computer only has usb, no ps2 etc need help

[mrcaveman]

I am trying to help a friend with his computer and it doen't even have a ps/2 plug for a keyboard etc. When I canged out the hard drive and windows began updating you need to make some choices. But , unable to select anything because it has not activated the usb support. What needs to be done to get the usb support running at boot up. Thank you.

CP

 

[Zoron]

Enable USB legacy support in BIOS... that might work.

Is this an Acer Aspire by any chance? If it is, there are PS/2 ports, they're just hidden behind the piece of plastic in the back.

 

[mrcaveman]

I tried to do that but I could not get the the cmos because it will not respond to the key board.

this is a gateway.

thanks.

 

[pscowboy]

It is not possible that any Gateway comp doesn't have a connection for a keyboard and a mouse over the last 10 years.

I've been involved with Gateway as an end user & reseller for the last 10 years, since they became a market force from the 486 days.

Get more info from your friend. Find out what happened to the keyboard connection.

BTW, what Gateway unit is it, & from what year?

 

[Zoron]

Look carefully at the case... I can guarantee that the PS/2 ports are there... just hidden. If you open the side panel and look inside, you should see the ports that way. They may be hidden under an extra attached piece of plastic, or they simply may be hidden under the mylar label most OEMs use to label their ports.

 

[mrcaveman]

Guys, I build my own systems this is why I am confused. I knew know one would believe a computer manufacture would do this but it has. This is a Flexatxstc Bro Essential manufactured on 10-10-00. The only info I found on mother board is Micro Star MS 6312. I assure you "no ps2".


The back has a input for the built in video, the audio inputs, phone inputs and 3 usb inputs. The front has 2 usb inputs. Thats it. When I put the orginal 20 gig hard drive back it boots just find and the usb keyboard and mouse work. But with the other hard drive installed, windows attempts to update the driver base it stops, and waits for you to reply and point to a device. This is where I lose control without an input device working. Apparently the usb drivers are not install for usb support, although as I was watching the screen during windows start up and it showed it found the controller and usb and was updating the software. Talk about propriety, this one is. Shame on a manufacture who makes a mother board without a simple ps2 input.

I put in a ASUS P4C 800 E deluxe in my last system. Sure I can use a usb keboard but if I need to get to the bios, I have to use the ps2 slot or I cant get my key board to work either. I have the latest bios and can't find anywhere where in the bios where I can change the boot so it will see usb at boot.

I didn't want to trash this old gateway as I thought someone without a system or money would like to have this as a starter unit. But with only a 20 gig hard drive you can't do much today. May be I will go to gateways web site and see if what info may be available. Thanks all.

 

[pscowboy]

I apologize caveguy. I researched this unit - and of course it's as you say.

So, why don't you image the old hard drive (Acronis True Image will work), and transfer this image to a much larger (say 80g) hd?

The Acronis documentation will describe how to do it.

 

[Zoron]

I've got a Dell with the same thing... no PS/2. However, even after replacing the hard drive, the keyboard and mouse worked after Windows was loaded on the new drive.

I didn't think they made comps without PS/2 ports. I know that Acer hid them... but this Dell is the first I've seen that didn't have them at all.w

 

[pscowboy]

How do you get into the BIOS?

 

[mrcaveman]

With the orginal hard drive you can get to the bios by using the F1 key. But with a different hard drive you can't.

I don't have a program to create an image but this does sound like the answer. Good advice. Thanks every one

caveman

 

[horsie111]

I'm working on someone's computer, same motherboard (Micro-Star MS-6312), with the same problem. The motherboard DOES HAVE PS/2 functionality - see the PDF manual on the web - but there's only bare terminals with no PS/2 interface attached! The only kb/mouse interface is USB. There are also no USB options in the BIOS settings.

No PS/2 port means no way to fix this as there's no way to access Windows XP and install USB drivers again.... (my guess is they became corrupted)

As such, this machine is screwed without an OS reinstall... which is impossible because it happens to be an illegal copy and no disk in sight! Well, not my machine...

 

[horsie111]

Booted the Hard Drive up with a working computer and even the PS/2 ports don't work. Must be the input drivers that are screwed.

Anyone know how to fix without being able to boot XP? (I know this is the WinME forum, the original problem just happens to have occurred with an XP system too)

 

[Greasedsilver]

"I didn't want to trash this old gateway as I thought someone without a system or money would like to have this as a starter unit. But with only a 20 gig hard drive you can't do much today. May be I will go to gateways web site and see if what info may be available. Thanks all."

Hey mrcaveman, don't feel bent. I found the exact same Gateway Flexatxstc Bro Essential 733 and it had NO hard drive. I'll take what ya got! Actually I put in a slow 14GB hard drive and installed XP Pro Media Edition (well... not all of it!) The bios needs to be set to enable all usb ports before you start! If you have the OE hard drive hit the F1 key at the Gateway boot screen and make sure ALL the usb ports are enabled. Or... hey... just send me the hard drive, I'll install it in this box and give it to my Mother-in-Law (heh heh heh)!

Good luck,
Greasedsilver

 

[omegareport]

I use a Mac USB keyboard and a USB PC mouse - mouse works fine but not keryboard.
They also sell on eBay USB adaptors that will accept the regular plugs. Don't know if that will work here or not.

 

[4Ryan6]

I apologize caveguy. I researched this unit - and of course it's as you say.

So, why don't you image the old hard drive (Acronis True Image will work), and transfer this image to a much larger (say 80g) hd?

The Acronis documentation will describe how to do it.

The present downloadable 15 day trial versions of Acronis will not work with Win98 or WinME, because I was going to suggest the same as you to him, so unless he has an older version of Acronis, he'd be better off cloning with Ghost 2001 or 2002.

 

[4Ryan6]

With the orginal hard drive you can get to the bios by using the F1 key. But with a different hard drive you can't.

I don't have a program to create an image but this does sound like the answer. Good advice. Thanks every one

caveman

If you'll PM me your email address I'll send you Ghost 2001 as an email attachment in a self extracting WinRar file, so you can copy the files to a floppy disk and clone the original HDD to the new HDD, Ghost 2001 was originally the tool of choice for cloning Win98, Win98SE, and WinME.

Unfortunately, there are problems ahead in cloning with the older Ghost program, it will clone the 20G HDD to the other HDD but will only clone showing the cloned HDD as 20G also, it would require a program like Partition Magic to expand the size of the cloned HDD to its full size.

I cannot email Partition Magic to you so you'd have to obtain it yourself.

A couple of questions for you;

What operating system exactly are we talking about here?

What size of HDD is the intended target HDD?