I’m actually honestly curious about the model of motherboard you have that doesn’t have BIOS-level USB keyboard support on by default. I haven’t seen that since the Pentium III days.
It’s times like this when I really miss Herbert Kornfeld. [pours a 40 on an adding machine]
This one, apparently:
Yeah, I like pressing F1 frantically like a maniac after I’ve blown the fuse on the PS2 port by plugging in the keyboard while it’s turned on. 
/note to self, don’t buy Jock’s motherboard.
Linux is about as crabby about shutting down as modern Windows and MacOS versions are: You can’t just pull the plug or hit the switch, because the filesystem has to be synched*, but it’s easy to shut down if you want to.
*(Modern OSes know that disk drives are really slow compared to everything else in the computer, so they only write data to the disk when they have to. Until then, it’s all done on a complex system of IOUs that can result in data loss if you do something like pulling the plug. Really modern filesystems, like the ones Linux uses, can handle this better than the filesystems common in the mid-1990s, though.)
I was going to suggest that. I had the same thing happen with an older motherboard I had. I wound up “borrowing” a PS2 keyboard from work. Very annoying.
/note to self, don’t buy Duke’s adding machine.
Yeah, but in the good old days, computers had a RESET button and a goddam switch that actually disconnected the power to everything, not just raised a line so the CPU could detect it IF it was alive and IF it wasn’t hung…
The RESET button was my fave. Fixed a lot of shit with that button.
Gotta be sure your swap files don’t get a “AAA” rating. Otherwise, not only your computer will crash but every computer in a ten mile radius. Plus, it will take your kids hostage until you meet its demands.
Modern power supplies and cases still have this. Motherboards still have the connector pins for the reset button too. Assuming you use barebones (usually case, motherboard, CPU, and power supply reinstalled, just add a dvd burner, ram, and a hard drive), and home built computer parts.
Problem is OEMs dropped these features, and started using parts without them because computer illiterates sometimes uses them as primary control buttons. Instead of the OS’s shut down and restart routines, they flick the switch on the back, or hit the reset button.
Can’t really blame them for their ignorance. I know if I was new and wanted to shut down my computer my first thought wouldn’t be the “start” button.
Most older AT type keyboards have a fuse on the motherboard within about an inch of the keyboard connector. The fuse protects the motherboard from keyboard short circuits and when it blows, you get the “No keyboard press F1 to resume” type of error message. Look for a solid color fuse, about 3/8" long and close to the keyboard connector. It will be identified by printing that is beside it on the motherboard like “FUSE”, F, F1, FU etc. Check it for continuity and if it is blown, you can obtain an inline fuseholder from a car parts store, electronics supplier or stereo store and solder the leads from it in parallel to the blown fuse (easier than removing the fuse from the circuit and finding a replacement). You can then use a standard AGC type clear glass fuse of 3 or 5 ampere capacity in the inline fuse holder. Those old style clear glass AGC fuses are roughly 1" long by 1/4" diameter and still readily available at car parts stores. Don’t forget to find the short circuit or the fuse may blow again. Typically this could be a point where the keyboard cable flexes a lot and the wires inside break, or maybe a loose screw rattling around in the computer case.
It’s been four years, but he’s probably figured it out by now or bought a new one.
Reminds me of the Rapper version of Word:
Write letterz N shit Yo!
I can so relate to this with my last computer.
Before my dad got the current ASUS Windows 7 computer I use, my last computer would seriously annoy me about that. I would have to keep unplugging or plugging in the the keyboard wire in different ports to get it to work. Sometimes, I would have to switch on and off the main power of the computer. And sometimes even that didn’t work. I remember me not being able to start the computer for a half hour. This happened if I shut the thing off. That’s why I normally slept it so it didn’t really happen unless the power went out or something like that. But on the occasions my computer was shut off, oh my god was that annoying.
Oh yeah, and the f1 key usually didn’t cut it, and this happened with every keyboard I tried on it.
I also just realized this is a zombie, but screw it. I need to make my rant about this.
I hope this helps you let go of your anger toward your last computer and finally move on with your life.
I posted the reply about keyboard fuse solution because this site comes up in the number one spot on Google for this problem and I didn’t find this answer elsewhere. It is not of much interest to most people who will have long ago moved on to newer computers, but for some applications, like machine tools it is not possible to update them or their software because there are attached circuits that only work with old boards. For example a used Bridgeport EzTrac milling machine is worth maybe $15000 running but only $300 as scrap cast iron, and new AT style motherboards for it are hard to get.
Our SYSOP told the receptionist at the front desk to announce over the office-wide intercom that everyone needed to log off and shut their computers down.
Then, later, he told the receptionist to tell everyone they could log back on.
She sent out an email.
If someone else have same problem “no keyboard, press F1” for me the solution was enabling in BIOS Quick Boot or Fast Boot option
With what?
By pressing F1 to get to the BIOS settings? I sense a flaw in that procedure…