Re-installing windows but no mouse or keyboard.

Turnip2000

The family Dell Dimension went Crazy there a few days ago. So just started to reinstall windows. Everything works fine up until I reach the actual installation screen.

It says it needs the file "asms" and that i must insert the windows disk, type the path and click OK. The file path is already typed in and all i have to do is click OK. But neither my mouse or keyboard respond.

I have checked both connections several times and tried with different hardware altogether. But still get no response.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

yoyo

Are they USB keyboard and Mouse? If so try get hold on a PS/2 ones and use them, XPs setup aswell as older bios can be problematic allowing usb keyboards/mice, if you can access the bios also look for option called boot with USB Keyboard, mite help the situation...

Nick

Turnip2000

yoyo wrote: »

Are they USB keyboard and Mouse? If so try get hold on a PS/2 ones and use them, XPs setup aswell as older bios can be problematic allowing usb keyboards/mice, if you can access the bios also look for option called boot with USB Keyboard, mite help the situation...

Nick

No theyre the original keyboard and mouse which cam with the pc. Neither of which are usb. I have tried a usb mouse but it wasn't any help.

Blademan

You will need to use as yoyo said i PS/2 keyboard and mouse, when you are reinstalling or doing a new partition, the drivers for the USB are wipped and in the instalation process the USB drivers are installed, PS/2 keyboard and mouse, on newer machines you can use USB keyboard and mouse...

Try do a format win98 disk partition that will work because onboard drivers.. I will shocked if it don't..

yoyo

Very odd m8, googleing around a bit suggests it could be a issiue with the CD ROM drive, would it be possible to install windows for em on another pc and then put the drive back in the dell? Should work fine that way

Nick

Edit: Are you wiping the drive or repairing windows?

Blademan

If you do it on another machine it will not work at all.. the HD wont reconise any of the machines hardware because it was partitioned on another machine, you will get Harware conflict, yeah it weird story buts its probley a small little thing .. or a mothboard failure, i suggest the disk format with win98.. its a simple crash that the drivers are corrupted and wont work...

Turnip2000

I am doing a repair trying to save some files i had on the hdd, the ps/2 mouse and keyboard are being used but dont respond.

yoyo

Turnip2000 wrote: »

I am doing a repair trying to save some files i had on the hdd, the ps/2 mouse and keyboard are being used but dont respond.

Then I dont know man, as a last resort you could proably try "Load Defaults" in the bios? And Yeatzo, repairing the windows on another machine should work fine, granted windows may not boot on that machine due to drivers, but you should be able to run repair ok

Nick

Turnip2000

I don't suppose another partition on my HD would be causing the problem?

This is really starting to get the better of me now. I'm contemplating a trip out my bedroom window for Mr.Dimension here!:mad:

Capt'n Midnight

Check USB is set to legacy in the BIOS
also make sure USB devices are directly connected to PC and you aren't going through a hub

once it's all setup you can go back the way you were,

note it takes a few minutes for new USB devices to be detected by windows so let it sit for a while to give it a chance

Overheal

Why havent you been on with Dell support? Theyre pretty good about these sorta things.

Blademan

yoyo.. if you take the HD from that dell and put in another machine other than the same model and same hardware, the upgrade will only be for that machine that the OS and updates on the drivers etc'', when you put the HD back into the Dell Turnip2000 got, repairing windows may work but i realy doubt it very much man, then it will have problems because of origonal updated Os formated and partition from another machine thats uses diferent hardware it will cause issues and wont work.. boot failure, i think thats what he was on about anyway?? but again it's probley a small issue thats causing this to happen? maybe Overheal has the best paln and that is to contact Dell for support?? If i had it meself i would do a simple bios check, try update it, it that all failed then i would killdisk it, and reinstall bios.. if that didn't work .. then it's DELL lol.. but if it's still under warranty 1st option is Dell ...

The Muppet

What was the original fault with the pc ?

yoyo

yeatzo wrote: »

yoyo.. if you take the HD from that dell and put in another machine other than the same model and same hardware, the upgrade will only be for that machine that the OS and updates on the drivers etc'', when you put the HD back into the Dell Turnip2000 got, repairing windows may work but i realy doubt it very much man, then it will have problems because of origonal updated Os formated and partition from another machine thats uses diferent hardware it will cause issues and wont work.. boot failure, i think thats what he was on about anyway?? but again it's probley a small issue thats causing this to happen? maybe Overheal has the best paln and that is to contact Dell for support?? If i had it meself i would do a simple bios check, try update it, it that all failed then i would killdisk it, and reinstall bios.. if that didn't work .. then it's DELL lol.. but if it's still under warranty 1st option is Dell ...

As I said man it may not boot on another machine but (should repair it), all repairing does is deletes system files and reg entries and reinstalls them, of course once repaired it probably wouldn't boot on another machine due to drivers etc... but the repair should go through anyways, btw it shouldn't boot failure, that would suggest hard drives broken, all you'd get is that version of windows would blue screen upon access due to drivers...

Nick

deadl0ck

Thsi might work for you

http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

Its a free tool that you can get to do an unattended setup of Windows

gamer

borrow a usb keyboard, plug in ,turn on pc,it may take 5 mins to load usb driver, no need to use mouse to install windows.dell pcs have automatic backup,restoreswinxp,apps from hidden partition on the hardive , google dell dimension windows restore ,or look at dell.ie support dimension.

Turnip2000

Dell wanted nothing to do with me because my warranty is up unfortunately.

I ran a complete system scan which showed all drivers and hardware were working fine.

I checked out the bios and all was good also. I had a friend come over with a usb mouse and keyboard to no avail. And i even had a shot with the recovery console.

I finally gave up and handed it over to a friend of a friend who can hopefully take alot of the data off my HD before he wipes and reinstalls.

Thanks for all the help.