Replaced hard drive now keyboard doesnt work

[John Frustrated]

Hello,

I have an 8 yr old Compaq Presario with a hard disk that's been making noises for years. Finally, it crashed, and I could not get the PC out of a continuous restart mode.

Using guidance from both my ongoing CompTIA training and Mark Minasi's book, I bought and installed a new compatible HDD.

When I start the PC to partition the HDD and it goes to command prompt, it won't recognize my keyboard (USB plug). II can't give it any commqands. 'm hoping the motherboard is not shot as well. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[bambino33]

I know sometimes when I had real old pc's that I needed to use a converter to fit the mouse port especially after I reinstalled the operating system as all the drivers aren't up to snuff from windows updates, you may have your old mouse, try that.

 

[T_T]

bambino is correct. 8 years ago, manufacturers were leaving the USB driver recognition to be handled by Windows. Basically the problem you're having is that the motherboard doesn't have integrated USB support. If you use a USB to PS/2 adapter you should be fine.

 

[John Frustrated]

Thanks bambino33 and T_T, I'll try that

 

[John Frustrated]

Hello again:

I bought the adapter to convert the USB to PS/2 plug on my keyboard cord, but that didn't help, unfortunately. Any more suggestions? Yikes. I even replaced the CMOS battery, for fun. No help.

Suggestions would be appreciated, thanks

 

[T_T]

Does your keyboard have any LED?

For example to indicate that the Caps Lock is on. If there are, check to see that the LEDs light up when the computer is powered on. If the LEDs don't light up, you could have a problem with the mobo.

 

[John Frustrated]

Thanks for your tips everyone, but the problem has not yet been solved.

 

[T_T]

Does the keyboard light up when the computer turns on?

Have you tested the keyboard, recently, on a different computer?