I am rebuilding my wifes laptop (Acer Aspire) with XP and have come against a problem - neither the keyboard or the tracker pad are recognised by the system

I am using the supplied restore CD's (4 of them)

ie) I have plugged in an external USB mouse - that has sorted that - but the keyboard has me stumped

I need to type in "at least one" user name - to proceed - but the keyboard won't let me

Once running - I can find the drivers and load them but .....

Any suggestions ?

That's a weird issue! There's an option during XP install to load any external drivers. Does your wife's laptop have a floppy drive? (Rare these days i know). If so, you should be able to get the drivers from the Acer site. Then you can load the drivers during install and it should solve the problem.

Alternatively, you MIGHT be able to use a USB stick to do the same thing.

If you have an alternate PC you can also burn a cd with them, and depending on your expertise you can re-create the back-up cd's with the correct drivers for future "repairs".

You might want to explore the acer website to find the correct (or generic) drivers for the laptop in question.

But with no working keyboard - I am unable to get past the "INPUT AT LEAST ONE USERNAME" stage - which stops me from installing *any* drivers

and No - no floppy anyway

Twee:

ie) I have plugged in an external USB mouse - that has sorted that - but the keyboard has me stumped

Any suggestions ?

USB keyboard?

Twee

No expert here.

But I do recall something. If you current keyboard situation allows you to do it.

When you switch your laptop on, you should be able to go into safe configuration mode, which is before the log-on. On the configuration screen, you may be able to select keyboard.

Without rebooting, I cannot remember how to go into configuraion. Is it F8 or alt F8. Something like that.

Huckster

you can adjust some setting in the BIOS screen (which is different from safemode)...

If you do not have a USB keyboard as suggested do you have an older style PS2 keyboard say form a desktop pc? most laptops will have a ps2 connection that you cna use.

Thanks - my PC keyboard is wireless - so no help - I do not have a USB or PS2 keyboard

I have managed to finish the XP install - but the keyboard and tracker pad don't work - 90% of the time

I reckon a dodgy connection internally rather than a software issue

Using F2 accesses the BIOS - but that doesn't help at all - no mention of k/b or mice in the BIOS

The only other option is F10 boot options

AaaaAAAArgh !!!

Intermittant KY and tracker functionality does point to a hardware problem your right - you only option is to obtain/purchase external versions to replace them or for a ot more cahs send it off to have these componets replaced.