Keyboard crashes Windows XP

[Chaffers]

Hi all...

This is my first post here... so please be gentle..
To start off, here's my machine's spec:-

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
Asus A7V333 (KT333 Chipset)
256Mb RAM
Maxtor 120Gb HDD (7200rpm 8Mb Cache)
IBM 15GB HDD
MSI Geforce4 MX440 SE-T
Connexant 56k Soft Modem
Alcatel Speedtouch 330 ADSL modem
8x/4x/32x CD-RW
Windows XP Pro on Maxtor HDD
Windows 98 SE on IBM HDD
Standard unbranded UK PS/2 Keyboard
System running @ ~50 degrees Centrigrade/~122 degrees Fahrenheit

Scenario:-
I have been running Windows 98SE on my IBM HDD when I upgraded the processor and M/B... I recently bought a new HDD, and wanted to put Windows XP on it.
Near the end of the installation of the XP O/S, the system freezes when I press any key on the keyboard.
And now the computer intermittantly freezes up on startup whenever the keyboard is pressed.
Sometimes, when playing games (e.g. Warcraft 3), the computer automatically reboots without any warning and the startup BIOS screen gives me a keyboard error/No keyboard detected and ask for F1 to be pressed to continue...
When I run Win98, everything is fine...

Tried Solutions:-
1. I have tried another keyboard (Both are unbranded, but I don't want to invest in another keyboard when it might not fix the problem) but that gave the same results.
2. I have checked the regional setings for the keyboard and it is set correctly (UK layout).
3. I have checked the PS/2 connection many times, to make sure that it has been plugged in properly, but that hasn't helped.
4. Killed the blaster worm virus that got onto there last week... No longer gtting RPC error, but system still crashes intermittantly after Windows XP finishes loading and a keyboard key is pressed.

Please Help!!!

Thanks in advance!

[Dj-Icer]

Hi Chaffers I'm not really an expert but at the moment, I do face the same problem as you do during my practical work nowadays.
However, I don't think your keyboard is the problem or anywhere near it. Most probably, its the system. You might as well either reinstall the OS or format the HDD and then try install the OS back again.
Another solution, the power supply may have cause the problem since its got to feed 2 HDD, CD-ROM you have and so on. So it had to devide its power to many areas and might just simply overload for it. Maybe theres something wrong with the transformer inside the box (power supply). Try to check them out.
Do you have an AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator)? Normally it has two power point around the back, so you could use one for you CPU and one for your monitor, vice versa.
Try do also check whether one of the hardware are compatible. Possibilities are too many...I think
So, don't get a new keyboard, its fine. And at the same time, i do think your IBM HDD is fine, im sure. Drop by again and contact US, yes, we LADS in here Sayonara

[Chaffers]

Hi Dj-Icer,
Thanks for your reply, but I don't think that the solution that you have given will work....
Firstly have re-formatted the drive and installed it from scratch twice (sorry forgot to mention that in the original post) and that hasn't helped. Secondly, when I upgraded my PC, the PSU is brand new... not saying that would ensure that it is working fine, but would imagine it to be able to handle the hardware that I've got in there at the moment, and I still have Win98 SE on the 15GB, and it's running fine, which means that the load on the PSU is the same for Windows 98SE and Windows XP (I think... correct me if i'm wrong...)
In terms of the AVR... just thinking back to the point of it still works fine in Win98, but not in XP, to me, that points to an incompatibility somewhere along the line...
It seems that I will have to either get a new keyboard which is supported (providing that it has the correct drivers) or get an driver update for the current keyboard that I have. The main question is, will this solve it??? It will be nigh on impossible to get a driver update for my current keyboard, as it is unbranded...
Just wanted to know if there are any known issues with keyboard errors like this when using under XP.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks...

[crossedup]

what sort of keyboard is it? Dont really see a need for drivers unless its got all those fancy shortcut keys on top in which case turning them off would be a try to solve problem.

Is anything overclocked? Reason i ask is i had one that wouldnt let me in the bios, froze up everytime as soon as i hit the del key. Would enter bios setup but keyboard would no longer function. Finally figured out ram was overclocked 33mhz and couldnt handle it. Wierd but who knows.

Have you tried updating bios? xp deals with ACPI differant than 98 i believe, sounds like that could be source of problem as well.

good luck

[Chaffers]

The keyboard is just a standard PS/2 keyboard with the win95/98 keys... When I look at the device manager, there are no conflicts...
In terms of overclocking, to my knowledge, nothing is overclocked, and I built it myself...
With regards to updating the BIOS, I'll try it out tonight... thanks!!

[Dj-Icer]

Computer will get very busy when running lots of programs or heavy programs. Perhaps an extra fan in your CPU would help any possibilities.
I dont think the keyboard you're using have any problem. I also using a standard win 98 keyboard for my Win XP.
Why don't you install Win XP instead for both of it, by making your primary Maxtor HDD as Win XP and set slave for your IBM. Have you checked its jumpers behind it (Maxtor and IBM)? Check the jumpers in and set it. Normally, theres a little description on how to set the jumpers according to its brand. Every brand has its own set up jumpers. Make sure it is done properly.
You can also check your BIOS setup. Might as well you update your BIOS.
Again, I thought any BIOS should be fine. I bought my PC, pentium 3 since 4 years ago. I installed in Win XP 3 years ago and there was no problem so far.
In your case, there could be some sort of 'collision'. Try having just one HDD at the moment and see what happens. You can either swap around, by having IBM as your primary and Maxtor as slaves. A lot of thinking and guessing nowadays eh

[Chaffers]

hi...
I am leading myself to think that it is possible that the PSU that I have got isn't giving enough juice... Dj-Icer, I think that your original answer to my q may have been correct...
Reading from this forum about power req. and thinking about it is possible that XP is demanding more juice...
I currently have my Maxtor HDD setup as the primary master, and the IBM HDD setup as the primary slave, with the CD-RW setup as the secondary master... This has been setup correctly, and I use the boot drive selector which is built into the BIOS...
The reason why I am thinking that it may be the PSU is because as written in my original post, it reboots automatically when playing games (eg Warcraft 3) which would demand more from the PSU...
I will remove as many components as I can, leaving only the ones that need to boot to reduce the strain and see if the problem is still there... if it is, then it's not the PSU and further investigation is required... if it isn't, then there's a good chance that it is...
I think that my PSU is currently a 350W generic... but I have to check to be sure...
Thanks again...

[zen]

• xp doesn't demand more juice.
• power supplies are always suggested but rarely the problem

Could be your keyboard controller has gone bad, on the mobo.

[Chaffers]

If the keyboard controller has gone bad, doesn't that mean that it should be failing for Win98 as well?

[MitaDC]

Yo don't want to read all of the posts but man u need more ram...go with atleast 512mb. Just my opinion...off subject of keyboard though