"Bill Leary" wrote in message
...
"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
...
The mouse and drive plugged into the monitor's USB plugs rings a loud
alarm bell for me.

USB hubs (that's what you're using) are notorious for trouble.

OK, not notorious, but problems are not infrequent, so doing that is not
recommended in many situations.

I've encountered this enough times that I always plug at least the
keyboard directly into the computer.

But, in this case I'm pretty sure his problem is that the machine came
from the factory with PS/2 keyboard and mouse. So the BIOS is most likely
not set up to do USB to PS/2 emulation. Therefore, the keyboard won't
work in BIOS.

Your point is valid, but he said his mouse is connected to the monitor,
his keyboard is connected to the back of the machine. So, as far as BIOS
is concerned, if it was doing USB to PS/2 emulation, it would be OK. I
think since it's normal configuration was PS/2 it probably just isn't
emulating.

- Bill



Once the cheap flimsy ones give me trouble I toss them and purchase a new,
better KB. The original is gone for a long time. I just want you to know
that nothing changed in the set-up with this PC for several years. Then,
after that last MS update (could be a coincidence) the problems started.