Puppy attack

[ITG Tech]

I have a Dell Dimension 2400 running WinXp Pro SP3 1 GB mem
Puppy chewed on cables (power, keyboard, video, USB, audio,) PC starts to boot but has stuck keyboard beeping sound. Unit starts up and gives black screen with F1 or F2 options. F2 takes you to CMOS setup sometimes, but no further. After the initial setup screen no further keyboard actions possible. This is with USB keyboard. PS/2 keyboard not functioning at all. (PS/2 attached prior to puppy attack) I think if I could disable the PS/2 keyboard in setup, I might be able to use USB. Anyone know of a way to disable keyboard without using a keyboard? There are some little letters on the rear A B C D which change from green to amber. They settle with green on A,B,&C with D on amber. I will start doing a more detailed google search but just wanted to get some feedback from the trusted agents at Technibble first.

 

[iptech]

Have you tried booting from an external medium such as UBCD Win? If you can boot from CD you might be able to find a BIOS editor that will work, but without it you're stuffed. You really need to identify the cause of that amber light before you try any other diagnostics thought, it's most probably pertinent to the problem.

It might also be worth trying to reset the CMOS, it's a long shot but it won't take much time to do.

 

[Rider]

ABC green and D amber just indicates that "another failure has occured." I know, not very specific. Try reseating everything you can. You might want to try resetting the BIOS also, remove the battery if you have to. I think you might fix this by reseating, the puppy probably pulled something loose.

The PS2 port you are using, is it mounted on the mobo or is it part of an add-on card? If it's an add-on try removing it then boot. A few more basic suggestions (even the best techs forget the obvious sometimes) try different USB ports and try a different USB keyboard. You can also try booting from a CD to see if your keyboard works.

Good luck.

 

[seedubya]

Dimension 2400 diagnostic lights
They don't tell you anything useful, unfortunately.

I very much doubt that you can disable PS/2 in the BIOS, at least it's not an option that I can every recall seeing. You may need to enable USB input device support or some similar option. Probably the only way to do that is attach a PS/2 keyboard.

I would not be at all surprised, however, to find that the machine has suffered some further damage beyond the wire chewing. The vast majority of systems will all you use a USB keyboard OOTB, its lack of responsiveness may be indicative of board damage i.e. it may be freezing rather than not recognising the keyboard. Clearing the CMOS which will reset the BIOS to defaults and then try booting again.

 

[Kenhelms]

If you have a power supply tester, test to see what the voltage is. if it arced, might have caused damage to the PS supply thatll cause a myriad of problems.

 

[ITG Tech]

Thanks for the prompt replys, I have actually attempted to do everything mentioned in the posts. It appears that my initial thoughts were correct. Since this was my personal at home PC. No clinets are involved. I needed a good reason to get a new PC for the house. Now is my chance. Just need to slip it past the wife. Thanks everyone.

 

[MHCG]

Nothing you can do. You're going to have to buy a new PC.

 

[iptech]

Thanks for the prompt replys, I have actually attempted to do everything mentioned in the posts. It appears that my initial thoughts were correct. Since this was my personal at home PC. No clinets are involved. I needed a good reason to get a new PC for the house. Now is my chance. Just need to slip it past the wife. Thanks everyone.

Time to call the insurance company. "The dog ate my PC"

 

[studiot]

Just need to slip it past the wife

Next time don't hide the bag of chock drops behind the pc.