Keyboard frozen on BIOS setup

Factual Questions
1

I want to install Linux on my rather old (early 2002) Dell laptop. To do this I need to boot from a CD and so need to change the boot order in setup. Unfortunately when I enter setup the keyboard has become totally unresponsive. I can’t do anything, including exit. The keyboard works fine before I enter setup (otherwise I couldn’t have hit F2 to get there). I also tried using an external keyboard but it acts just the same as the built in. It won’t even boot from a floppy.

Any ideas or am I just going to have to junk it? It is not worth it to me to continue using as it is as it badly needs a clean install of XP or some other OS.

2

You could try blowing away the boot sector on the hard drive. With any luck, the BIOS will then try booting the CD.

3

That may be worth a try, I even have an old hard drive I could swap in as a non-destructive test. A project for the weekend I think.