Cant get back to Windows...

[dr.P]

I got a new external harddrive and I was trying to make a backup with norton ghost. Everything seemed to be going ok and I got to the point where it said I need to restart and it was going to enter the whole DOS interface. Well, I think the problem is that my computer (a dell desktop) only has USB keyboard and mouse connections and they're not working. When I restart there is an option: Choose 1 to run the ghost thing, choose 2 to start windows. It won't let me choose 2. Then after several minutes it fails and the default says it will resume windows if no keys are hit... but it never does.

Is there a way to use the setup or boot menus before Norton ghost takes over to get into windows and uninstall this program?

Thanks!

[Allan]

When the system first boots watch for a message on the screen that says PRESS F2 TO ENTER SETUP. At that point, press F2 (or whatever key it says). Let's see if the system recognizes the keyboard at that point. If it does, enter bios and look for a setting that says something along the lines of: Enable USB at boot. If you see that, enable it and reboot.

Worst case, borrow a ps2 keyboard.

[dr.P]

so I tried that last night and I can actually enter the setup mode. From there I entered menus that let me enable the USB ports. Then I'd restart but still have the same problem when ghost boots up.

What is a ps2 keyboard? I don't have any other place to plug in a keyboard or mouse on my computer...

[Allan]

There are no PS2 ports on your system? Look again (in the back).

But it sounds as though the system DOES see your keyboard so I'm really not sure what's going on. Boot to an XP CD and do a repair install (http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm)

[dr.P]

will this repair install make me lose all my files on the harddrive?

[Allan]

No. When done properly a repair install will not affect any installed programs or settings either. Just carefully follow the instruction in the link I posted. Once you boot back into Windows you'll have to go to Windows Update and download a bunch of updates.