Keyboard fails to work during xp install

Question

Hello and thank you for reading and hopefully replying to my problem. My friend has a 5 year old dell and recently corrupted his installation so i told her to do a repair installation. Everything works fine until she gets to the screen where she has to option to repair reinstall or go to the recovery console and the keyboard stops working completely. I have told her to unplug all unneeded devices but the keyboard. That didn't work. The keyboard is an older dell ps/2 keyboard from the way she describes it. I have told her to borrow a usb keyboard. This is a problem i have encountered a lot lately so I am interested in knowing what the people here do to fix this problem. the keyboard however works in bios What little i know about the system 5 years old probably mid range ps/2 keyboard windows xp (installation no service packs) I think Your help would be great!!!!!! Also not going inside the case to reset the cmos would be great.

tgsmith · Answer

Judgement,   Some older Dell's require a PS/2 keyboard and mouse to run the Recovery Console or reinstall XP from the Dell Reinstallation CD.    If the keyboard works fine in the BIOS, it should definitely work in Recovery Console.  XP is seeing something it doesn't recognize at the keyboard address or interrupt.  Make sure all USB devices are disconnected.  That includes printers, cameras, jump drives, etc.  Also, remove any third party add-on cards, particularly those that have onboard controllers such as a SCSI card for an older scanner.   Would help if we knew the model of your friend's Dell.  I'm typing this post on my Dell 4100 bench machine.  Have newer, faster, more powerful systems, but this is my favorite.  It just works.   Tony

LatinMcG · Answer

you have to enable usb legacy and keyboard and mouse support in bios. yeah to get to it.. you will need a ps/2.

jmwills · Answer

Yes, you might need a PS2 keybooard or you might try a BIOS upgrade to accept the USB keyboard. Message Edited by jmwills on 05-19-2007 06:25 PM

Judgement · Answer

i pulled out all the unnecessary usb cords and add in cards and when i loaded to xp install the pc worked fine. Just to clarify the original keyboard was a ps/2 keyboard that was not working. The mouse however was usb so I think that might have been causing the conflict. Thanks for the help

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