Cannot navigate BIOS with keyboard

[melindess]

Lord help me. I'm putting together a system for a small office. I'll try to make this as succinct as possible.

Motherboard: 1st Mainboard VB-601V, Intel 440BX AGPset, BIOS APM 1.2/PnP 1.0a/SMBIOS 2.1/DMI 2.0/USB 1.0

CPU: Celeron 400 MHz

RAM: 2 66MHz 32MB

1. I put together the system and the first problem I ran into was that upon entering the BIOS, I could not navigate it with the keyboard (although of course I pressed DEL to enter the BIOS in the first place).

2. Because the used hard drive I was using had bad sectors, I returned it to the place from which I had purchased the HD and told the tech guy about the keyboard/BIOS problem. Techguy asked me if I had a heatsink on the CPU, as that was the only time he'd ever seen a keyboard not navigate a BIOS. I said yes, CPU has a heatsink. He said he would test it, so I traded the HD out and went to get the motherboard for techguy to test.

3. Techguy tested the motherboard (even with my CPU) and (CRIKEY!) it worked fine--BIOS navigation w/ KB was fine, that is. He concluded that I'd probably not plugged the KB into the right connector on the MB. (I was willing to think that I'd made a stupid mistake, but it turns out that I'd been connecting the KB correctly; after the testing I returned to the office, used a second KB to try it again and had no BIOS navigation problems--go figure!)

4. After "solving" the BIOS navigation problem, I fdisked and formatted the new HD with no problems. However, trying to load Win98 kept giving me "problems loading user.exe" or "packed file is corrupt" messages, even after using 3 different CDs and 3 different CD drives. (This is a totally separate problem that I'm not asking for help with here.)

5. In the meantime I purchased a 20GB HD and installed it on my home computer, and have installed my old HD into the new system I'm speaking of.

6. Now, the new system BIOS is again not navigable with the KB!!!! Nor will Win98 (already loaded onto my old HD) recognize the PS/2 mouse. Both KB and mouse are hooked up correctly to the MB connectors.

WHAT IS GOING ON?! Is this a sign of a bad motherboard--i.e., should I exchange it?

I hope someone can help! Thanks in advance!

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Be well,

Melinda
"If I hadn't believed it, I wouldn't have seen it." -Buckminster Fuller

[PostCode]

What else was different from each situtation. Your testing at the office and his testing at the shop? did you have the motherboard in the case? Could be a short...Did you have the mouse connected? Did he...Did you have a different memory module connected? What about the addon cards? Anything different with what he and you used? Try clearing the BIOS then attempt to navigate with the keyboard...hope this helps.

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BiosCentral (http://www.bioscentral.com)

[Randy_tx]

I know this sounds like a dumbo answer, but I think you are plugging the mouse into the ATX connector for the keyboard and ps2 mouse into the keyboard connector....try a switch...just to humor yourself.

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[melindess]

Hi PostCode--thanks for your response!

At the shop, techguy had a testing station. He just plugged in a video card, memory, KB, and processor (don't know the specs on those, although we tested twice--once with his processor and once with mine). I guess everything was different, basically.

When I tested at the office, the mobo was in the case and had a Kingston NIC card, a US Robotics Sporster modem (ISA), and a Diamond 2MB PCI Video card, plus the 2 32MB 66MHz memory. I did not test it with a mouse hooked up (while once the problem reemerged yesterday, I did have a mouse hooked up, so maybe I'll eliminate that variable and try again.)

I think I'll also remove the PCI card & ISA card and try again, even though it did work with those inserted at the office and they were detected on bootup--I've never had a problem with no video.

How do you clear the bios? Is that the clear cmos jumper on the mobo?

Thanks again!



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Be well,

Melinda
"If I hadn't believed it, I wouldn't have seen it." -Buckminster Fuller

[BigBlue66]

Hi Melinda,

Yes, the 'clear CMOS' jumper on the motherboard will clear the bios.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Big Blue 66

[Randy_tx]

By all means.......you should take the NIC card out too!

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[mjc]

By connected correctly do you mean according to the markings on the back of the computer or according to the markings on the motherboard?

Not all motherboards use the same arrangement for the connectors so it may be that the markings on the oustside don't match the layout on the motherboard. Usually the motherboard manual will say which is which.


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mjc
To ME or NOT to ME....

[melindess]

Hey out there to PostCode, Randy_tx, BigBlue66, mjc,

It's all good now. I cleared the CMOS--which did the trick for the BIOS navigation--continued to have some problems with the floppy drive, replaced it, and now I've fdisked, formatted, and loaded OS with smooth sailing.

PostCode, thanks for the clear CMOS nugget, I'll remember that one!

Randy_tx, I think that connecting the KB & mouse correctly is the only thing I was sure of. Thanks-- http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif

BigBlue66, thanks for helping me connect the concepts 'clear BIOS' and 'cmos jumper'--that was a quick, helpful response.

mjc, I did learn through this process (it's actually my first entire system I built myself) that the little labels on the ATX case aren't necessarily the correct places for the mouse and KB. Thanks!

You guys are so freakin' cool-- http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Thanks for being there.

Now, if I can only get the old US Robots Sporster Winmodem (ISA card) to work (or find the correct driver), everything will be closer to fine.

Y'all take it easy!


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Be well,

Melinda
"If I hadn't believed it, I wouldn't have seen it." -Buckminster Fuller

[bassvax]

Try here: http://www.drivernow.com.br/fax/ also here: http://www.usr.com/support/s-main-menu.asp


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Jerry