windows vista - Video Card doesn't work without PS/2 Keyboard plugged into PS/2 Mouse port
2014-07
Sir A P Kered
To make a very long story short, we had a computer in with an odd problem: While the computer otherwise booted fine (Windows start-up sound played), The PCIe-16 video card would not display an image without a PS/2 keyboard plugged into the PS/2 port designated for the mouse. I'm wondering why this happens.
It was kind of a happy accident that I discovered this at all, but ultimately it came down to pulling everything off the main board except a stick of RAM, the CPU, and the Power Supply. The monitor was plugged into the on-board graphics, which I assume the BIOS defaulted to when it didn't find the video card. I assume this because it worked fine. Aside from not finding a bootable device (because none were plugged in), the display always came up
The moment I plugged a video card in, the display stopped coming up whether the monitor was plugged into the video card or the on-board graphics. The only way to get the display to work (on the video card, since the on-board graphics wouldn't work while it was plugged in) was to plug a PS/2 keyboard into the PS/2 port designated for the mouse while the computer was powering up. Once it was powered up, everything was fine. The keyboard could be removed, or the computer could be restarted (as long as it wasn't powered down) with no problems.
Things I tried that didn't work:
- Disabling the PS/2 Mouse Detection in the BIOS. This prevented me from getting any display at all until I pulled the CMOS.
- Switching which port the BIOS should search for the Video Card in. Only valid options were On-Board (which ignored the video card), PCI, or PCIe-16.
- Swapping out the power supply and RAM. No change in symptoms.
- Putting the PS/2 keyboard in the port designated for the keyboard, or a PS/2 mouse in the port designated for the mouse, or both. Only the combination of the keyboard in mouse port worked, though I didn't have an extra PS/2 mouse or keyboard to try.
- Trying a different video card. No change in symptoms.
I apologize for not having hardware specifics on hand. I tried posting this while I was at the shop, and couldn't for some reason. The computer was an HP with Windows Vista, and a Coworker recalls the motherboard being ASUS. One of the video cards we tried in it (but not the one that came with it) was an NVidia GeForce 210. Windows claimed the old card was an NVidia of some kind.
If anyone has come across this kind of thing before (even if you never figured out the cause), I'd appreciate your insight.
yuudachi
Okay, so I'm making another topic here to clarify. The video card for this Dell Inspiron 1420 Vista laptop (NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS) is fried, and lets just say it for sure doesn't work. Before anyone tries to convince me otherwise, this is pretty much my exact problem:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261189-33-serious-graphics-problem
and basically we're not going to replace it. If we were to run diagnostics, I'm sure it'd come up with something. So now its running on like no video card-- just the minimum settings to display.
However, I am wondering if its possible to have this laptop rely on an external monitor for the rest of its life. I plug in an external monitor through VGA and it DOES NOT pick it up. I suppose its because the laptop no longer supports anymore monitors. Not sure if that's true, that's my guess. If you guys have anymore suggestions, do tell (yes I have done a Fn+F8 and such combination)
But, I still want to change the laptop's primary display to the external monitor. Is it possible? Is it some settings I'll have to toggle with BIOS? Or will I have to take the laptop apart a little bit?
hotei
If you think about it you'll see the answer is almost certainly NO. You say the GPU is dead. What is going to drive the external monitor... it's the GPU. THe Fn Key combo just tells the GPU output circuits to shunt or split the GPU output signal, it has no effect on how its created.
Sathya
I am wondering if its possible to have this laptop rely on an external monitor for the rest of its life
Considering that the GPU is fried, no. Your question is not clear - are you getting any display, at all ? If you are getting a display then contrary to your thoughts, the GPU is not fried.
Jontas
You say you don't wish to replace the laptop, have you considered a cheap USB gfx card instead?
Prices depends on you location and your needs but using the google shoping thingy I can find advertisments for USB gfx cards for as low as 40 USD. And using ebay I can get me one for ~40 USD all the way to Sweden ;)
Moab
It is possible the LCD inverter is bad, so it might work ok with an external monitor. Dell documentation is poor on that model for its bios, but there should be a bios setting to change it to use the external monitor by default.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1420/en/OM/appendix.htm#wp1075582
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All your Docs http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1420/en/index.htm
Jontas
To change over so that a external monitor is the primary (or only) monitor simply use the fn+F1 key (it is F1 on my Insipron 1545) the button has a monitor and a laptop on it.
This key will let you cycle through laptop only, laptop+external & external only; not necessarily in that order. The laptop will remember this setting for the next time you boot provided the external monitor is connected; otherwise it will default back - I know this since my LCD is broken on that one ... minor accident with a hammer ...
If you have a external keyboard hooked up then the scrollock button should work as the FN key.
While this is the answer to change over to a external monitor on the laptop, I am not sure this will work if the card is bad - this should only work if the monitor is bad.
Jay
If the gfx card is fried, it will NOT work with an external monitor at all; simply it has no device that processes the graphics and images. However, if it works with an external monitor, it means the video card is fine. In this case, there are two strong possibilities- a bad Inverter or a bad screen( the light bulb inside the screen) assuming all wiring to screen has no problem. The outcome of the inverter problem is very similar to the bad light bulb problem(bad screen). You can test this problem to single out among the two possibilities.