A friend and I have been ministering to his machine, as described.
He has had Ubuntu on one partition for a while, windows on the other.
We suspect the BIOS or related issue---whatever it is, it  is
rendering the machine useless.

First, the keyboard is totally unresponsive.   EXCEPT when we can boot
GNU/Linux!  The "X" key does sometimes work when booting from Grub,
causing the "boot:" message to be repeated each time it is pressed. No
other key seemed to work at that time.  We couldn't operate in the
BIOS setup, until a Compaq web site suggested we press "F10" before
booting.  Then is was ok.  We could see nothing there that could help.
 However, even then the Live CDs we tried were excruciatingly slow.
So slow that it was hard to tell whether they, or the installed
systems worked at all.

Damned Small Linux was working!  It, and Kubuntu too, booted sometimes
without an "Enter" key being pressed.  Then, after a boot, we were
able to access the keyboard.   Trinity Repair Kit also booted, and the
keyboard was ok, in console mode; we weren't sure what to do from
there...

A USB keyboard was likewise dead, when we tried it.  We could get
responses rarely from the onboard keyboard.

I suspected BIOS issues, and possibly a need to flash.  The Compaq web
site is not exactly straightforward.

My friend, as well as myself, would appreciate any suggestions.  Does
any of this ring a bell?

Thank you,

Alan Davis

-- 
Alan Davis, Kagman High School, Saipan  [log in to unmask]     1-670-256-2043

I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I
must share it with other people who like it.
                                          --------Richard Stallman

        The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website,
           web based bulletinboard for questions and answers:
              Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com