Lat 600 Keyboard stops responding after OS install

Question

Dear All, Really odd problem I'd like some help with! Boss recently handed a Lat 600 to me to build. It had been in the cupboard for a year and had (apparantly) been working at that time. I decieded to re-image it, so I popped in the XP (SP2) cd and did the install. During the install the keyboard worked fine, although the trackpad and pointer did not. When the install was over and the machine rebooted to the point where it asks you a few final questions the keyboard stopped responding. By using a usb mouse I got past this. Everything looked ok in device manager. I added and external keyboard and rebooted - neither keyboard or on board trackpad/pointer worked. I then upgraded the bios (from 3 to 23!) to no avail. Note that the keyboard works fine when I'm in the Bios!! I then re-installed XP from scratch (Just in case!) and the same thing happened. The keyboard works just fine when I boot off my Linux utilty CD. Functions - suspend/Font etc seem to work in windows. Any ideas or suggestions please?   Stattler Message Edited by stattler2000 on 07-13-2005 08:59 AM

stattler2000 · Answer

Update: Applying all the dell specific chipset drivers/mouse driver etc - same. Installed W2K pro from known good cd - same. Installed fedora core 2. Keyboard works fine. Track/pointer continue not to work in any OS. My gut feeling is that the bios is reporting something to the OS that linux doesn't care about but that windows does. But whatever is happening all looks fine in the windows device manager. Could there be a rogue bios setting that I'm missing? I can't see any obvious 'reset to factory default' option in there! Cheers! S

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,

A few things, run the Diags and test. If things work here, hardware is OK as it sounds. Do you have a C or D 600 ?. When in Bios Alt " F " resets factory settings. Are you able to swap the drive with one from a going machine ? If it has been out of use for a year, chances are it didnt work when it was put away, even though you were told it was. I hope this is of some help, because it should work !

Regards Chris

stattler2000 · Answer

Chris thanks for the ideas.

Its a c600.

I tried pushing the bios back to defaults - same.

I've tried the diags, both the complete sweep and the extended interactive on kb and mouse - all worked 100%.

I'm sure that your right that it was put away 'broken'.

I have a spare disk handy so I'll give that a whirl and let you know how I get on.

S

stattler2000 · Answer

New hdu with new install - same. Maybe an exorcist?

AussieChris · Answer

Hi,

Logic says it should work, it has to be something simple and wierd. Do you have anything attached when loading ? I cant think of anything except try different things. ( vary everything and look for a pattern )

Regards Chris

PS maybe you can sell it at a profit as " Haunted "................

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