Dual boot XP with Win 7?

Alas, this new system is proving to be a nightmare to set up. I d/l-ed & burned the PW iso Bootable Cd which booted properly & displayed PW but I can't do anything because the wireless mouse won't work.

So I tried plugging my PS/2 mouse into the 1 Combo PS/2 Port (this is a whole other PITA I'm trying to workaround somehow) & it wouldn't work either so I've not figured out how to rectify this yet.

Things seem to be gnivom sdrawkcab when it comes to plug & play and ease of set up/use to the point of absurdity.

The handling of PS2 input devices is at times a little temperamental when it comes to hotplugging. While your PS2 mouse is connected do a reboot and it may become properly detected upon startup.

I did just that but also removed the wireless dongle (which meant I had no keyboard) & the PS/2 mouse was functional & I was able to partition the drive w/ PW. Strangely on the older computer the wireless keyb/mouse can function alongside the PS/2 without issues. Thanks to all for the advice.

I intended/hoped to use the same keyb/mouse to control both computers but several unexpected twists makes that look alot less possible.

Were you forced to remove the dongle for some reason?

F5ing said:

Were you forced to remove the dongle for some reason?

Well, yes.
1. tried PW w/ just the wireless keyb & mouse set (& their dongle) & neither worked.
2. tried PW w/ both the dongle (for keyb) and PS/2 mouse (plugged into the 1 PS/2 Combo Port) & neither worked.
3. tried PW w/ no dongle & only PS/2 mouse (plugged into the 1 PS/2 Combo Port) & the mouse worked (but had no keyb to use obviously).

I didn't even notice or think of the only 1 Combo Port on the Mobo before I got it because I never dreamed anyone would bother to combine such ports. Other than space on the board idk what other point there is except to make things less compatible as well as screw up people who might need/want to KVM.

Odd, don't think I've ever seen that before. But apparently it's supposed to work, 1 PS2 along with 1 USB without mattering which one is PS2 (keyboard or mouse).

But it sounds as if you're using a USB based KVM along with USB keyboard and USB mouse (both via a single wireless dongle) for day to day use, right? I've got the same setup, connecting many different PC's without issue. Doesn't matter how I boot them either (via HD, CD/DVD or USB). Just works.

F5ing said:

Odd, don't think I've ever seen that before. But apparently it's supposed to work, 1 PS2 along with 1 USB without mattering which one is PS2 (keyboard or mouse).

That was my understanding too.

F5ing said:

But it sounds as if you're using a USB based KVM along with USB keyboard and USB mouse (both via a single wireless dongle) for day to day use, right? I've got the same setup, connecting many different PC's without issue. Doesn't matter how I boot them either (via HD, CD/DVD or USB). Just works.

No, I've never even gotten to the KVM situation yet & have never used one. I'm guessing if I used a USB based KVM I'd put the single wireless dongle into either the keyb or mouse port of the KVM & it may work (?).

The only other sticking point is on my previous PC I need to choose which of two OS's to boot into but at that point - prior to Windows actually loading - the wireless keyb doesn't/won't function. However, once Windows loads up it does function. Now, w/ both wireless and PS/2 keyb plugged in (directly to computer) I can/could select which OS to boot into but that sort of defeats the purpose as I have to keep both keyb's at hand.

Maybe that initial screen is in DOS (??) & lacks the necessary driver for wireless keyb to work - idk. Seems like no functioning keyb would be a problem also for controlling in the BIOS? So I guess (even if not actually plugged in) I have to have a PS/2 keyb available for that.

piikea said:

No, I've never even gotten to the KVM situation yet & have never used one. I'm guessing if I used a USB based KVM I'd put the single wireless dongle into either the keyb or mouse port of the KVM & it may work (?).

That's exactly how I've got one set up. One of the two USB ports for keyboard/mouse on the KVM has the dongle in it and the other has nothing connected to it.

piikea said:

The only other sticking point is on my previous PC I need to choose which of two OS's to boot into but at that point - prior to Windows actually loading - the wireless keyb doesn't/won't function. However, once Windows loads up it does function. Now, w/ both wireless and PS/2 keyb plugged in (directly to computer) I can/could select which OS to boot into but that sort of defeats the purpose as I have to keep both keyb's at hand.

Maybe that initial screen is in DOS (??) & lacks the necessary driver for wireless keyb to work - idk. Seems like no functioning keyb would be a problem also for controlling in the BIOS? So I guess (even if not actually plugged in) I have to have a PS/2 keyb available for that.

Hard to say if a KVM would help as you might tend to think of it as adding more complexity to your connections and therefore possibly a greater chance of some incompatability. And I would think that's somewhat true. But you could also look at it this way: any incompatability that you get when you directly connect may be resolved with the KVM as long as the KVM can properly detect and work with the dongle and associated keyboard/mouse. Kind of like an adapter that allows you to connect and use an older technology with a newer technology (ie, USB to SATA, PATA to SATA, etc.).

I remember being surprised how compatable a cheap ($50) USB KVM was. Now I just expect it to work with whatever machine I throw at it (for BIOS/booting/whatever). Almost seems like I've had fewer issues with it (using it ~5 yrs now and it locked up one time) than any of the PS2 KVM's I've had. Definitely didn't do as much research before buying as I did before buying the PS2 KVM's. Just made sure the display resolution was what I wanted. If it didn't work I was gonna take it back and try out one of the $500 range KVM's, maybe even going with more expensive ethernet based KVM).

What make/model is your dongle/mouse/keyboard?

You may be right. KVM's may be a matter of trial & error.

Its a wireless Logitech mk710 w/ 1 "unifying" receiver (mk700 keyb & m705 mouse to be specific).

Another reason the PS/2 keyb has to stay around is on the older computer unless it is plugged in along w/ the wireless receiver for the mk710 I get "keyboard failure" at boot up. I really wanted less equipment to save much needed space but that's not happening apparently as far as the keyb's are concerned.

I was trying to get this more basic setup/config stuff working properly before hopefully at some point networking the 2 PC's (through a router) in order to share: same internet connection & printer. However, if I can fully migrate everything from the old PC to the new one it would save me the extra space, equipment, wires, expense, headaches, etc not to bother w/ connecting the two. The less I'm going back & forth between them the less sense a network makes.

piikea said:

You may be right. KVM's may be a matter of trial & error.

Its a wireless Logitech mk710 w/ 1 "unifying" receiver (mk700 keyb & m705 mouse to be specific).

I've got an older Logitech MX5500 / MX Revolution with a receiver (not a unifying one) connected to a KVM.

piikea said:

Another reason the PS/2 keyb has to stay around is on the older computer unless it is plugged in along w/ the wireless receiver for the mk710 I get "keyboard failure" at boot up. I really wanted less equipment to save much needed space but that's not happening apparently as far as the keyb's are concerned.

The KVM emulates working keyboard/mouse signals to all of its ports. So if I boot a machine on any of the non-selected KVM ports it'll boot normally as it thinks everything is connected even though they're not.

piikea said:

I was trying to get this more basic setup/config stuff working properly before hopefully at some point networking the 2 PC's (through a router) in order to share: same internet connection & printer. However, if I can fully migrate everything from the old PC to the new one it would save me the extra space, equipment, wires, expense, headaches, etc not to bother w/ connecting the two. The less I'm going back & forth between them the less sense a network makes.

Except I would get a router anyway, even with just a single machine. It greatly enhances security with minimal configuration. A hardware firewall that works in conjunction (seemlessly) with any of your machines and their software firewalls.