I've got a PIII-1Ghz system which I'd like to use until it dies. Right now it works fine, except that the rear PS/2 ports seem not to work. This is a recent development, as the computer worked fine with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse up until I moved it from the basement office into the living room (I just acquired a used TV with a VGA port on the back).
I'm using it right now to type this message because when the motherboard gets past the point where I can use CMOS Setup (pressing Del), the motherboard recognizes a USB keyboard and USB mouse even before an OS loads.
Pressing DEL to get into the onboard CMOS Setup utility does work from the USB keyboard. However, the onboard CMOS setup utility apparently only recognizes a PS/2 keyboard and not a USB keyboard, because once inside the CMOS utility the keyboard keys don't function. The only way out of the CMOS Setup screen is the power button on the computer.
In Ye Olden Days of PC/MS/DRDOS, there were CMOS Setup Utilities which could be run from special boot disks. If such an application still exists, and works for modern CMOSes/BIOSes, I suspect that it is the only way I'm going to be able to change the system time on this computer, or more to the point tell the motherboard BIOS that the Legacy Keyboard option is disabled.
Such a Catch-22: because the PS/2 keyboard doesn't work, I can't tell the BIOS that the PS/2 keyboard doesn't work, so that it should accept a USB keyboard when editing CMOS so I can tell it that the PS/2 keyboard doesn't work.
This is really frustrating because I know every other component on the system works. I've successfully installed Ubuntu Linux 7.10 without a hitch on this same PC. I just want to make some basic changes to the CMOS/BIOS, but I can't until I figure out how to get into CMOS Setup without a PS/2 keyboard.
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