On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 18:45:00 +1000, "Hans Huber"
wrote:

Strange little problem I got here. I run my selfbuilt system with a Gigabyte
GA-7DX Motherboard, Athlon 1.33GHz, 512MB of 2100 DDR-SDRam and Win2000.

A few months ago my Keyboard stopped working, I think first intermittently
with beeping noises from the systems speaker. I soon found out that the PS2
connector was at fault and I plugged my Keyboard into my USB port and
everything works fine now.

The problem with this solution is though that I have got no Keyboard
available when Windows is not running, i.e. I cannot select to get into BIOS
and I do not want to know what's going to happen once Windows spits the
dummy (which will happen sooner rather than later the way I am going). Don't
get me wrong I fairly know what I am doing but I still expect a full
reformat and system reinstall every 12-18 months or so.

My 3 questions now a

1) Is there ANY way to get the USB Keyboard (and the USB port therefore)
working without Windows, i.e. to get to BIOS etc... There surely must be
computers around that only use USB Keyboards or do you still absolutely need
a PS2 port for the keyboard???

Practially all semi-modern motherboards can use USB keyboards to enter
and change the BIOS. It's not even necessary to set the "enable
legacy USB" BIOS setting either, though that setting is needed for DOS
support, anything after exiting the BIOS setting and continuing to
boot.

Do you have another system this keyboard works properly on as PS/2?
I'm wondering if the keyboard is faulty. Does a PS/2 mouse work?

2) Since my PS2 port on the motherboard is dead, has anyone ever had a
similar problem? Is that a known thing (happened to me the first time in 5
years) and does anyone know a trick or hint for my problem. Obviously
replacing the motherboard will do the trick (which I will have a question
about anyway in question 3), but is it possible to just replace the
connector or could there be some sort of controller at fault?

The connector can be replaced by a skilled tecnician, but unles you
see an obvious problem with it there's probably something else wrong,
like perhaps a blown keyboard fuse, but even that isn't so common
unless you had some mishap (like spilling liquid into the keyboard).

Do you have a continuity (or muti) meter you could use to check the
keyboard fuse? The fuse is typically about 3mm wide by 4mm, very
flat, and green colored (soldered at both ends). Looks like this:
http://english.aopen.com.tw/tech/tec...ages/RFuse.jpg

However Gigabyte in particular may've used a different type, with
leads, round or square yellow sticking up about 1 cm. Some el-cheapo
boards omit the fuse and just put jumper wires on that spot, in which
case more extensive damage might've occrued, but Gigabyte does always
use a fuse AFAIK, and it's still not clear to me that this is the
problem. If you have a multimeter you could instead check for 5V in
the PS/2 port or corresponding spots on the back of the board. If you
need more assistance, detail in doing this let me know. When you plug
in a keyboard do the lights light up? If you plug the keyboard into
the mouse port, do the lights light up (even if it doesn't work as a
keyboard). You might be risking damge to the function of the PS/2
Mouse port though, if you were to plug in the same keyboard that
might've(?) damaged the PS/2 keyboard port... I"m just presenting a
number of options to help determine if there's power going to that
port.


3) If all else fails I will replace my motherboard before Windows spits the
dummy and I cannot access my BIOS or reinstall Windows via boot CD.

This makes me wonder about the keyboard.. .I'm surprised that you
can't get into the BIOS with it connected to the USB. You wouldn't
happen to have access to another keyboard would you?


That brings me to an additional question, since I then plan to upgrade my
motherboard, is it possible to upgrade to a latest Athlon Mobo and still use
my old 1.33GHz CPU and my 2100 DDR-Ram (meaning are those new motherboards
downwards compatible with the older Athlon CPU's and RAM) or do I then need
to buy new RAM and a new CPU as well????

Thanks for any help!

Hans

They are backwards compatible, you should be able to plug in the old
CPU and memory and use the system, providing there isn't any odd
compatibility problem with the memory, but usually there isn't at
DDR266 speed on a board capable of higher, though if you're going to
reuse the CPU & memory anyway you might be able to find a similar
older board a lot cheaper, at least that's the case in the US.


Dave