Ok, this is not really related to linux (yet anyways ) but,

I had a problem with my mother board. And i decided to downgrade the bios in hopes of clearing up a problem.

the problem being that it would not detect any agp card installed into the slot. It failed to boot up after installing. I did some resaech and found that an earlier bios version had no issues with this. So i decided to give it a try. I flash and everything went well, after restarting.. the agp card worked. BUT......

I lost my keyboard. the keyboard does not work at all...

When booting up, i hit del to enter the bios.. nothing happens (all the lights onthe keyboard turn on) but it just keeps booting. after booting into (what is right now) win98 the numlock light comes on... but if you hit numlock it does not turn off.. nothing from the keyboard will work..

I tried two diffrent keyboards to o avail. The mouse however works fine

MB=K7SEM (trash...)

I dont know what other ifnormation will be helpful? but does anyone have any idea of what to try? I backed up the previous bios before flashing... but i cannot restore it because the keyboard doesnt work?

Is this a lost cause.. should i just go get another board and not even bother.. or is there something i can do?

thanks
trey

Have you tried removing the CMOS battery or using the shorting plug to reset the BIOS?

If indeed the BIOS failed to reprogram correctly then you are SOL. AFAIK only the manufacture can repair your motherboard.

yup.. ive pulled the cmos... there is actually no jumper on this board.

It's not a big deal... i knew this board was a pos. But if anyone has any other ideas.. id love to try them

thanks
trey

Assuming the bios flash utility is dos based (and most are), just put an autoexec.bat file, the flash utility and the bios file on a bootable floppy. Set the autoexec.bat file to run the bios flash program with the correct bios file. Then boot it up and let it run. If you have the bios set to load ide0 before the floppy then just unplug the hard disk etc. You should be able to get something like this to work.


Good luck

the above idea is a good one.. but it will not boot anylonger... i get a keyboard error at the bios screen.. and now thats it Thanks for the help.. im just going to get a new board.

thanks
trey

A guy on one of the hardware boards I frequent claims you can boot of a DOS disk (with flash utility and correct BIOS image) on an identical mobo, pull its BIOS out while it's running, pop yours in and flash it. Might need BIOS shadow enabled too, so it loads it all into memory... I don't recall exactly. Never tried the proceedure myself though, as I'd be afraid to end up with two dead machines, but if you're braver than I, might be an option worth exploring. Seems like a good way to short something out IMHO.

i cant find anyway to automate the flash utility... it wants you to press y before proceding...

You'd have to have a friend with the same mobo, or two of them yourself, to try the proceedure. I don't recommend it anyway. Just passing on the info. As I recall, his machine wouldn't boot at all due to a failed flash upgrade and he managed to salvage his mobo this way (or so he claimed.) Pretty sure I read about it at http://forums.viaarena.com BTW.

I have a similar problem.

My keyboard started responding sluggishly, then, after a couple of weeks, it died completely. It was apparently the PS/2 keyboard port on the motherboard, because the keyboard itself worked fine on a different machine. I bought a USB-PS/2 adapter, which got my keyboard working but not in all places. For instance, it works in the BIOS setup, but it does not work in a GRUB boot menu. I still have to fix the motherboard, but I am not sure how.

- Can I possibly solder in a replacement PS/2 connector on the motherboard?

- Could my problem just be a virus that hit my flash BIOS?

I have an HP Pavilion 7935 with a VIA chipset on the motherboard and a Phoenix BIOS.

Youssef Eldakar
Bibliotheca Alexandrina

meshcurrent: If a virus hit your flash BIOS and disabled your keyboard, you would not be able to use it at all. If you can, turn on Legacy Keyboard in the BIOS. That might fix it ... otherwise GRUB does not support non-legacy USB keyboards.

Re BIOS downgrade: If you are using a USB keyboard, then your new (old) BIOS does not support it. If you are using a PS/2 keyboard, then the BIOS is focked, as it is sending power but not signal to the keyboard.

trey85stang: What is your mouse? Is it PS/2 or USB?

the mouse is ps2, it actually worked btw. I bought a new board already.. and am up and running