UNSOLVED
Startup Loop
Hi,
I have a P3 500 Windows 98. When I startup the computer I get to the Dell startup screen and the computer reboots. The dignostic lights are all good at this point. The only error message and that there is no keyboard detected.
I am not able to boot the computer in safe mode. I never get to that menu.
If I startup the computer with the win98 boot disk I can get into dos with cdrom support. I am able to run scandisk and traverse the file directories. The basic scandisk produces no errors with the FAT table or bad sectors. The keyboard works fine.
I am thinking this may have something to do with a corrupt windows os or the boot sector of the hard disk. Do you have any ideas why this happens or ideas on how to fix? Thanks.
fireberd
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Posted May 8th, 2003 11:00
The keyboard is being detected by the BIOS, not the OS. If the keyboard is not being detected on startup initially, but apparently is later with another boot, there is either a keyboard problem, (possibly a loose connection). possibly a BIOS issue. Check the Dell downloads and see if there is any BIOS updates to your PC. If there are not BIOS updates, reset the BIOS to the defaults (even if it has never been modified) as this seems to fix some flakey I/O device problems.
There could even be a logic problem on the motherboard. If you unplug (and/or plug in) the keyboard with the power on, it can damage the keyboard I/O chip (NEVER unplug or plug in the keyboard with power on). If this happens, with the way motherboards are today, it may mean you will need to replace the motherboard to fix it. Some older motherboards has the Keyboard I/O chip on an IC socket and it could be replaced (if you could find the replacement chip) but most newer boards don't use the socket.