Since some time my friend was complaining that his keyboard was not working. He was lucky enough that he had not set a login password. He was passing his time playing Rise of Nations - Thrones and Patriots. A few days later he purchased a PS2 to USB connector and was able to use his keyboard. But sadly, the USB devices enabled at boot-up setting was set to false and hence he could not enter his BIOS as his keyboard was recognised only after the OS booted up.
To make things more annoying, his Windows XP installation had gone crazy. The sound was cracking hence no music.
I came in to his rescue. I downloaded the latest BIOS for his motherboard (ASUS A8N-VM). I tried installing the Asus update utility but it threw an error "No Asus Motherboard found".
I created a bootable CD with AFU2DOS and added the updated BIOS in it as well. The first boot device was hard disk drive followed by CD/DVD ROM. I could not boot from the CD unless the hard disk drive was unplugged. I asked my friend to unplug his Hard Disk Drive. I started his computer and inserted the bootable CD. The computer booted from the CD, but his keyboard was not working in DOS mode and hence I could not update his BIOS.
My friend wanted to use Windows Vista so I planned to install Windows Vista and then upgrade the BIOS. I restarted Windows XP and started the Windows Vista installation from there. The installation had almost completed. It was asking for user name and password. I entered the Username, kept the password blank and was selecting a wallpaper when the screen went blank. After around ten seconds, the login screen was displayed with the name "Other User". I clicked on "Other User". It then asked for the username and password. I provided it with the username and kept the password field empty but I was not able to login.
I restarted his computer. The dual boot options were displayed but I could not navigate through it as the keyboard was not detected. Vista booted up but I was not able to login. I was not able to start a fresh installation as the first boot device was his Hard Disk Drive and then the CD/DVD-ROM.
I started laughing at my friend. He was helpless. I said this is what happens when you don't listen to the Nova. Tech loves Nova and it will fight for me. Flashback: Last weekend, when I had visited him, he was busy playing Prince of Persia. I wanted to go out and do some stress-busting but this friend of mine was not ready to budge. He made me wait for roughly 45 minutes as he was not getting the in-game save point. Back to present.
After some mockery, I planned to reset his motherboard settings. I was aware about the consequences but that was the only option visible to me at that time. I cleared the settings and started his computer once again. POST (Power On Self Test) was successful followed by an error message "System Halted! System Intruded!. Press F1 to use the default settings and DEL to enter BIOS". I did think that after resetting his motherboard settings, his USB keyboard should have been detected at start-up but it didn't happen. Serious trouble. I knew what had to be done next but was not able to do it. Completely helpless.
After fiddling with the motherboard manual and the motherboard for some ten minutes. I didn't do anything new other than resetting the settings once more. I thought about giving some additional power to the keyboard and connect it to the PS/2 port. But then decided on something else. My friend thought about connecting the keyboard back to the PS/2 port and he did that.
I started his computer once again. WOOT! The keyboard was working. I quickly entered the BIOS and changed some settings viz; Enabled USB devices at boot-up and set the first boot device to CD/DVD ROM followed by Hard Disk. I saved the settings and booted from CD. The DOS prompt was waiting for my command. I typed "afu2dos /iAsus.rom" and hit enter. The old BIOS was cleared and the updated BIOS was flashed. Restarted the computer and changed the settings as it was done previously.
In the Dual-boot option, I selected Windows XP. All the drivers were reinstalled automatically. The sound had stopped cracking and everything now seems to be OK. I wanted to go out and we left for some stress busting.
To make things more annoying, his Windows XP installation had gone crazy. The sound was cracking hence no music.
I came in to his rescue. I downloaded the latest BIOS for his motherboard (ASUS A8N-VM). I tried installing the Asus update utility but it threw an error "No Asus Motherboard found".
I created a bootable CD with AFU2DOS and added the updated BIOS in it as well. The first boot device was hard disk drive followed by CD/DVD ROM. I could not boot from the CD unless the hard disk drive was unplugged. I asked my friend to unplug his Hard Disk Drive. I started his computer and inserted the bootable CD. The computer booted from the CD, but his keyboard was not working in DOS mode and hence I could not update his BIOS.
My friend wanted to use Windows Vista so I planned to install Windows Vista and then upgrade the BIOS. I restarted Windows XP and started the Windows Vista installation from there. The installation had almost completed. It was asking for user name and password. I entered the Username, kept the password blank and was selecting a wallpaper when the screen went blank. After around ten seconds, the login screen was displayed with the name "Other User". I clicked on "Other User". It then asked for the username and password. I provided it with the username and kept the password field empty but I was not able to login.
I restarted his computer. The dual boot options were displayed but I could not navigate through it as the keyboard was not detected. Vista booted up but I was not able to login. I was not able to start a fresh installation as the first boot device was his Hard Disk Drive and then the CD/DVD-ROM.
I started laughing at my friend. He was helpless. I said this is what happens when you don't listen to the Nova. Tech loves Nova and it will fight for me. Flashback: Last weekend, when I had visited him, he was busy playing Prince of Persia. I wanted to go out and do some stress-busting but this friend of mine was not ready to budge. He made me wait for roughly 45 minutes as he was not getting the in-game save point. Back to present.
After some mockery, I planned to reset his motherboard settings. I was aware about the consequences but that was the only option visible to me at that time. I cleared the settings and started his computer once again. POST (Power On Self Test) was successful followed by an error message "System Halted! System Intruded!. Press F1 to use the default settings and DEL to enter BIOS". I did think that after resetting his motherboard settings, his USB keyboard should have been detected at start-up but it didn't happen. Serious trouble. I knew what had to be done next but was not able to do it. Completely helpless.
After fiddling with the motherboard manual and the motherboard for some ten minutes. I didn't do anything new other than resetting the settings once more. I thought about giving some additional power to the keyboard and connect it to the PS/2 port. But then decided on something else. My friend thought about connecting the keyboard back to the PS/2 port and he did that.
I started his computer once again. WOOT! The keyboard was working. I quickly entered the BIOS and changed some settings viz; Enabled USB devices at boot-up and set the first boot device to CD/DVD ROM followed by Hard Disk. I saved the settings and booted from CD. The DOS prompt was waiting for my command. I typed "afu2dos /iAsus.rom" and hit enter. The old BIOS was cleared and the updated BIOS was flashed. Restarted the computer and changed the settings as it was done previously.
In the Dual-boot option, I selected Windows XP. All the drivers were reinstalled automatically. The sound had stopped cracking and everything now seems to be OK. I wanted to go out and we left for some stress busting.
I can say only one thing -Troubleshooting is the BEST thing in this world!