Keyboard locked-out in BIOS... grr....

[imported_Phil]

Hi all,

I'm trying to repair a friend's PC (Gigabyte mobo, 1.2Ghz Athlon, 256Mb, 40Gb Maxtor), and the SMART feature in the BIOS is reporting "Status: BAD: Backup & Replace" on bootup. It then says Press F1 to Resume, which does... (drum roll).... nothing!

It seems as if the keyboard has been locked-out, I can't get into the BIOS and I've tried both an old PS/2 board and my Logitech cordless, no joy. The lights flash as the keyboard turns on, but then instead of having the normal very-faint glow, they're totally dead.

I'm at a complete loss here, can anyone suggest anything?

Thanks,

Dopefiend

 

[RSMemphis]

Try disco'ing the harddisk (since SMART seems to be the problem), and see if you can help it then.

 

[imported_Phil]

Well that's where it gets a little weird, I disconnect the HD and the problem doesn't go away. Was wondering if the port is damaged, but if the lights on the kb flash, then it must be okay... surely?

Dopefiend

 

[paralazarguer]

disconnect all IDE cables from your motherboard. Then reset your bios by using the appropriate jumper or by removing the CMOS battery. Check that everything is seated correctly and that only the basics are plugged in-firmly. Then try getting into your BIOS.

 

[Dreadogg]

Originally posted by: paralazarguer
disconnect all IDE cables from your motherboard. Then reset your bios by using the appropriate jumper or by removing the CMOS battery. Check that everything is seated correctly and that only the basics are plugged in-firmly. Then try getting into your BIOS.

agree, start there.

 

[XMan]

Any chance the keyboard is plugged into the wrong PS/2 port? I've done that before and felt pretty dumb about it.

 

[RSMemphis]

Originally posted by: DopeFiend
Well that's where it gets a little weird, I disconnect the HD and the problem doesn't go away. Was wondering if the port is damaged, but if the lights on the kb flash, then it must be okay... surely?

Dopefiend

Did you ever plug in the keyboard in the PS/2 while the computer was running? That can hurt it right there.
But the USB should be invincible.

 

[imported_Phil]

Well, around moving home (argh), I've found that the motherboard's died- tried to power up the machine and nothing- no POST, no beeps, nothing. The fans spin up and so do the drives, but nothing appears on the screen. Tried an older Duron/700 to see if the Athlon/1200 had overheated and died, but no joy, so a new Asus NForce 2 MATX board is on the way, pretty good value for £50, especially over here in the UK where parts are notoriously expensive.

Thing is, I had to buy it a stick of DDR-RAM too, because the board doesn't take SDRAM... grr... that's the price you pay for progress I guess.

Anyway, I'll let you know if this solves it, I don't see how it can be anything else, but we'll see. I was wondering though- would the mobo even power on if it's broken? The little on-board LED lights up when power's applied, and I was a bit worried that resetting the CMOS would have screwed the BIOS up or something, but I don't think it could have done... surely?

Cheers,

Dopefiend