Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
whatiscalledUSBLegacySupportintheBIOS.ThissupportisspecificallyforUSBkey-
boards (and mice) and was not common in systems until 1998 or later. Many systems that
had such support in the BIOS still had problems with the implementation; in other words,
theyhadbugsinthecodethatpreventedtheUSBkeyboardfromworkingproperly.Ifyou
are having problems with a USB keyboard, check to ensure that USB Legacy Support is
enabled in the BIOS. If you are still having problems, make sure you have installed the
latest BIOSandchipset drivers foryourmotherboard andanyWindowsupdates fromMi-
crosoft. Some oldersystems nevercouldproperlyuseaUSBkeyboard,inwhich case you
should change to a PS/2 keyboard instead. Some keyboards feature both USB and PS/2
interfaces, which offer the flexibility to connect to almost any system.
If the keyboard is having problems, the quickest way to verify whether it is the keyboard
or the motherboard is to simply replace the keyboard with a known-good spare. In other
words, borrow a working keyboard from another system and try it. If it still doesn't work,
the interface on the motherboard is most likely defective, which unfortunately means that
theentireboardmustbereplaced.Ifthesparekeyboardworks,thenobviouslytheoriginal
keyboard was the problem. My favorite replacement keyboards come from the PC Key-
board Co. (
www.pckeyboard.com
), which makes the legendary buckling spring design
originally developed by IBM. The company even offers versions with the TrackPoint
pointing device built in, and you can select from PS/2 and USB port versions on many
models.
I can't hear sound from the speakers
This can often be as simple as the speakers being unplugged, plugged into the wrong
jacks, or powered off, so don't overlook the obvious and check to be sure! Also check
the volume controls in Windows or your application to see that they are turned up and
not muted. When you are sure the volume is turned up, the speakers have power and are
plugged in, and the speaker configuration is correctly identified in Windows (some audio
hardware uses a proprietary mixer control for this job), you need to verify whether the
problem is with the speakers or the sound card. To do this most efficiently, you merely
connect different known-good speakers and see whether they work. If they don't, clearly
the issue is in the sound card—possibly the configuration of the card is incorrect or the
card itself is defective. The first thing to try is clearing the ESCD in the BIOS Setup. This
essentially forces the plug-and-play routines to reconfigure the system, which can resolve
any conflicts. If this doesn't help, try removing and reinstalling the sound card drivers.
Finally, if that doesn't help, physically remove and replace the card from the system. You
mighttryreplacingitfirstinthesameslotandtheninadifferentslotbecausetimingissues
cansometimes existfromoneslottothenext.Ifthatdoesn'twork,youmusttryreplacing
the card. If the sound “card” really isn't a card but is integrated into the motherboard, first
