Setting USB BIOS to Legacy

[CA1055588]

Hello,

I've been trying to get a APC UPS device and it's software, PowerChute 1.3.1, to maintain communication with my Compaq EVOD310 running Windows XP.

Their tech support suggested alterations to the BIOS, but when I access my PC's BIOS config utility (F10)...there is nothing resembling their suggestion. Anyone have any thoughts. I don't want to mess around with the BIOS unless someone can point me in the right direction. I've had issues with an IOMEGA external drive and they too suggested a change in my USB Legacy BIOS. Where is this confounding USB Lagacy BIOS setting?? Their exact suggestion appears below. Thanks!

****
In order to prevent loss of communication on reboot, you will need to disable Advanced Power Management in the BIOS of your computer. If you are unfamiliar with the BIOS settings of your computer, you will need to contact your computer manufacturer for assistance in disabling Advanced Power
Management.

Also, ensure that Legacy USB device is enabled in BIOS. It may also be occasionaly listed as Legacy mouse.

[CA655597]

The Advanced Power Management is an older term. I believe your PC calls it ACPI and you can play with it under Advanced options.

http://www.acpi.info/ says

ACPI evolves the existing collection of power management BIOS code, Advanced Power Management (APM) application programming interfaces (APIs, PNPBIOS APIs, Multiprocessor Specification (MPS) tables and so on into a well-defined power management and configuration interface specification.


I think XP expects APCI so you may run into trouble with XP if you turn it off. Better is to turn it off in XP:


Click Start , and then click Control Panel .


In Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance , and then click Power Options .


Click the APM tab.


Check to unselect the Enable Advanced Power Management Support check box, and then click OK.



There is nothing in your D310 bios about legacy USB however, you may want to try the two USB files at:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/EvoDesktop/us/locate/63_4377.html

Universal Serial Bus 2.0 Support for Windows XP

Microsoft Windows XP Fix for USB 2.0 Driver Issues (Q836959)



In addition it wouldn't hurt to have the latest BIOS and Intel Chipset support available on the same page.

Ron

[CA1055588]

Ron,

Thanks. I discovered the USB 2.0 fix and installed it. Going to leave things be for a while to see if my APC UPS behaves itself. If not, I'll try the BIOS update.

Thanks again.

[CA893598]

To answer the original question - the "USB legacy BIOS setting" is an option that allows the BIOS to provide support for USB keyboards.

Most PCs will display an error at POST if no keyboard is detected, usually says something like "301 keyboard error, press F1 to continue". Servers may have an option to permit booting without a keyboard, but desktops typically will halt.

The USB legacy support option in the BIOS allows the BIOS to detect the USB keyboard and not halt displaying this message