mandriva free 2007 keyboard/mouse failure

[Guest jawick]

i've installed mandriva free 2007 on my dell latitude c400.

 

on the initial boot i was asked for a login which i set during installation, but the keyboard would not work. the mouse didn't work either. i tried several times to reboot and had seen an option to press i for interactive setup. as this seemed to be my only option, i tried it.

 

it was quick so during the boot i just pressed "i" over and over until it asked for it. during the boot i noticed several random "i"s mixed in so that i knew the keyboard was working up unto this point.

 

i dont know if pressing i for the interactive setup ever worked but now the computer stays in dos? it ends at localhost login: and though a cursor is blinking the keyboard does not work from this prompt, although, when i leave it alone for a while and the screen goes blank - it comes back on when i press a key on the keyboard.

 

this is my first go at any linux based operating system and i hope i can get it going.

help, thanks.

[ianw1974]

What is the keyboard? PS/2 or USB? USB ones can be problematic, if you've got a convertor which came with the keyboard, use this and connect to the PS/2 port instead. Most if not all keyboards come with one of these.

 

Also, check BIOS for Plug and Play OS and make sure it's disabled and not set to be controlled by the OS. This can cause hardware detection problems.

[Guest jawick]

thanks.

 

this is a laptop. the keyboard isn't port connected. its just the laptop keyboard.

 

how do i check bios without the use of a keyboard/mouse. thanks again.