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April 5th, 2009 04:00
A BIOS update is the potentially most dangerous update you can do. In the case of the E510/5150 the Dell BIOS update, itself, is not corrupted however ANY attempt at a BIOS update can corrupt the BIOS. On retail Intel motherboards (what I have in my home built PC) there is a BIOS recovery software update that can be used to recover a corrupted BIOS in many cases. Unfortunately Dell does not have that capability.
This is from the site you referenced: This really is a last resort to changing your motherboard & it should be understood that if you get this wrong, there is no going back, your board is ready for the trash can
OK on the BIOS reset "jumper" (what we call that, at least here in the US).
If you look for a replacement motherboard, there were several part number boards used by Dell. The 0HJ054 part number board was the latest one used by Dell and the best one to look for (what my E510 came with). However, you can only use another E510/5150 model motherboard. Boards from some other similar Dell models may or may not fit but they will not have the needed I/O connections (for example, the later models that are BTX do not have IDE (PATA) interface, just SATA and do not support the Pentium "D" processors that are used in the E510). A retail motherboard will not fit without major case modifications and even with that, Dell uses a proprietary (and undocumented) front panel connection. In additon the E510/5150 is a "BTX" configuration and very few retail BTX motherboards are available. BTX was promoted as being quieter and cooler but it didn't last long and the industry abandoned it. I have a client with a Gateway that is BTX and Gateway didn't use that style long either. There are several after market companies that sell refurbished Dell motherboards, not sure about Europe, the ones advertised in the US run around $125 (US) for a used motherboard.