Just got off the phone with friend.His 2yr.old dell (win XP home) would not boot.His 7 year old grand daughter had been using it.When he fired it up he got a blank screen.He discovered a Childs Math CD in the CD drive and removed it.It still did not boot although he said it started to and then he got a blank screen again.I suggested he try to get it to boot in the safe mode.He started again and hit the F8 key.This time a screen showed up telling what version bios and it then ended with the message"Keyboard Failure" and stopped loading.I am going to take a new keyboard to his place Saturday and replace his.Any ideas what else I should look out for or what else to do if replacing the keyboard is not the answer ?TIA.

81 Newbee

Normally I would guess that the keyboard connection had 'come adrift' (or is a 'loose connection').

It might just be worth closing the PC down, removing and re-inserting the keyboard connection, and booting back up.

Pretty obvious, I know, but if you are planning to see your friend, take your keyboard with you to help fault finding.

Andy.

Putting water in an empty gin bottle, doesn't make it gin.

The keyboard failure message was probably due to holding a key down during POST. Have him try getting into Safe Mode again, but make sure he waits to start tapping the F8 key until just after the Dell POST screen goes away.

The other possibility is that there is a key stuck in the down position. This should be fairly easy to find with a close visual inspection.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

Here we go again..Friends extensive cancer treatment delayed my visit.He is between treatments so I was able to visit.Good keyboard did not fix the problem.When computer started up the Dell screen came up and then went to a black screen with the curser blinking atthe top left.typing did not enter anything .I tried Ctrl/alt/ del
Enter and the F keys.I have no idea why but it booted the computer
I opened AOL and also opened other programs and all seemed OK.I thought I had gotten luckey.When I shut down and tried to restart, i got the same black screen and curser.Tried again to go through the previous routine.and it booted again ,In the meantime during these attempts I got the following message twice.
"Previous attempt at booting this system failed at checkpoint(USBd) for help call dell tech".I googled (USBd) and decided to try to contact Dell.After finding the service tag number and getting a new password (my friend forgot it) ,I was able to get a response.I was offered a chance to use messenging but when i tried i got no reply even though it indicated it was received.I finally tried direct Email.and sent the imformation.Iopened the device mgr and found a Yellow Exclaimation Mark on"Microtec Simple SCSI Miniport Drivers".There was another YEM on a USB port that showed nothing attached I waited a couple of hours for a reply and shut down the machine.Restart was not successful This time I got the blank screen and then the keyboard failure notice.Is it possible for me to go to Dell with the service # they gave me on his machine from my machine.I won't get back to his place before this weekend.Does Dell provide a boot disk? My friend does not remember much right now.I hope I ger lucky and get his machine to boot.All Help and ideas will be truly appreciated

81 Newbee

I will bet that the boot order in the BIOS got changed so that something like external boot device or USB boot device is now one of the items in the boot order. I'll also bet that he has some sort of USB storage device like a memory card reader, thumb drive, or a printer with memory card slots attached to this PC.

First try disconnecting any USB devices other than keyboard or mouse. If it boots, then go into the BIOS and check the Boot section. You should only have CD-ROM, floppy and hard drives listed, in whatever order you prefer.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

Thanks Ttech.His wife called today and thinks he had similar problem before and "someone" made a Cd and left it with him. he does not remember what it was or if it was for that.It is marked "AF" with a sharpie. .Never had to do it, so how can i read the directory of what is on it without starting anything to run on it,?She also told me that his HP printer (USB) had started "acting up" just before the problem happened the previous time and again this tme.I will be disconnecting that printer when I use your previous suggestion.She tells me his system was running well before this recent incident.She says he was trying to "get the printer to work just before his granddaughter was on it.Do you think if all else fails a "system restore" to a time before the incident might work?Thanks for helping ,he is lost without the cheer up things he gets in his Email.

PS how do I view the Bios?

81 Newbee

Can you get into 'Safe Mode' and uninstall the suspect items?

Andy.

Putting water in an empty gin bottle, doesn't make it gin.

Was not able to on my last visit.If i can get it to at least boot on my next visit I will try to get to safe mode.Thanks

81 Newbee

>Never had to do it, so how can i
>read the directory of what is on it without starting anything
>to run on it

Start the PC and insert the CD before the PC boots, while it is still on the blue HP logo screen.

>Do you think if all else fails a
>"system restore" to a time before the incident might
>work?

No.

>PS how do I view the Bios?

Look on the initial screen that is displayed, sometimes it tells you what to press. On the current HPs you press DEL or SPACEBAR or ESC or TAB, something like that... Then when the blue HP logo screen goes away you get a little menu box. One of the items on the list is to go into the BIOS.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

Hi ,computer is a DELL Demension( USB Printer is HP).Key(s) to Bios on Dell if you know.?Any other suggestions that come to mind between now and when I visit are appreciated.My visit sometime this weekend may be delayed for some "special evaluations of his progress" .I hope to have as many tips from any and all .He is opposed to having a pro to come in and fix things.I don't press the issue as it upsets him.His wife suggest to me that he wants the visit more than getting the thing fixed.I hope I can get it running anyhow and I sure as hell will continue the visits even then.Thanks guys !

81 Newbee

Dell has used a lot of methods of entering the BIOS, I have wirked on some Dimension's that required you to press Del when the blue Dell Logo appears on the screen.

Shelly

Thanks guys,I just got a call .My friend is in the hospital .His kidneys were not fully functioning .they seem to be back working again.I don't know when I will need more help.I talked to him in the hospital and I may get down to his place early next week.The second thing he asked me was "do you think my computer will work again?".I told him that with the help of all of you that it would probably be working soon.Big smile and he fell asleep .I had asked Dell for their fix as well.If I get the thing to boot ,I have lots to try.Thanks again.I hope my next post will be good news on his computer and also on him.

81 Newbee