Keypad and troubleshooting under MS-DOS Read through all steps before beginning. Steps below are specific for COM port 1 and COM port 2 configurations. FIRST, some steps to set the environment into a known working state that we'll work from: 1. Remove all other connected devices from the notebook 2. Disconnect any other attached devices including the IO bar from the notebook 3. Run a virus checker on your notebook 4. If possible complete a back up of at least your data before proceeding (not necessary just a common step of cautionary troubleshooting) As the Toshiba notebook restarts get into the BIOS settings. The steps below will ensure that your serial port is enabled and configured for COM1 (3F8H / IRQ 4) in the BIOS. For Non-Toshiba notebooks, please refer to your notebook user's guide on enabling and configuring your COM ports. 1. Press and Hold ESC right after the notebook completes the shutdown from above. 2. You'll get a Check system. Then Press [F1] key. 3. Press F1 key 4. Locate the Serial Port setup information (on many notebooks, you'll need to press the PgDn key to get to a second page). 5. Make sure the Serial Port is enabled and configured for COM1. 6. Press [END] key to save any changes you made and restart the notebook. Perform a clean boot to troubleshoot a possible hardware conflict. Follow the appropriate section below to boot clean (without any Autoexec.bat or config.sys files) For Windows 98 Restart the computer system. After the system has completed its BIOS check, (just before the Windows 98 logo screen) press and hold the CONTROL key (Ctrl) until the "Windows 98 Startup Menu" appears. Now press "Shift+F5" and the computer system should report "Windows is Bypassing your Startup files." For Windows 95 Restart the computer system. When the message "Starting Windows 95..." appears, press the F8 key. This will take you to the "Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu". Now press "Shift+F5" and the computer system should report "Windows is Bypassing your Startup files." For DOS® 6.0 or Higher Restart the computer system. When the message "Starting MS-DOS..." appears, press the F5 key and the computer system should report "MS-DOS has bypassed your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT". DOS 5.0 or Earlier Create a DOS "system disk" for drive A: with the "Format A: /S" command. Start the computer with this boot disk in drive A. Type Format a: /s and press ENTER (if you get a bad command or filename you'll need to ascertain the location of your MS-DOS files and type the complete path. For example, if they are in the DOS directory, type C:\dos\format a: /s and press ENTER). 1. After booting cleanly insert the Keypad driver diskette into Drive A and type A:\DOSINST and press ENTER. This will start the install process. 2. At the COM port screen, select COM1 3. At the testing screen, type on your keypad. The keypad is working and configured for the correct port when the keypad box turns dark. 4. If the keypad test fails you can select a different COM port setting and recheck. Although since the BIOS in the steps above was set to COM1 and the install program was set to COM1, this step is unnecessary. 5. If the keypad works here, but when your restart your notebook off of the hard disk drive it does not work, then there is a device driver conflict in either your config.sys or autoexec.bat files. Refer to the Software conflicts section next. Troubleshoot Software/device driver conflicts information If the keypad loads and works correctly when you boot clean as described in the above section, then there may be a conflict with something being loaded in the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files. To determine the specific software causing the conflict, you will need to add back the contents of the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files one line at a time until the mouse fails again. To add back the contents of the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, follow the instructions below. DOS 6.0 or higher Using DOS 6.0 or later, restart the computer, press the F8 key when the message "Starting MS- DOS..." appears. The computer system should report "MS-DOS will prompt you to confirm each CONFIG.SYS command". At this point, press "Y" for each line you wish to load. Load one additional line each time and retest the mouse. When the keypad fails to load, or the symptom reappears, it is most likely the last line loaded is causing the conflict. Contact the vendor of the software for an update or more information about the software. Sometimes loading these utilities in a different order is all that is required to resolve the conflict. In general, we recommend loading the keypad driver before any other resident software. DOS 5.0 or earlier Using DOS 5.0 or earlier, copy the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS from the hard drive to the "boot disk" in the A: drive. Now open these files in a text editor and place a "REM" in front of any lines that load memory resident software. Restart the computer system with this boot disk and retest the mouse. If the mouse now loads correctly, remove the "REM' statements one line at a time, restart the system, and recheck the keypad device each time. When the conflict reappears, it will most likely be the last line reinstated which is causing the conflict. Contact the vendor of the software for an update or more information. Sometimes loading these utilities in a different order is all that is required to resolve the conflict. In general, we recommend loading the DOS keypad before any other resident software. Other Notes and Considerations 1. The DOS driver commands are all located on the diskette in a DOSDRV subdirectory. During the installation once the com port is selected by the user and confirmed during the test, the installation simply copies the appropriate driver file to c:\keypad subdirectory. For example, a COM1 selection would copy KEY1C.COM to C:\KEYPAD\KEYS.COM file. This is a back door method of swapping the driver for another one to use a different COM port. 2. The installation simply adds a line to the Autoexec.bat file c:\keypad\keys to execute the DOS driver. If the keypad works when this command is typed from the C:\ prompt manually, but not when MS- DOS is booted, then there is something in Autoexec causing this file to not get executed. Try editing Autoexec.bat and moving the line to the top of the file. 3. If the install fails refer to the two notes above (1) copy the correct file from the \DOSDRV directory on the disk to a folder on your harddrive, (2) add the command to the autoexec.bat file. For example, first create a folder named \KEYPAD on your C: drive. Second, if your serial port is designated as COM1, copy the KEY1C.COM to your hard drive. Lastly, add the command c:\KEYPAD\KEY1C to your autoexec.bat file. 4. The DOS driver has been tested under MS-DOS v6.22, as well as the Windows 95 and Windows 98 MS-DOS v4.xx. 5. The COM ports do need to be configured for standard IRQ and I/O resources. The driver will be unable to find a COM 1 on IRQ5 for example. The correct setting for COM1 is IRQ 4 and I/O 03F8 and for COM2 is IRQ3 and I/O 02F8. 6. If the serial ports appear to be correctly configured, then it is possible that a modem or other internal device in the system may be interfering with the serial port the keypad is trying to use. Try removing these devices to see if the conflict is eliminated. If the keypad works when these devices are removed, add them back one by one, and verify the keypad still works. If the keypad fails again, the last device reinstalled is most likely the conflicting hardware. Check the settings of this device and be sure it is not set to the same hardware settings as the serial port being used. If the symptoms continue, try the keypad on another system to verify that the keypad is working properly.