I seem to have developed a KB/Mouse port failure. Swapped out part and all points to MB ports. My questions is:

Can I still use a USB KB/Mouse, that is does a USB approach bypass the chips/circuitry that may be bad. Or is a MB replacement the only option.

Thanks in advance,
Walt

Welcome!

I presume by KB/Mouse ports you mean the PS/2 ports? Is it just one device or both that have fail to work in these ports? What kind of failure is it (ie what exactly happens when you try to use these devices)? Have you checked the drivers?

As to a usb kb/mouse the only way to know if they still work (i.e. the MB problem is greater than just port failure) is if you have other USB devices such as printer of joystick etc. If other USB devices work then a usb kb/mouse should work fine.

Yes PS/2 ports.

Started out with not recognizing mouse in Windows initialization. Then keyboard failure/not connected message during start up.

Hardware (KB & Mouse) work on other system. Can't get past KB failure now, so not sure if other usb devices work.

Thanks again,
Walt

Have you tried a visual inspection of the motherboard to see if there is an obvious problem, particularly around the ps2 ports?
I have seen a motherboard that had a similar problem, and there was very clear and obvious scorching aroung the keyboard port so something had burned out. As for getting past the keyboard failure during boot in the bios there may be an option to enable bios support of a USB keyboard. Obviously you still need a USB keyboard handy.
The option may read something like:
USB Keyboard Support: BIOS/OS

I have never tried it so I dont know exactly what this does, but it may be the answer to your problem. Only other thing I can suggest is find yourself a new motherboard. If the old one is still under warranty you should be able to get it replaced.

You may be out of luck if the BIOS does have the option to enable boot support for a USB keyboard. If it is off now there may not be any way of turning it on.

If the mouse failed on Windoze initialization, it could be a software rather than a hardware problem. I would use a disk that boots into DOS and uses the mouse and keyboard to see if they work in DOS. You can check the keyboard by going into BIOS, but you will need something like a diagnostic program that uses a mouse on a boot disk to check for mouse function. You could try DocMem (http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp) which is a program to test RAM, I think it uses a mouse.

If the KB/mouse work in DOS, it is a Windoze problem and you will probably want to start by checking them in Device Manager and Removing them, best done in Safe Mode. Actually, you could also just try Safe Mode and see if they work there. Usually you get into Safe Mode by tapping on F8 just before Windoze starts loading....