Not seeing USB keyboard in setup

[justicedood]

I am at my wits end here peeps. I hope there is someone out there with
the information to help me. I have been scouring the M$ websites, as
well as Google and have not found a prudent fix anywhere. Nor have I
come across a post describing a similar problem.

Here is the problem, when I try to install Windows 2000 Professional
and get to the setup screen I am unable to use the Belkin USB keyboard
to input the information needed to continue. It works like a charm
until the Plug and Play screen comes up to install devices, after that
happens the keyboard is dead so to speak. Is there any way that I can
bypass the Plug and Play setup until I get into Windows to work through
the issues? Or perhaps someone may have a better idea?

Also, there is no way that I can use a PS2 keyboard on the system, as
the PS2 port is damaged. Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[landcruiser]

Are you using a USB 2.0 port or 1.1 port? If the keyboard is connected
to a 2.0 port try connecting it to a 1.1 port.

 

[justicedood]

First, thank you for your reply. To answer your question, I am using a
vintage USB 1.1 Port. There is no USB 2.0 on this particular system,
although I know I could purchase an add in card that would upgrade the
USB to 2.0, I have not done so.

I think I have solved the problem though it took quite a bit of
unecessary work on my part. Here is how it all played out verbatim:

I could not use the keyboard as described in the previous post, so I
fabricated a self made unattended installation file called WINNT.SIF
which had all of the information in it that was needed to start and
finish the Windows 2000 Professional installation. I placed the
WINNT.SIF on a floppy disk, and when the CD of 2000 Pro booted the
information contained in the WINNT.SIF file input the necessary
information for me. Ok, thats done.

Now, I get into Windows 2000 Pro and it still does not recognize my
keyboard grrrrr! After banging my head against the wall and some
rooting around I found that the drivers for the VIA USB bus were not
installed, hence why my keyboard went unrecognized. I was confused as
to why Windows would not Plug and Pray the USB drivers for me? If
anyone has input on this please let me know. Anyway, after a trip to
ViaArena I was able to locate the necessary drivers for my product and
after that point the system performs flawlessly, with some other minor
OS/drivers updates as well of course...:}

Also, realized I neglected to say what the system specs were in my
prior post, sorry for the oversight but here it goes:

AMD K62 3Dnow! 500 MHz processor.

66 Mhz - 100 Mhz system bus

TMC AI5VG+-2.00 Mobo with ViA Chipset

Award Plug and Pray BIOS

USB 1.1

I know what you're thinking, what a crappy system..LOL. But hey, dont
really need alot of horsepower to run 2000 IMO.

So much for the specs! Here is where, in case anyone is interested, I
got the heads up on the unattended installation:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../server/reskit/en-us/deploy/dghn_ans_jaos.asp

Lastly, if anyone knows the URL for TMC's website, if they are still
around, please post back and let me know. I have a URL for the company
at http://www.tmc.com.tw/ but I didn't see any driver downloads or
Award BIOS updates there? Unless I am completely blind or it is well
hidden there?

Oh well, again many thanks.

Tony

 

[landcruiser]

I remember facing the same problem on my previous system with a Via
VT82C691/VT82C586 chipset board. USB was working fine on Windows ME
and when I upgraded to Windows 2000, the usb port stopped working.
Since I was using a PS2 keyboard I didnt face any problem, later I
download the drivers from Via and installed it.

I dont know if a SP4 slipstreamed Windows 2000 would solve the
problem. ??!!!

 

[justicedood]

I remember facing the same problem on my previous system with a Via
VT82C691/VT82C586 chipset board. USB was working fine on Windows ME
and when I upgraded to Windows 2000, the usb port stopped working.
Since I was using a PS2 keyboard I didnt face any problem, later I
download the drivers from Via and installed it.

I dont know if a SP4 slipstreamed Windows 2000 would solve the
problem. ??!!!

Thanks for your kind reply sir. Actually I did have a copy of SP4 on
hand and it didn't solve the problem at all. I just think that native
support for ViA USB is missing from Windows 2000 at any level. Seems
awfully strange to me that Windows 2000 is that much different than the
prior OS's. A slipstreamed CD in this case I believe is the only way to
go since 2000 is so picky about USB. I would have to also include the
drivers into the slipstreamed installation if I did not want a problem
of this type again.

Although the unattended installation routine worked very well, so I do
not see a need to do that. I just neeed to do the extra step of
installing the necessary drivers when Windows finishes installation.

Again thanks for the reply,

Tony