Member Avatar for Adam-Up

Hi I've tried putting a fresh install of xp onto a compaq presario C701EA laptop that originally came with vista pre-installed. Just as it asks me to choose settings to set up I have no keyboard or mouse on the laptop and I obviously can't go any further than that with the install.

I did hear something about using a ps2 USB lead and a separate keyboard? How would I go about doing that?

Any help appreciated.

Adam

  • 3 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 155 Views
  • 1 Week Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by reedone816

Dani AI

Generated

— the symptom you describe (keyboard/mouse disappearing once XP moves into the GUI/OOBE phase) is most often an OS driver handoff problem: XP's setup can rely on the BIOS to handle USB early on, then hand control to Windows drivers at the GUI step. If the laptop uses a USB 3.0/xHCI controller or nonstandard USB mode, XP has no native driver and the HID devices stop working.

Quick diagnostics you can try right now:

  • Check that the built-in keyboard/touchpad work in BIOS (press F10/F2/Esc on boot). If they do there but not in setup, it is a driver issue.
  • Look in BIOS for "USB Legacy Support", "USB Keyboard/Mouse Support" or a "USB 3.0/xHCI mode" and enable Legacy or switch USB3 to Auto/Disabled.
  • Try different USB ports and a simple USB 2.0 hub (power it and plug keyboard/mouse into the hub). A hub often forces the controller to use EHCI (USB2) drivers that XP understands.

If those checks don't help, the practical fixes are: rebuild the XP install media with the laptop's USB host/chipset drivers (xHCI/EHCI) integrated (tools like nLite let you slipstream drivers into an XP SP3 source), or install from a WinPE/live environment that has drivers and then add the drivers before first boot. Passive PS/2-to-USB adapters usually will not work unless the keyboard itself supports PS/2 signals; laptops rarely have a true PS/2 port anyway.

This expands on the points from and by focusing on BIOS USB mode, using a USB2 hub as a quick test, and adding slipstreaming/xHCI as the concrete driver fix. If slipstreaming is too fiddly, consider a newer OS image that includes modern USB drivers.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for bprosic

maybe consider using newer version of windows xp install cd with sp3
just maybe.

Member Avatar for reedone816

is it the latest xp sp3 you try to install?
if it is try to modified the installation to include the HID keyboard driver for xp.
or easier yet, just borrow and plug the external keyboard and mouse to usb slot in your laptop before you install the xp.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.