I have a win98 PC, that until recently has been working perfectly. I let a friend use this spare box at a LAN party we were at. We connected his windows ergo keyboard and serial mouse but the system would not recognize either one. When I then brought it back home and hooked up my standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard, windows would load fine then I would get a pop-up window stating that "Windows has not found a PS/2 Mouse connected...If you do not want to see this message again(check box)".

I have no way of getting into BIOS as any of the keyboards Ive tried do not respond. Has anyone run into anything like this? Please help, its driving me crazy.

Welcome! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif
Please don't take offense at this suggestion because it sounds like I'm saying you're not too smart! It's just that neither the PS/2 mouse or keyboard is working, which can happen when they are plugged into the wrong connectors on the PC. Since the connectors are pretty much identical, it's easy to get them backwards. I know this from personal experience - I've done it more than once myself, and I think I'm pretty smart! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

Peace...
Kim

That was the first thing I checked, I wonder if it has something to do with the IRQ settings. If so, is there any way check these or reset them to original set up? I still cant find the answer.

Well, running scanreg /restore from DOS at startup would allow you to choose a registry dated from before the LAN party to restore your old settings, but without a working keyboard I don't know how you can do that. Removing all mouse drivers from Device Manager in Win98 Safe Mode and then letting the mouse be re-detected might also work, but there again, you'd need the keyboard. Sort of a Catch-22, huh? http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif

Anyone else have any ideas???

Kim

Have you tried booting to a windows 98 Start Up disk? This bypasses all start up files, and as long as the keyboard is enabled in BIOS it should work.

Then try restoring the registry with scanreg /restore.

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I did a stupid thing, uh ohhh. I removed that small battery from the mobo, thinking it would reset any CMOS/BIOS settings. Anyway now when I start the PC it detects all my drives fine in the BIOS startup messages and then gets to a line that reads: "CMOS checksum error -defaults loaded" press F1 to continue, DEL to enter Setup. Here is my problem, my keyboard still does not work, so I can't get past this. This is hillarious, in a sick kind of way. I've tried a few different keyboards and mice that I know are working, any ideas?

I guess this is what they call a learning experience in the making http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Ah haa, I think I found out why it doesn't see my keyboard. At closer inspection of the motherboard, specifically in the area where the keyboard connector is attached, I see there is some black discoloration around what seems to be a missing "bridge". There are 5 tiny black connectors with silver tips on either end, well the 1st one is only partially there. The second silver tip is missing and in its place is the black discoloration. I guess we did somehow fry the board, how I have no idea. Still if anyone has any insite into a possible cause/solution, please post it.

Thanks for everyones help.

Three things come to mind right away:

1. Power surge or lightning.

2. Bad connection while the computer was running.

3. Someone pulled the keyboard plug, or plugged it in while the computer was powered up. Bad idea!

Printers and monitor cables can be plugged/unplugged while the computer is powered up, and game controllers. Nothing else. Well, OK, speakers and mics...

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If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)