USB Keyboard Problems

[dan246]

So I recently recieved a PC from a friend asking me to install XP on his system. He has a Compaq Presario Desktop PC EZ2200. He told me he had tried to "clean things up" prior to bringing it to me. Well when I started it up the hard disk wasn't a bootable disk. So I took out his hard drive, hooked it up to my computer and took all his important files off it. I put his hard drive back in his computer, popped in the Windows XP cd, went to begin the installation and then realized his keyboard didn't work. I rebooted and tried to check the BIOS to make sure his USB ports were enabled. Hmmm, can't get into the BIOS without a keyboard. No big deal. But wait....there are no PS/2 ports on his computer so I can't plug in one of my keyboards. I tested the USB keyboard and mouse on my computer and they worked fine. So now I'm stuck. Any advice? I'm not really sure where to go from here. I'd appreciate it if someone could help me out. I want to get it back to him as soon as I can. TIA.

 

[NathanM]

You'll probably need to reset the BIOS in order to get the keyboard to work, since that's the only way in .

 

[schulz269]

Most all of microsofts cds are bootable unless its a burnt copy and there is something wrong with the disk, however with that compaq they have there own recovery cds which installs it on them and i know htey are bootable ..have you tried useing the recovery cds that came with the computer? and as nathan said try to reset the bois and see if it helps.

 

[dan246]

So I reset the BIOS (I think). First I removed the battery, after doing that I noticed some jumpers that said "normal: 1,2 reset: 2,3". Or something like that. So I moved the jumper, turned it on, turned it off, and reset the jumper. After that I started it, it checked the memory, loaded some defaults and that was it. Now it's the same as before except the clock says 12:00. As far as the Compaq recover disk, that was the first thing I asked for after checking out the computer. He said his wife threw it out. So that's a no go. And the Windows XP CD requires me to press a key to boot from the CD (figures!). So I'm stumped. I have the capability of loading anything onto the hard drive from another computer. I even considered doing a fresh install of XP using another computer, then trying to switch the hard drive back. But that just seems like a horrible idea with bad things waiting to happen. Anyway, if you guys have any more suggestions I would REALLY appreciate it.