[ugh_argh]

Okay, so here's the deal:

I have a computer that runs in Windows XP. It's an eMachine T2625. I got a new laptop back in November and I haven't ran my emachine in awhile... I turned it on a couple times and everything (including the keyboard) was working fine.

I have a ton of stuff on it that I wanted to start transferring over to my laptop, plus it's good to have the emachine as a backup in case something happens to my laptop.

Anyway, I turned it on today and the keyboard won't work at all. I made sure it wasn't plugged into the mouse socket and vice versa... I restarted. Still no luck. The mouse is working though. I did a system restore... still nothing.

I went into Control Panel > Keyboard... it doesn't even list a keyboard in there so when I hit "troubleshoot" and "properties" nothing came up.

I went into Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > uninstalled the keyboard

restarted

re-installed the keyboard from My Computer > Drivers > Keyboard > Setup.exe

restarted

still no luck.

No lights turn on the keyboard or anything... I went into safemode (I had to copy and paste letters from websites to spell out "msconfig" LOL to put in the "run" box) and keyboard wouldn't work in safemode either.

Used a friend's keyboard (plug in, not USB)... didn't work either.

What should I do now? Can I go into the registry or something? It seems as if there is no keyboard software installed on my computer even though I did reinstall the keyboard. But when I go into Control Panel > Keyboard, it doesn't list any version of a keyboard.

Please help!
Thank you.

 

[norton850]

Your keyboard port on the MB might be gone. Are you able to use the keyboard to go into BIOS when you start your system? Or when you startup do the lights flash on the keyboard? That eliminates Windows as the problem.

 

[ugh_argh]

Nope, keyboard won't work at all.

 

[norton850]

You can try a USB keyboard.

 

[ugh_argh]

Looks like I'm going to have to try that... but in the meantime, does this probably mean other thing are going to start to go on my computer? Will I need a new motherboard? How do I fix the port? and how much does that usually cost?

 

[norton850]

Back in the old days (pentium III and earlier??), there actually was a separate keyboard chip on the MB. That function is now integrated with a multifunction chip. So in general replacement means a new MB. Will other things start going on your MB? I'll give you a definite maybe on that one . If the USB keyboard works in Windows you might have a problem with it working before Windows loads depending on how BIOS is setup. Unfortunately there is no way to correct that problem with a non functioning keyboard port. At least I can't think of any.

 

[ugh_argh]

yikes.

so how much is a new motherboard? a new motherboard means everything would get erased from my computer, right?

 

[norton850]

If you were to replace it with the exact same MB then it would be a simple exchange. No other steps would be necessary and no information lost. After that it becomes more complicated since it's a brand system and probably you have a OEM copy or only a restore copy of XP. Try the USB keyboard. You might be lucky and have the BIOS settings enabled to provide preWindows support.