Keyboard failure

I encountered the same problem with my 4-year-old XPS 400 as described at the beginning of this post.  I tried the folllowing (after several reboot attempts and then finding this thread):

Removed the cover.  Observed the green LED on the mobo

Unplugged the machine

Held down the on/off button, observed the LED turn off rapidly (about 3 seconds)

Reset the CMOS pin jumper (moved it from 1-2 to 2-3) and removed the CMOS battery

Waited a few minutes

Replaced the battery and moved the jumper back.

Plugged the power cord back in (green light turned back on)

Now it WILL NOT EVEN TURN ON.  No fans, no whirs, no buzzes, no blinks, no blips, no life...

It seems the power button has no effect at all...if I unplug it, holding down the power button to drain the capacitor has no effect...

Any clues how I can get my machine to power up again?

UPDATE: Nevermind...had the jumper in the wrong place...

However, after the first attempt, the result is I get the keyboard failure then am stuck at it wants me to press F1 to continue or F2 to enter setup...but it still does not recognize the keyboard.  The machine is now unplugged with the battery pulled out...Should I try the PCI card, the USB extender?  Something else?  I don't really want to get a new mboard...I already have a new machine on the way for my kids for Christmas so I'll probably just copy the hard drive to an external...but if I can do it cheaply, I would like to get the machine running again....

 Robtj

Sounds like a power supply failure...

Ron

Just had the jumper in the wrong position.  It powers up now but gets stuck at the keyboard failure (and floppy disk failure)...

Now it sounds like BIOS settings are scrambled. Power off and unplug. Press/hold power button for ~15 sec. Open the case and remove the motherboard battery.

Press/hold power button again for ~30 sec. Reinstall the battery (right-side-up!).  It's more than ~2-3 years old, this might be the time to install a fresh battery. Then reboot with only mouse, monitor and keyboard attached.

If you don't have an internal floppy drive in this system, you'll still get that floppy error. In that case, reboot and press F2 to open BIOS setup. Look for the Diskette Drive controller setting and change it to Off (disabled). Save the change and exit setup.

That should solve these problems.

Ron

My USB ports are working but my keyboard and mouse does not work.  I tried plugging my Ipod and Blackberry in the USB slots and it charges them.  That tells me they are working.  I changed the batteries and even purchased a new wireless set.  Still they dont work.  Any suggestions?

Drakeford,

You should have started a new thread. :emotion-5:

Always include the PC model and version of Windows in your posts!.

Just because things charge doesn't mean the ports are working. All that says is there's power. If you reboot and press F2, F8 or F12 before Windows starts to load, does the keyboard work?

Ron

I have a Dell XPS 400.  I took my pc into Best Buy and they told me two of my capacitors on my mother board was bad.  I bought a USB PCI card.  Once installed my keyboard and my mouse work now.  Thanks.

OK, here goes......... 1st boot: Note ther is 6 USB ports at the rear of the case. A row of two, and below that a row of 4. Plugged everything in. Keyboard, mouse, external drive, printer and the USB extention from the monitor. It stopped at the BIOS load screen. Lights 1 and 4 are lit.

Sorry for the necro-bump (but the info in this thread is still relevant).

Although lights 1 and 4 are lit but that is not a recognized error code, they are still lit; I have the same problem as you listed (lights 1 and 4, and stops at the BIOS load screen). Maybe it's a non-listed error! Who would think such a thing could occur??

In any case: I have a 9150 with 4Gb RAM; I have XP Media Center with SP3 installed (so it's only using 3Gb of RAM). nVidia GTX 8800. 2 x 1Tb HD. Matrox Triplehead2Go digital. 3 x Dell 2410 monitors.

And therein lies the rub: the problem began after installing the new monitors. Prior to that, I was running 3 x 1901FP. No problems. First boot after the new monitors, stalled on the BIOS screen, about 9/10 through the bar loading. No error message. Keyboard not responding (unsure as to the mouse).

Have the following plugged into the USB ports: iPod touch and Wingman Formula Force GP in front. In back, keyboard (wired), mouse (wireless sender), phone, and TH2Go box.

Unplugging and holding the power button to "drain" the system ineffective. Replaced the CMOS battery 1 1/2 years ago. Have not tried any other solutions yet, but am going to!

The ultimate solution, though, is to move on, and I think I shall move away from Michael Dell and company.

My reason for posting is that I, too, got the "1" and "4" lights lit error, and that it does exist, whether or not it's listed. Thanks for your time!

dear my buddy

first of all when see this Key board problem on any machines e.g DELL XPS 400,755,745,780 OR ANY ONE

1st step turn off your machine and unplug the power cable and key board + mouse

2nd step u remove RAM and after remove the battery cell which install in mother board

3rd step press machine ON/OFF button 20-30 sec (aprox. 3 times)

4rth step reinstall RAM and battery cell and at last plugin the power cable and key board + mouse

5th step u turn on ur machine and at start  slect  boot menu  and  check ur system hardwares configrations and check your key board ON postion

i sure your problem solve u feel happy happy

if not solve then you must change your windows CDs and reinstall your Windows

and I SURE 110% YOU FEEL HAPPY HAPPY

BY WAQAS (PAKISTAN)

PC TECH. FAISALABAD

PAKISTAN

I removed the CMOS battery and held the Power On switch for 30 seconds. Then, I plugged in the mouse, keyboard, and the video adapter (my triple head to go box). I did boot, but there was no green light on the keyboard. I moved the keyboard plug to another USB port, and the keyboard worked. I I got the "keyboard" error and the "no floppy drive" error. I re-booted and went into setup, and fixed what I could. Now, I'm up and running - three 24 inch widescreen monitors are BIG and BRIGHT!

I  haven't trouble-shot which USB ports are inoperative. The one where my keyboard did not work does have power - it reads my cell phone (well, beeps/bongs when I plug it in) and has charged it.

I'm not sure, but I am sure that I'm going to a new computer. I'll likely keep this one as a backup/second.

I have had this problem and solved it.  My solution is below.

details of my problem:

My computer: Dell 5150 with no PS2 ports (I have noticed many posts for 9150, 4xxx, 8xxx and XPS400/410).

My problem: "keyboard failure, press F1 to continue, F2 to enter setup..."  at boot up, before bios.  There is no opportunity to enter bios, the computer will not boot, and there are no PS2 ports.

Tried: PCI USB card - did not work.  Reset CMOS - did not work.  Reset bios - did not work.   CMOS battery voltage is good.  Multiple keyboards work on other systems.  Same error with or  without USB mouse.  No other USB devices plugged in.

Solution: noticed and replaced four buldging 6.3v 820uf capacitors on the motherboard.

Comments: it seems from reading this long and aged thread that there are more than one problems that cause "keyboard failure."  If the BIOS/CMOS/battery suggestions don't work, inspect your motherboard for buldging capacitors. 

I resolved a “Keyboard Failure” problem on a Dell Precision 690 by cycling power on a Seagate external hard drive connected to a USB port.

The details follow.

For many months my keyboard worked properly connected to a USB port on an LCD monitor.

Today I started observing a “Keyboard Failure” message immediately after power-on, & I could not enter BIOS setup because the keyboard was not recognized.

Curiously after Windows 7 started, the keyboard worked.

I powered down the computer & moved the keyboard USB connector to a port on the back of the computer but the failure message persisted.

I then checked all USB connected devices & discovered that the “Keyboard Failure” no longer occurred after power was cycled on a Seagate external hard drive connected to a USB port.

Perhaps some electrical anomaly caused the Seagate drive to put interference on the USB bus.

For the record I did leave the keyboard connected to USB port on the back of the computer.

i have the same problem i know this might sound strange but im not sure what model my dell is but when i boot up it says "keyboard failure" "press F1 to continue or F2 to enter SETUP" help please :)

I have been part of this particular conversation for ages now.  As far as I can tell there are many different problems which result in the "keyboard failure" message. I have had one solution that has worked for me for years: a powered usb hub.  Plug it into one of the usb ports and then plug the keyboard and mouse into the hub and both work.  It has to be a powered hub--for some reason only one of the built-in usb ports works at a time.  With the powered hub, I can get the keyboard and mouse both working. 

Recently I took the machine in to a repair place because I couldn't even get to the boot options to tell it to boot from my DVD drive so I could reinstall the OS. The hard drive was bad (it turned out) and the person working on the machine had no idea why the ports weren't working. He had to use a powered hub just to repair the machine. But he installed a set of 4 usb ports in an open slot and now I have working usb ports with the keyboard and mouse plugged into those ports. I no longer need the powered hub.  So I have two solutions: a powered hub or new USB ports in an open slot. 

One thing in my case: I did not need a new motherboard.

i have the same problem i know this might sound strange but im not sure what model my dell is but when i boot up it says "keyboard failure" "press F1 to continue or F2 to enter SETUP" help please :)

Hard to help you without a model number. Isn't it on the front/side of the PC? If you know the Service Tag number (a sticker on side of PC), go to support.dell.com and click Drivers/Downloads. Click Service Tag option on next page, and put in the number. It should tell you what PC you have. Do NOT post your Service Tag number here.

Do you at least know if you have a USB keyboard or a PS/2 keyboard, and is it wired or wireless?

Ron