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Question

Install Mouse/Keyboard without control of Windows

May 26, 2014 3:56AM PDT

Wondering if you've encountered this before or can help point me in the right direction.

I have a PC motherboard that got fried. PC was running Windows 2000 Pro. I put the hard drive into another old computer and everything boots fine, windows loads, installs some drivers, but neither mouse or the keyboard work.

The keyboard works in the bios. I've tried both PS/2 and USB keyboard and mice and neither works, but both work on another computer.

From what I can tell its not loading the drivers for the mouse and keyboard. I thought that PS/2 keyboard/mice doesn't require drivers??

How would I go about setting those up if I have no control over windows? I've tried booting in safe mode and get the same result.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: Windows 2000
May 26, 2014 4:02AM PDT

Get your Windows 2000 install disk and your disks or diskettes of Windows 2000 drivers for this 'other old computer' and do a fresh install of everything. Should work then.

This might be the last recorded clean install of Windows 2000 world-wide!

Kees

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Windows 2000
May 26, 2014 9:38AM PDT

I'm trying to keep the programs and settings intact from the original computer, which is why I swapped drives. If I do a clean install those will be gone. Is there a way to install or update the drivers before Windows loads?

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Answer
maybe there's something wrong with that computer too
May 26, 2014 5:02AM PDT

PS/2 ports are usually at the corner of a motherboard and sometimes the motherboard cracks there or the port tower comes loose. Use the USB that isn't part of the PS/2 part, get one closer to the slots, try that. Your front USB ports may not even be connected to a header on the motherboard. Just because they are there don't mean someone plugged that cable in. It could also have come loose.

What do you see in Device Manager?

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Device Manager
May 26, 2014 9:40AM PDT

I've tried both USB and PS/2 mice and keyboards. I have not tried the front USB ports, but can easily check if they are connected. I know that a USB keyboard worked from the Bios.

I haven't been able to get into device manager because when windows loads I have response from mouse or keyboard.

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short the BIOS and start over
May 26, 2014 2:34PM PDT

Do you know how to do that? There's 2-3 pins on the motherboard near the coin battery and you short across two of them to reset the BIOS and then either leave the jumper on the original two pins, or on newer motherboards with just 2 pins, you don't have a jumper on it at all. Obviously you can't do much on settings with the BIOS until you can at least hit a key to enter it.

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Answer
To the way back machine.
May 26, 2014 5:37AM PDT

USB was pretty new stuff back then. I recall that for USB keyboards I had to use the BIOS Legacy feature to get use of USB keyboards during install. Otherwise the USB ports were usually missing in action till later.
Bob

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USB Keyboard
May 26, 2014 9:41AM PDT

Hi Bob,
Thanks. I will try enabling that in the bios.

Alex

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Answer
I think you'd do well to take Kees' advice
May 26, 2014 5:57AM PDT

Usually when you move a hard drive with an OS on it, it will not boot at all because of driver incompatibilities. Windows 2000 was better about that than some of the other versions, but you may still have network related drivers that don't work, so it can't go out and find the drivers on the 'net. You could likely boot a live CD like has been suggested and save your data first, but then you're just delaying the inevitable until you reinstall Windows. Windows 98 was the first to support USB, so I'd think 2000 would as well, especially if you had a current level of maintenance, but you haven't given any hardware details about the computer you're currently working with.

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Windows 2000 disk
May 26, 2014 9:43AM PDT

I am working on locating a copy of windows 2000 and will try to install the drivers from there.