Asus P4R800VM - Keyboard Makes System Freeze

  • Thread starter Thread starter BrianEWilliams
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BrianEWilliams

I have an Asus P4R800VM motherboard, and whenever I type anything on
the PS/2 keyboard, the whole system freezes, and I have to power cycle.
At first I thought it was a bad keyboard, but swapping keyboards
didn't help. Then I ran a full virus scan with no improvement.

I am thinking the motherboard is bad. This would be the second
hardware failure I've had with this model. The first one was
exchanged, and now I might have to exchange for another.

I would like to ask Asus for credit towards an different model, since I
have lost all faith in this particular model, the Asus P4R800VM.
Before I contact their tech support and pay for a half hour toll call,
I was wondering if anyone here might have a suggestion for a fix.

The system had been stable for at least a month prior to this problem,
and I haven't done anything recently that might have caused it.
 
Some more information:

On boot up, the initial screen says keyboard is detected, even if none
is plugged in. I can't enter the Bios screen because the keyboard
doesn't work. After XP Pro boots up, Control Panel - Keyboard -
Hardware shows no keyboard is detected, even if one is attached.

I think I might just buy a USB keyboard to save myself the hassle of
ripping apart the system, shipping costs back to Asus, and then being
without my computer for 3 weeks. I am sure many here are very happy
with their Asus mobos, but this is the last one I buy.

If nothing else goes wrong with the board, I might RMA it just before
the warranty is up (3 years I think) to hopefully get a less buggy
board. No wonder they have stopped making this model.
 
BrianEWilliams said:
Some more information:

On boot up, the initial screen says keyboard is detected, even if none
is plugged in. I can't enter the Bios screen because the keyboard
doesn't work. After XP Pro boots up, Control Panel - Keyboard -
Hardware shows no keyboard is detected, even if one is attached.

I think I might just buy a USB keyboard to save myself the hassle of
ripping apart the system, shipping costs back to Asus, and then being
without my computer for 3 weeks. I am sure many here are very happy
with their Asus mobos, but this is the last one I buy.

If nothing else goes wrong with the board, I might RMA it just before
the warranty is up (3 years I think) to hopefully get a less buggy
board. No wonder they have stopped making this model.
Click to expand...

The solution is simple. Look at the BIOS history link on the
download page for your motherboard:

"[ 1006 ]
----------------------
Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at:
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx.
Patch for Samsung ODD "SAMSUNG CD-R/RW DRIVE SW252F" fail
to boot to Windows. Update Intel OSB Logo.

[ 1005 ]
----------------------
-->Remove bug PS2 Keyboard sometimes locked up by itself after
booting into Windows.

[ 1004 ]
----------------------
Remove system shows incorrect frequency of Celeron 1.7GHz
(Williamate) CPU. Support New CPU. Add Beep sound if VGA Card
found. Support ATI Surround View (add new option in BIOS Setup).

[ 1003 ]
----------------------
Remove "Slow CAS" item in BIOS setup program.
Add "Memory speed" and "dual/single channel information"
in system information page. Add Enable/Disable "Hyper threading"
item in BIOS setup program. Support new CPUs. Please refer to
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx.
Improve memory stability for certain memory modules.

[ 1002 ]
----------------------
Update VGA BootROM 2. Update USB Patch code 3.
Fix system still can enter S3 even if ACPI Suspend item has
been set to "S1 only". Fix USB 2.0 device does not work after
resume from S4 in Win2000. Fix system hangs if EHCI Controller
set to "Disabled". Change USB 1.1 Controller option to
[Enabled/Disabled]. Support new CPUs. Please refer to
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx.
Correct Model string in DMI.

[ 1001 ]
----------------------
First release "

Either upgrading to BIOS 1006, or using the latest beta BIOS
(1007.002) from the beta page, should fix the problem.

Happy trails,
Paul
 
Paul,

Thanks for the help. That seems like a likely solution to the problem,
but since my PS/2 keyboard port doesn't work at all, I can't get into
the BIOS screen to change the boot order to floppy first. Unless there
is some clever workaround, I believe I am stuck.

I did go out and get a PS/2 to USB adapter, so at leastI can use my
computer with no problem in Windows.

Brian
 
BrianEWilliams said:
Paul,

Thanks for the help. That seems like a likely solution to the problem,
but since my PS/2 keyboard port doesn't work at all, I can't get into
the BIOS screen to change the boot order to floppy first. Unless there
is some clever workaround, I believe I am stuck.

I did go out and get a PS/2 to USB adapter, so at leastI can use my
computer with no problem in Windows.

Brian
Click to expand...

If you disconnect hard drive and cdrom drive, will it look to
the floppy ? Is the floppy in the boot order, if you clear the
CMOS (with the computer unplugged...) ?

Another possibility, is the keyboard and motherbaard are for some
reason not compatible, or the PS/2 port is damaged, or the
PS/2 port is not getting power. Is a jumper present on the
1x3 KBPWR1 header ? A jumper must be present (either position
will work), in order for the keyboard to get power. If the PS/2
mouse is working, then it isn't likely to be a power problem,
as keyboard and mouse are usually powered through the same
KBPWR1 header and fuse.

Paul
 
Paul,

Good suggestions. Everything was working fine for months, and then all
of a sudden the keyboard problem popped up. The only slightly unusual
thing I did right before this issue is that I renamed the Messenger
folder in Program Files because I was tired of MS Messenger always
popping up when I used Outlook Express. Immediately after that I
noticed the problem. Maybe this is another evil trick MSFT uses to
control us?

I remember the Asus board not making it past POST and shutting down if
if no hard drive was attached. This stumped me for several days as I
built the box. I was trying to be really careful and only attach one
thing at a time. Live and learn.

Right now it is set to boot first off hard drive. Not sure what the
remaining order is since I can't get into the screens.

Clearing the CMOS with the jumper is a great idea, and I will probably
try it at some point, but the computer is working fine right now for
the cost of a $20 cable, and I hate to risk things. Is there any real
downside to this?

I will give Asus tech support a call and see what they say. I had been
waiting to call until my Vonage service arrived so that I don't have to
pay for the hold time.

OT and BTW, the Vonage Linksys box showed up this morning, and it took
me about 45 seconds to make my first VoIP call. This was after an
EXTREMELY frustrating experience with Lingo VoIP which I never got to
work. Vonage shipped me a 3 port Linksys router that has two phone
jacks on the back. I plugged it into my cable modem, plugged the phone
in, plugged my existing network into one of the ethernet ports, and
EVERYTHING worked instantly. Now I have two wired routers and one
wireless router on my network with my most sensitive information behind
all three. I really have a false sense of security now!

Brian
 
BrianEWilliams said:
Clearing the CMOS with the jumper is a great idea, and I will probably
try it at some point, but the computer is working fine right now for
the cost of a $20 cable, and I hate to risk things. Is there any real
downside to this?
Click to expand...
Brian
Click to expand...

If you can live with the problem, then there is no reason to
mess it up.

Perhaps as a simple test though, you could try
removing the jumper on the KBPWR1 and immediately putting it
back in place. Sometimes a little scraping, as the jumper goes
over the pins on the header, will be enough to make a fresh
connection. You might also pull the PS/2 keyboard connector
out of the socket (with computer unplugged - PS/2 is not
hot swap), and examine the pins. Years ago, they used to
make connectors, where the pins could be pushed back into
the connector body - you could have a bent or displaced
pin on the connector.

And another thing, you shouldn't dismiss the power of the
"clear the CMOS" procedure. Clearing the CMOS has cured
the strangest problems - as long as you don't have a lot
of custom settings to lose in the BIOS, sometimes clearing
the CMOS will set things right. Unplug the computer before
clearing the CMOS, and follow the procedure in the manual.

Paul
 
Thanks. I might try the KBPWR1 jumper. The risk I run on clearing the
CMOS is this. If it doesn't work, I am stuck with a noisy fan setting
and no way to change it.

When you say pull the PS/2 connector out, do you mean pull it off the
motherboard? Anyway, I doubt that is the issue, since the problem
popped up from one session to the next without me touching any hardware
other than the keys on my keyboard and the mouse.

The one thing I don't think I mentioned is that I run a KVM switch into
this box. Doesn't seem impossible that could have something to do with
it. I did try a straight keyboard-in setup to verify it wasn't a bad
KVM box.

Anyway, thanks for all the tips, and maybe the record of this will help
someone else. One thing I wish I had done is to update the BIOS while
I had a working keyboard. Their advice not to update BIOS if
everything is working correctly clearly has a flaw in this instance.
 
Turns out I have the latest BIOS, so that isn't the issue. I have an
RMA number, but I will try clearing the CMOS right before I pull the
board to send it back in. Doubt I will ever buy another Asus board
again.
 
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