Won't boot if keyboard is plugged in!

Hello all,

Ok, here's the deal. I can no longer boot up my Compaq 7470 (98SE) if the keyboard (PS2) is plugged in. Well, sometimes it boots with it plugged in, but it doesn't detect it. When I turn the system on with the keyboard plugged in, the power goes on, the A drive gets checked, but there's no hard drive activity or POST information on the monitor—nothing on the monitor at all - the light goes from green to orange. If I unplug the keyboard, it boots up fine. I can't, however, remember if there was a problem with it booting up even when the keyboard was not plugged in.

Question: am I looking at a motherboard issue or a keyboard issue?

Thanks,

Starkman

 

I'll ask the bleeding obvious. Have you tried a few other keyboards, begged or borrowed or scrounged from your old pile of hardware that you have kept for just such an occasion? If one of them works you will know it is the keyboard. If not, then we move onto other possibilities. Bazza

 

Oh, dear me! I should have stated as such: no, I have not tried any other keyboards. I don't have any, and I may not be able to get my hands on one to test.

Sorry about that!

Starkman

 

Could you go pick up a cheap keyboard to test? Should be able to get one for $10 or less. It's certainly cheaper than replacing the motherboard without further testing!

 

HA! I was able to snag one from work to use for testing, and sure enough, it was the keyboard. Seems strange, though, that the entire system wouldn't boot up just because the keyboard was bad. Sometimes it would say that the keyboard wasn't detected, though it was plugged in, but to not boot up at all? Weird.

Anyway, that solved that. Whew! No new motherboard needed!

Starkman

 

My system won't boot without a keyboard plugged in. It just hangs at the detecting hardware screen and flashes a little warning at the bottom that says "Error: No keyboard detected, press F1 to continue." I'm not sure what it wants me to press F1 on...but hey, that's logic for you. Your system probably wasn't recognizing that you had a keyboard plugged in.

 

Glad you got it going Starkman. Sometimes the "bleeding obvious" is the easiest and quickest solution. Bazza

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