can't access set-up (f2) as keyboard is not responding

I'm trying to re-install xp on my hard-drive after it became infected with a number of viruses. When I start the pc I wait the apropriate time to select F2 for the set-up process to begin but I get the message boot from cd....press any key! when I try to do this there is no response from my keyboard & so the pc does not proceed to the next stage. I have tried other keyboards even usb keyboards all producing the same result. I took a hardrive from another computer which works fine and tried it on the problem pc just to see if it would boot up ok, and it did. The keyoard works fineso I'm really puzzled as to why the pc won't let me boot into se-up or even safe mode with the other hard drive. can ayone help me please.

 

Usually that menu only works with PS/2 keyboards.

 

Sammorris I don't know what you mean! If I boot up my PC using a spare small hard-drive that I have, all works fine and my keyboard & mouse work fine. The keyboard & mouse are wireless, but when I put my larger hard drive which is the one I want to re-format in I get the usual statement asking me to press any key to continue, but there is no response from the keyboard for this process to continue re-installing xp. So would it be the motherboad that's faulty, as I have re-installed windows plenty of times in the past.

 

I have also tried my original keyboard & mouse which I know are okay but the same outcome still happens.

 

What I meant is that for that particular message it will usually only respond to old PS/2 type keyboards. It's stupid I know, but it fooled me as I use a Saitek Eclipse II keyboard that can't be plugged into PS/2 even with an adapter as it draws too much current. I had to dig out an old keyboard to be able to press anything. If you're using a PS/2 keyboard and still don't get a response it probably means the PC's crashed. That could either be a hardware fault or a dirty XP CD. Try somebody else's CD, if no luck then time to start troubleshooting components...

 

HELLO, IF I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY, YOU SAY THAT COMPUTER ACTS OKAY WITH A DIFFERENT HARD DRIVE..
IF THAT IS SO I SUSPECT THE MBR OF THAT DRIVE IS INFECTED. MAYBE NOT.
I SUGGEST YOU CONNECT THE GOOD DRIVE THAT WORKS ON THE PRIMARY CNANNEL, AND GET IT RUNNUNG, THEN SHUT DOWN AND INSTALL THE DEFECTIVE DRIVE ON THE SECONDARY CHANNEL.DISCONNECT THE CD DRIVE FOR NOW.
USING PARTITION MAGIC, DELETE THE PARTITIONS FROM THAT DRIVE, THEN USING PM, CREATE A NEW PARTITION, AND FORMAT IT.
THEN YOU CAN PUT IT BACK AS BOOT DRIVE AND TRY AGAIN.
IF THIS SOLVES YOUR PROBLEM, GOOD. IF NOT, I MISUNDERSTOOD SOMETHING.

 

Two important rules of forum posting:
1. No all caps
2. No all bold
Do you want to come across as an idiot?

Having read the original post again, there would appear to be a fault with the hard disk of some kind. I suggest you reformat it in the windows setup wizardif possible, or if not, then when it's attached to someone else's PC (make sure they have antivirus running if you say the drive has viruses on it)

 

Idiot is, idiot does.
Thanks Sam.

 

Thanks all for your comments, I think also the hard drive is faulty in some way but also the keyboard port on my pc is too. I started up my pc with the hard drive which works which had the keyboard & mouse connected to thier respective ports, the mouse worked but no response from the keyboard. I then booted up the pc again only this time connected the keyboard into a us slot, and then it worked. So where I'm at just now is that I'm going to try as sammorris suggested, get a friend to see if they can re-format the larger faulty drive on their pc, and if successfull will install the xp operating system there, either that or I will have to get a new motherboard I think, because you can't fix the keyboard port or can you?

thanks

 

I'd use the usb keyboard.
Formatting will not fix the mbr. Using Partion Magic will ,will also remove that whole partition, reset the mbr for the new partition/drive, and make that partition active, all in a few simple actions.
You would do better to do the work on your machine.
Get Partition Magic from a search of internet, and it will become your berst friend.Well, second best if you get Total Commander.Ghisler.com is the url for that.
Setup right, it is indispensable.

 

Hmm, potentially your PS/2 port could be faulty. You may be able to buy a PCI card with them on, I'm not sure.

 

Thanks Sammorris for that suggestion of a pci card with the keyboard & mouse ports - I nver thought of that! - hope I can get one whch wil save me a lot of bother & expense. However something really weird has happened since my last post. I had my working hard drive in the pc, and I tried my faulty drive again as the slave hard drive, I made sure again as I have always done in the past that jumper settings on the hard drive were correct - I booted up the pc, and to my suprise the PC recognised he second faulty hard drive. Well I was amazed, so I set about retrieving some files I wanted and moved them over to the maindrive before I set about formating this faulty drive. All was going fine until I went to move another file, but for some reason I couldn't find it - when I again checked in my computer I noticed the faulty hard drive has dissapeared. This is very strange so I have lost it again!

 

Faulty hard drives can and will do that, it's happened to me before. Make hay while the drive shines!

 

Go to your BIOS and enable Legacy USB.
Then you are able to boot from your CD.

 

how can I go into my bios if my keyboard won't respond to the initial boot up process? - I thought I made this clear at the start.
At the moment I have a small hard drive which is working ok my secondary hard drive which is the one I really want as my first (primary/master) is attached but acording to partition magic it is faulty apparantly the mbr is corrupt, but to fix this I have to boot up from a floppy boot disk or whatever. It doesnt matter whatever as my keyboard won't respond to any initial response untill the pc has fully booted up into windows xp - then it works.

 

What you'll typically find bob (keep your hair on!) is that USB keyboards WILL work in the BIOS, but not during the install of an OS, that's what I've found. No BIOS should not work with your peripherals, but plenty of 'press a key to continue' menus don't.
I may be wrong, but I strongly recommend you try that anyway.

 

hi Sammorris I'll try and cool down, but honestly I'm begining to regret posting this thread. In the past I have installed os on friends computers aswell as my own from win95,98 xp and even vista all have been easy enough. Now when I try to do the same thing that I have accomplished so often it won't do it because whether I have a usb keyboard or the orgininal pc keyboard setup I can't get past the boot from cd no matter how many times I press any key as it suggests. At the moment my small 32gb hard drive is working well my secondary 120gb hard drive is correctly shown as the 'D' drive but if I even right click this and try to format the drive it won't let me, and I tried to copy a file from the @C@ drive to it, but it said it couldn't perform this action because of a I/O device error. So is the hard drive knact or is it something else may be. Thanks for all your replys of late.

 

If there's an I/O error, there's probably something wrong with either the hard drive concerned, or the hard drive controller on the motherboard.

 

thanks sammorris for your reply, I agree with you that my motherboard is goosed hopefully the hard drive may be saved. For the time being I will struggle along with what I have for now. My motherboard is an ASROCK P4VM800 - My cpu is a 2.8ghz P4 & I have 1024 ddr memory installed. Would you recomend I get another Asrock P4VM800 motherboard or would you suggest another make of motherboard with the same dimensions as the one I already have. Keen to know what you would do - thanks.

 

It's a difficult one. I don't usually recommend Asrock motherboards, there are far better out there, but there are also far worse. The problem with changing the motherboard is that it needs to have the same chipset brand (in this case VIA) or you'll need to reinstall windows before you can use it (maybe not such a huge issue in this case, but still worth noting) If you can find another P4VM800 for dirt cheap, go for it. If you can't, try for a Gigabyte or Asus board with a VIA chipset. Motherboards that age shouldn't be too difficult to find cheap, but you may need to resort to ebay/craigslist to get the best deals.