Help a noob :( BIOS/keyboard doesn't respond after gfx-upgrade

[drewald]

After trying to replace my old increasingly unstable Galaxy 6600 GT with an ASUS X1950 Pro my PC doesn't boot properly anymore. I'm worried that I may have damaged my motherboard, an Epox 9NPA+. When booting with the new card, the system stops at the BIOS screen (not sure what it's called). It finds all the drives, the CPU and the memory but gives me the following message:

"Floppy disk(s) fail (40)
CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded
Warning! Now system is in Safe Mode

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter Setup."

The problem is that it doesn't respond to F1 nor DEL. It seems the keyboard is not detected or something. I don't know what's up with the floppy-message, I've never had a floppy in the machine to begin with, The little indicator on the motherboard goes through a lot of numbers, then stays on 7F. The manual says the following about 7F but it makes no sense to me at all:

"1. Switch back to text mode if full screen logo is supported.
- If error occur, report errors & wait for keys.
-If no errors occur or F1 key is pressed to continue: Clear EPA or customization logo."

This is what I have tried:

Keyboard in PS/2 or USB, neither works.
Tried another keyboard, this made the boot stop at the logo screen.
Cleared the CMOS several times.
Put in the old videocard, same thing.
Removed all other unnecessary cards and cables, same thing.
Removed one block of RAM, same thing.

I really don't know how to proceed from here. I've googled the code 7F and it seems others have had similar problems before but I haven't found any answers that worked. I hope some of you can help, any help or comment is appreciated!

 

[drewald]

Oh I should say also that I had some problems installing the card! The asus card was very long and didn't seem to fit the motherboard. The IDE-port got in the way so I had to remove the upper part of the IDE-HDD cable, that is, the little plastic thing that keeps the wires neat. Was that a mistake? I assumed this wasn't needed... I was a little surprised that the card didn't fit, I thought that wouldn't be a problem when both cards are that new.

Edit: one more thing, this is the best fit I found when googling, it's very much like my problem but offers no solutions

link

 

[chazzzer]

The error you're seeing isn't uncommon. The POST (Power On Self Test) detected the new video card and decided that some BIOS setting in CMOS was incorrect for the card. It reset all of the settings in CMOS to defaults and then told you that it needed you to customize the settings again. The part about the floppy disk failing is normal, the default setting on most motherboards is that you do have a floppy drive. If you don't, you'll get the fail message until you change that setting in the BIOS back to 'none.'

So, the real problem you're having is that your keyboard isn't being detected. Again, this isn't uncommon with a USB keyboard...the default settings on many motherboards don't support USB keyboards at the BIOS level, it's a BIOS setting that you have to change (which you can't do without a PS/2 keyboard).

You said you tried a PS/2 keyboard, which should work. Are you sure you were plugging it in to the correct port? I've seen this exact same problem before, and the person in that situation was plugging the keyboard into the mouse port. If in doubt, plug it into the other PS/2 connector and see if it works there.

If you do manage to get into the BIOS settings, look for 'load optimized defaults' to get most settings back to normal. You'll also need to find the settings for the floppy drive and the USB keyboard; it's usually called something like 'USB Legacy Support' and you need to set it to 'enabled' to get your USB keyboard to work at the BIOS level again.

 

[drewald]

Chazzzer, thanks for the very helpful advice When I said PS/2 keyboard I meant that I had used a USB keyboard with an adapter. I didn't know there was a difference. I now tried an old PS/2 keyboard and it worked! At first anyway. I've been playing around with the BIOS settings a bit now and although I still think it's behaving a little strange it's now up and running again! I've had to reset the CMOS a couple of times since it sometimes stops responding again, even with the PS/2 keyboard. But that's probably just me screwing it up. Right now it's running fine though. I've switched video cards several times before but never ran into this problem. Thanks for your help, I very much appreciate it!

One more question: What would have been the correct way to do this to avoid getting this error? Do you really need to have old PS/2 keyboards around in case you need to upgrade?

 

[chazzzer]

Unfortunately, I have to keep old PS/2 keyboards around. One of my motherboards refuses to recognize any USB keyboard that I own at the BIOS level, even with USB Legacy support enabled. (I suspect that of the 8 USB ports on the motherboard, only one or two are the 'right' port...I've never had the patience to test that theory though.) Another will recognize them fine until you get in the situation that you were just in, when it goes back to disabled by default. Some motherboards default to having USB Legacy support enabled, but it's not common. The weird thing is that I've never found a reason why you'd want it disabled anyway. It doesn't seem to cause any problems when it's enabled, only when it's disabled.

The CMOS clearing thing isn't a normal occurance when you change out a video card, but sometimes it happens. I can't tell you why...I've been doing this stuff professionally since the 286 days (though I personally much prefered the Amiga back then), but there are still some questions that I have never found the answer to. Sometimes the POST just flips out when it sees something too different from what was there the last time. I usually write down the BIOS settings as I'm tweaking a system, because sometimes trying to change the RAM timings from 4-4-4-12 to 4-4-3-12 or overclocking the CPU just a bit more or whatever will end up with the POST resetting everything. I usually tape those notes somewhere inside the computer's case when I'm done, just in case something else causes a total reset somewhere down the line. It saves a lot of time, and a lot of redoing all of the same experimentation over again.

Oh, and the USB keyboard with a PS/2 adapter should work, but only if it is the adapter that came with that keyboard.