recently all my hardware somehow got deleted and now i can only partly format since my usb keyboard won't respond at the bootscreen when i have to press any key to enter setup so i cant delete the old partition, etc. i was running a win2k and now dual win2k/winxp since i cant get rid of the old win2k. is there a driver i can get or something i can do to fix this and perhaps some other hardware that wasnt covered in the partial reformat. And my ps2 slots are dead, so that's not an option :-/Sounds like you don't have USB legacy support enabled in your BIOS, which explains why you can't use a USB keyboard at that point. Ironically, you'd need to enter the BIOS in order to change this setting. Are you sure you can't use a PS2 keyboard? If not, I would suggest it's at least worth a try resetting your CMOS (remove battery, or use the reset jumper if you know where it is on your motherboard). It MAY be that the CMOS defaults to include USB legacy support. If you're lucky.

If you do manage to get into your BIOS, ensure that you set the system to boot first from CDROM. (I presume you can't boot from CD at the moment.) Again, your CMOS may default to this, which would help you, because you could then boot from a Windows CD (with a bit of luck) or from a Linux Live CD.unfortunately both ps2 ports are pretty much dead and i DOUBT it will default to usb, since its an oldish model, round 2000. i'm inclined to leave it at this point and perhaps take out the HARDDRIVE and use someone else's ps2 ports.

what if i reformat/wipe in dos mode? firstly, will the keyboard work in that mode and secondly, will i be able to boot from cd automatically, since the keyboard works on the blue setup screen itself, its just getting there thats the problem, can only do automatically since keyboard doesnt respond for manual. :-/thxYou can format that drive as a slave in any other machine...
As to the keyboard you will need a PS2 keyboard to do what you are trying to do.
Is there a reason you suspect the PS2 ports are fried ? ?

patio. 8-)well, the keyboard not responding when it is in any of the two ps2 ports is reason enough

my ps2 ports havent worked for a while, they started to respond less some time back. my keyboard was originally usb and i changed to a usb mouse a year or so agoI have seen this problem so many times.

Just out of pure morbid curiousity is this a

Gateway( Should be named Crate-away)

computer?

I believe rob pomeroy has came up with all
the solutions.

However,I have not used a USB PCI Add on
Card....???Perhaps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812160004My dad has one of those fancy keyboards where all the function keys have all different uses like shortcuts to programs that you never use. He couldn't use his function keys in BIOS or startup, persumably because the drivers needed by the keyboard weren't loaded, and he had to borrow my good old simple keyboard. Perhaps this could be the case here?could be something like that. and no, its not a gateway, just a regular comp.

i suppose this is a 'regular old keyboard' for me, but the hardware deletion is most likely the cause so drivers are a possible/likely problem, the QUESTION is, if so, then what drivers, specifically since it doesn't work in bootup only. and obviously the good old simple ps2 keyboard wont work in this case

i am using the pci adapter 4-slot combo thingy that 'street1' pasted the link to, or something of the sort, HMM, perhaps if i tried the old half dead usb's... OK, that fixed it. simply using the old standard usb slots instead of those from the upgraded card, thanx for the help guys. Any idea what may have caused the total loss of hardware components only in the first place?
Using the motherboard USB ports for keyboard and mouse is always the right decision. although it is a difficult decision to make when your motherboard usb ports start dying out. on one hand it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave a motherboard usb port unused for 'special occasions', lol ok this thread confused me.

so you thought your mobo usb ports were fried as well as the ps2 ports? and then when you tried your old usb's, that solved everything?

someone correct me if I'm wrong.Just a thought... Time for a new motherboard, perhaps...?

Drivers were not relevant here by the way - this is a BIOS issue. You cannot install drivers into your BIOS.Quote

ok this thread confused me.

so you thought your mobo usb ports were fried as well as the ps2 ports? and then when you tried your old usb's, that solved everything?

someone correct me if I'm wrong.