Old, DOA Gateway .. .. need advice .. ..

A lady at my church asked me to "look" at her old computer .. .. said it
won't boot, shows funny garbage on the screen at bootup, then hangs.

I picked it up and started it .. .. the POST screen started to display
normally, then, it suddenly began displaying all kinds of weird ASCII
characters in different colors, "wiggling" all over the screen.
Wouldn't progress any further. I cleared the BIOS and restarted it ..
... everything looks fine, EXCEPT .. .. it says the BIOS is incorrect
(nothing wrong with THAT .. I expected it) and to PRESS F1 to enter
SETUP. Problem starts here .. .. the motherboard has NO PS-2 ports for
keyboard or mouse .. .. USB ONLY !! !!.. .. and the BIOS has not yet
"seen" the USB legacy drivers needed to access the k'board/mouse.

Does anyone here have a clue how I can get into the BIOS to set it up
correctly ?? ?? ?? A call to GateWay was, of course futile .. .. after
listening intently to the whole explanation, the "technician" said all
we can do is send it in for "repairs - nothing's broke !) for a flat
rate of $188.00 + shipping. Being an old 700MHz Celeron, I know she
has no intention of having them "repair" it at that price.

The motherboard is an MSI N1996, that was "customized" for GateWay by
leaving off the PS-2 ports. HP, COMPAQ, and everyone else who used
that board seemed to have left the hardware on it alone, but GW just HAD
to have it modified.

Oh well .. .. .. any ideas out there ?? ?? ??


thanx .. .. ..

My guess is that this MSI board has on-board graphics, like most of the Celeron
and many Socket 370 P3 motherboards of the era. My next guess is that the
graphics part of the motherboard chipset has failed, based on your description.
Just in case my guess is wrong, open up the case, and reset the BIOS using the
jumper on the main board. You might also spend a couple of bucks on a
replacement C2032 3v CMOS battery. Not a lot of money, and a failed CMOS
battery can cause strange symptoms... Ben Myers

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:01:07 -0400, "__ Bob __"
wrote:

A lady at my church asked me to "look" at her old computer .. .. said it
won't boot, shows funny garbage on the screen at bootup, then hangs.

I picked it up and started it .. .. the POST screen started to display
normally, then, it suddenly began displaying all kinds of weird ASCII
characters in different colors, "wiggling" all over the screen.
Wouldn't progress any further. I cleared the BIOS and restarted it ..
.. everything looks fine, EXCEPT .. .. it says the BIOS is incorrect
(nothing wrong with THAT .. I expected it) and to PRESS F1 to enter
SETUP. Problem starts here .. .. the motherboard has NO PS-2 ports for
keyboard or mouse .. .. USB ONLY !! !!.. .. and the BIOS has not yet
"seen" the USB legacy drivers needed to access the k'board/mouse.

Does anyone here have a clue how I can get into the BIOS to set it up
correctly ?? ?? ?? A call to GateWay was, of course futile .. .. after
listening intently to the whole explanation, the "technician" said all
we can do is send it in for "repairs - nothing's broke !) for a flat
rate of $188.00 + shipping. Being an old 700MHz Celeron, I know she
has no intention of having them "repair" it at that price.

The motherboard is an MSI N1996, that was "customized" for GateWay by
leaving off the PS-2 ports. HP, COMPAQ, and everyone else who used
that board seemed to have left the hardware on it alone, but GW just HAD
to have it modified.

Oh well .. .. .. any ideas out there ?? ?? ??


thanx .. .. ..

First, I believe that you cleared CMOS, not the BIOS. They are not the
same thing.

The screen appearance suggests bad video memory. If the system uses
shared memory video, while the culprit is probably still memory, it
would be main computer memory (the main memory modules). First thing
I'd do, frankly, is to remove and reseat them. Next step would be to
test them (memtest86 on a bootable floppy or CD).

If the computer has no PS/2 ports, then the bios should respond to a USB
keyboard no matter what, and without any configuration or drivers.


__ Bob __ wrote:
A lady at my church asked me to "look" at her old computer .. .. said it
won't boot, shows funny garbage on the screen at bootup, then hangs.

I picked it up and started it .. .. the POST screen started to display
normally, then, it suddenly began displaying all kinds of weird ASCII
characters in different colors, "wiggling" all over the screen. Wouldn't
progress any further. I cleared the BIOS and restarted it .. ..
everything looks fine, EXCEPT .. .. it says the BIOS is incorrect
(nothing wrong with THAT .. I expected it) and to PRESS F1 to enter
SETUP. Problem starts here .. .. the motherboard has NO PS-2 ports for
keyboard or mouse .. .. USB ONLY !! !!.. .. and the BIOS has not yet
"seen" the USB legacy drivers needed to access the k'board/mouse.

Does anyone here have a clue how I can get into the BIOS to set it up
correctly ?? ?? ?? A call to GateWay was, of course futile .. .. after
listening intently to the whole explanation, the "technician" said all
we can do is send it in for "repairs - nothing's broke !) for a flat
rate of $188.00 + shipping. Being an old 700MHz Celeron, I know she
has no intention of having them "repair" it at that price.

The motherboard is an MSI N1996, that was "customized" for GateWay by
leaving off the PS-2 ports. HP, COMPAQ, and everyone else who used
that board seemed to have left the hardware on it alone, but GW just HAD
to have it modified.

Oh well .. .. .. any ideas out there ?? ?? ??


thanx .. .. ..

Thanx for the input Ben, but I have to disagree with you since after
"clearing" the BIOS, everything that DOES dosplay, looks fine. The
problem is that I can't get the USB keyboard recognized due to lack of
being able to activate the USB Legacy drivers in the BIOS, and there are
no PS-2 ports in which to plug a keyboard/mouse.

Ben Myers wrote:
My guess is that this MSI board has on-board graphics, like most of the Celeron
and many Socket 370 P3 motherboards of the era. My next guess is that the
graphics part of the motherboard chipset has failed, based on your description.
Just in case my guess is wrong, open up the case, and reset the BIOS using the
jumper on the main board. You might also spend a couple of bucks on a
replacement C2032 3v CMOS battery. Not a lot of money, and a failed CMOS
battery can cause strange symptoms... Ben Myers

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:01:07 -0400, "__ Bob __"
wrote:


A lady at my church asked me to "look" at her old computer .. .. said it
won't boot, shows funny garbage on the screen at bootup, then hangs.

I picked it up and started it .. .. the POST screen started to display
normally, then, it suddenly began displaying all kinds of weird ASCII
characters in different colors, "wiggling" all over the screen.
Wouldn't progress any further. I cleared the BIOS and restarted it ..
.. everything looks fine, EXCEPT .. .. it says the BIOS is incorrect
(nothing wrong with THAT .. I expected it) and to PRESS F1 to enter
SETUP. Problem starts here .. .. the motherboard has NO PS-2 ports for
keyboard or mouse .. .. USB ONLY !! !!.. .. and the BIOS has not yet
"seen" the USB legacy drivers needed to access the k'board/mouse.

Does anyone here have a clue how I can get into the BIOS to set it up
correctly ?? ?? ?? A call to GateWay was, of course futile .. .. after
listening intently to the whole explanation, the "technician" said all
we can do is send it in for "repairs - nothing's broke !) for a flat
rate of $188.00 + shipping. Being an old 700MHz Celeron, I know she
has no intention of having them "repair" it at that price.

The motherboard is an MSI N1996, that was "customized" for GateWay by
leaving off the PS-2 ports. HP, COMPAQ, and everyone else who used
that board seemed to have left the hardware on it alone, but GW just HAD
to have it modified.

Oh well .. .. .. any ideas out there ?? ?? ??


thanx .. .. ..

I mis-stated. Reset the CMOS, not the BIOS, which is what you did. If the
BIOS was "reset", the computer would be very much dead. Apparently you've now
fixed the display problem?

If the USB keyboard is not recognized and there are no PS/2 keyboard/mouse
ports, perhaps the USB keyboard has failed? Try another.

I'll bet again, this time that the C2032 3v CMOS battery has never been
replaced. If you get the computer working right, replace the battery. If you
do not get the computer working right, replace the battery. Very few people
replace the battery every couple of years, as part of normal computer
maintenance... Ben Myers

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:16:26 -0400, "__ Bob __"
wrote:

Thanx for the input Ben, but I have to disagree with you since after
"clearing" the BIOS, everything that DOES dosplay, looks fine. The
problem is that I can't get the USB keyboard recognized due to lack of
being able to activate the USB Legacy drivers in the BIOS, and there are
no PS-2 ports in which to plug a keyboard/mouse.

Ben Myers wrote:
My guess is that this MSI board has on-board graphics, like most of the Celeron
and many Socket 370 P3 motherboards of the era. My next guess is that the
graphics part of the motherboard chipset has failed, based on your description.
Just in case my guess is wrong, open up the case, and reset the BIOS using the
jumper on the main board. You might also spend a couple of bucks on a
replacement C2032 3v CMOS battery. Not a lot of money, and a failed CMOS
battery can cause strange symptoms... Ben Myers

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:01:07 -0400, "__ Bob __"
wrote:


A lady at my church asked me to "look" at her old computer .. .. said it
won't boot, shows funny garbage on the screen at bootup, then hangs.

I picked it up and started it .. .. the POST screen started to display
normally, then, it suddenly began displaying all kinds of weird ASCII
characters in different colors, "wiggling" all over the screen.
Wouldn't progress any further. I cleared the BIOS and restarted it ..
.. everything looks fine, EXCEPT .. .. it says the BIOS is incorrect
(nothing wrong with THAT .. I expected it) and to PRESS F1 to enter
SETUP. Problem starts here .. .. the motherboard has NO PS-2 ports for
keyboard or mouse .. .. USB ONLY !! !!.. .. and the BIOS has not yet
"seen" the USB legacy drivers needed to access the k'board/mouse.

Does anyone here have a clue how I can get into the BIOS to set it up
correctly ?? ?? ?? A call to GateWay was, of course futile .. .. after
listening intently to the whole explanation, the "technician" said all
we can do is send it in for "repairs - nothing's broke !) for a flat
rate of $188.00 + shipping. Being an old 700MHz Celeron, I know she
has no intention of having them "repair" it at that price.

The motherboard is an MSI N1996, that was "customized" for GateWay by
leaving off the PS-2 ports. HP, COMPAQ, and everyone else who used
that board seemed to have left the hardware on it alone, but GW just HAD
to have it modified.

Oh well .. .. .. any ideas out there ?? ?? ??


thanx .. .. ..

Yep .. you guys are correct .. I RESET the CMOS .. NOT the BIOS.

I did try other keyboards & mice with no success .. .. the lights on the
keyboard never flicker as they do on my own machine, indicating that the
keyboard has been recognized. Replaced the battery as suggested .. ..
still no joy.

I really don't understand why GW had the PS-2 ports intentionally
deleted from this motherboard .. .. what a stupid requirement.

Any other suggestions ?? ??

BTW, I moved the jumper againto the "CLEAR CMOS" position and powered up
the machine. It went thru the POST, THEN got a screen "WAIT .. "
after a few seconds, I got into the CMOS settings page, but still can't
navigate as it won't recognize the keyboard ?? ??

The computer you are dealing with was designed as part of an industry-wide push
to eliminate "legacy" devices from computers, including PS/2 keyboard, PS/2
mouse, parallel port, serial ports, and floppy diskettes. All of this
technology dates from at least 1987, when IBM announced and shipped the first
PS/2. Parallel and serial date back to the original IBM PC XT around 1981.
Truly legacy devices, most of which have outgrown their usefulness. The
exceptions, of course, are the PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors. The major
force behind the legacy-free initiative is, of course, Microsoft, so it can
eliminate maybe a couple of megabytes of software drivers from Windows, so that
there is room for a few more gigabytes of bloatware on the Windows DVD.

I recently built and delivered a computer using a quad core Pentium 4 CPU and
Intel's absolutely latest greatest high end D975XBX2 motherboard. With PS/2
keyboard and mouse connectors, of course.

I think you've done the necessary homework. I'm assuming that you've plugged in
a USB keyboard into all the USB ports on the computer? At this point, one can
only surmise that the USB ports are hosed and won't recognize the keyboard. And
this is EXACTLY the defect in the legacy-free concept. USB hardware is less
robust that the old PS/2 connectors, and if it fails, the computer is toast.
PS/2 connectors on a motherboard fail rarely, rarely, rarely.

So you are right. It is a stupid concept from the standpoint of overall system
reliability... Ben Myers

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:13:18 -0400, "__ Bob __"
wrote:



Yep .. you guys are correct .. I RESET the CMOS .. NOT the BIOS.

I did try other keyboards & mice with no success .. .. the lights on the
keyboard never flicker as they do on my own machine, indicating that the
keyboard has been recognized. Replaced the battery as suggested .. ..
still no joy.

I really don't understand why GW had the PS-2 ports intentionally
deleted from this motherboard .. .. what a stupid requirement.

Any other suggestions ?? ??

BTW, I moved the jumper againto the "CLEAR CMOS" position and powered up
the machine. It went thru the POST, THEN got a screen "WAIT .. "
after a few seconds, I got into the CMOS settings page, but still can't
navigate as it won't recognize the keyboard ?? ??

"The major force behind the legacy-free initiative is, of course,
Microsoft ...."

Intel is at least as much behind this as Microsoft, if not in fact a lot
more behind it.


Ben Myers wrote:
The computer you are dealing with was designed as part of an industry-wide push
to eliminate "legacy" devices from computers, including PS/2 keyboard, PS/2
mouse, parallel port, serial ports, and floppy diskettes. All of this
technology dates from at least 1987, when IBM announced and shipped the first
PS/2. Parallel and serial date back to the original IBM PC XT around 1981.
Truly legacy devices, most of which have outgrown their usefulness. The
exceptions, of course, are the PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors. The major
force behind the legacy-free initiative is, of course, Microsoft, so it can
eliminate maybe a couple of megabytes of software drivers from Windows, so that
there is room for a few more gigabytes of bloatware on the Windows DVD.

I recently built and delivered a computer using a quad core Pentium 4 CPU and
Intel's absolutely latest greatest high end D975XBX2 motherboard. With PS/2
keyboard and mouse connectors, of course.

I think you've done the necessary homework. I'm assuming that you've plugged in
a USB keyboard into all the USB ports on the computer? At this point, one can
only surmise that the USB ports are hosed and won't recognize the keyboard. And
this is EXACTLY the defect in the legacy-free concept. USB hardware is less
robust that the old PS/2 connectors, and if it fails, the computer is toast.
PS/2 connectors on a motherboard fail rarely, rarely, rarely.

So you are right. It is a stupid concept from the standpoint of overall system
reliability... Ben Myers

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:13:18 -0400, "__ Bob __"
wrote:


Yep .. you guys are correct .. I RESET the CMOS .. NOT the BIOS.

I did try other keyboards & mice with no success .. .. the lights on the
keyboard never flicker as they do on my own machine, indicating that the
keyboard has been recognized. Replaced the battery as suggested .. ..
still no joy.

I really don't understand why GW had the PS-2 ports intentionally
deleted from this motherboard .. .. what a stupid requirement.

Any other suggestions ?? ??

BTW, I moved the jumper againto the "CLEAR CMOS" position and powered up
the machine. It went thru the POST, THEN got a screen "WAIT .. "
after a few seconds, I got into the CMOS settings page, but still can't
navigate as it won't recognize the keyboard ?? ??

You could fool me. If Intel is so much behind legacy-free, why do they keep
selling a lot of motherboards with PS/2 connectors? The D975XBX2 is perhaps
the most expensive Intel motherboard, or at least it was when I bought it. It
also has floppy diskette, parallel and serial connectors on it. Oh, maybe the
public does not want the legacy connectors to go away? As long as Intel leads
the way still producing boards with legacy connectors, Microsoft will have to
include support in its operating systems... Ben Myers

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:48:26 -0400, Barry Watzman
wrote:

"The major force behind the legacy-free initiative is, of course,
Microsoft ...."

Intel is at least as much behind this as Microsoft, if not in fact a lot
more behind it.


Ben Myers wrote:
The computer you are dealing with was designed as part of an industry-wide push
to eliminate "legacy" devices from computers, including PS/2 keyboard, PS/2
mouse, parallel port, serial ports, and floppy diskettes. All of this
technology dates from at least 1987, when IBM announced and shipped the first
PS/2. Parallel and serial date back to the original IBM PC XT around 1981.
Truly legacy devices, most of which have outgrown their usefulness. The
exceptions, of course, are the PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors. The major
force behind the legacy-free initiative is, of course, Microsoft, so it can
eliminate maybe a couple of megabytes of software drivers from Windows, so that
there is room for a few more gigabytes of bloatware on the Windows DVD.

I recently built and delivered a computer using a quad core Pentium 4 CPU and
Intel's absolutely latest greatest high end D975XBX2 motherboard. With PS/2
keyboard and mouse connectors, of course.

I think you've done the necessary homework. I'm assuming that you've plugged in
a USB keyboard into all the USB ports on the computer? At this point, one can
only surmise that the USB ports are hosed and won't recognize the keyboard. And
this is EXACTLY the defect in the legacy-free concept. USB hardware is less
robust that the old PS/2 connectors, and if it fails, the computer is toast.
PS/2 connectors on a motherboard fail rarely, rarely, rarely.

So you are right. It is a stupid concept from the standpoint of overall system
reliability... Ben Myers

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:13:18 -0400, "__ Bob __"
wrote:


Yep .. you guys are correct .. I RESET the CMOS .. NOT the BIOS.

I did try other keyboards & mice with no success .. .. the lights on the
keyboard never flicker as they do on my own machine, indicating that the
keyboard has been recognized. Replaced the battery as suggested .. ..
still no joy.

I really don't understand why GW had the PS-2 ports intentionally
deleted from this motherboard .. .. what a stupid requirement.

Any other suggestions ?? ??

BTW, I moved the jumper againto the "CLEAR CMOS" position and powered up
the machine. It went thru the POST, THEN got a screen "WAIT .. "
after a few seconds, I got into the CMOS settings page, but still can't
navigate as it won't recognize the keyboard ?? ??

I think you guys are partly missing my point .. .. this motherboard's
BIOS HAS USB "LEGACY" drivers built into it .. .. only problem is, I
can't get TO them until I can "PRESS F1" to get into the setup mode.

The BIOS has the ability to see a USB keyboard via "LEGACY DRIVERS", but
I need a PS-2 keyboard in order to get into the firmware to enable them,
and this board has no PS-2 ports.

I'm thinking of trying to pull a PS-2 port off of another motherboard
and see if I can solder it onto this beast .. .. if it fails, no big
deal, 'cause she's not gonna give GateWay almost $200 to "fix" it.


Ben Myers wrote:
You could fool me. If Intel is so much behind legacy-free, why do they keep
selling a lot of motherboards with PS/2 connectors? The D975XBX2 is perhaps
the most expensive Intel motherboard, or at least it was when I bought it. It
also has floppy diskette, parallel and serial connectors on it. Oh, maybe the
public does not want the legacy connectors to go away? As long as Intel leads
the way still producing boards with legacy connectors, Microsoft will have to
include support in its operating systems... Ben Myers