Keyboard works in BIOS, but not OS setup

farrall · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:02

I have just finished building my PC and everything is working dandy, however when my windows disk asks whether I want to install windows by pressing enter, repair it by pressing r. My keyboard stops working. Has anyone come across this problem before?

stulid · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:07

Try different USB ports? thats if it is USB and not a PS/2 keyboard.

stokecity_m · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:08

enable usb keyboard and mouse in the bios options

farrall · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:22

just tried both of those options, I'm using windows xp sp2 purely so I can buy win 7 upgrade and download it direct

stulid · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:29

Have access to a old PS/2 keyboard?

farrall · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:36

well, I plugged my usb keyboard into a PS/2 converter and tried that but it did not work. when it installs the files before you get the install options, it goes through the stage of installing drivers, I'm thinking because its a newer keyboard the drivers xp are trying to install are not compatible?

stulid · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:39

Not sure if the second suggestion is the same thing, is there a "legacy devices" option in the bios?

farrall · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:42

Yes I enabled the USB Legacy Device, but that still not solve the issue.

Cycrow · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:45

does ur mouse work ok in windows ?

farrall · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:50

no its a brand new hdd so i'm trying to install xp fresh purely so i can upgrade it.

stulid · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:51

Do you have to install XP to do an update? don't you just have to type the original key in or something? (I dont know the answer to this by the way, I only have full versions)

farrall · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:54

I have the full version of XP, however I want to install it so i can download the upgrade to windows 7

stulid · 15 Oct 2011 at 00:57

Can you download from another PC?

farrall · 15 Oct 2011 at 01:00

Well I could download the windows 7 upgrade on this laptop, but I dont know how i would go about putting it onto my new PC

stulid · 15 Oct 2011 at 01:02

You burn the ISO file to disk?

Felim_Doyle · 2 Dec 2011 at 22:09

USB Human Interface Device support at boot time

I think you have been offered all of the viable suggestions for using a USB keyboard at boot time. You say that it works in the BIOS and that USB Legacy support is enabled but the Windows XP SP2 installer still doesn't recognise the keyboard.

Is the keyboard plugged directly into a motherboard USB port rather than an add-on card or external hub?

Could it be that your hardware, specifically the USB ports, post date support in Windows XP SP2? In other words, have you got USB 2.x or 3.x ports that SP2 might not detect correctly?

I doubt that the keyboard itself is the issue as there should be generic support for Human Interface Devices which enables the basic functionality even if all of the multi-media keys and extra mouse buttons don't work and, after all, it is working in the BIOS.

Now for the frustrating question: Do you have access to any other bootable OS to test the keyboard with? Can you borrow an XP SP3 disk, a Linux CD/DVD or even a DOS floppy?