A keyboard on a serial port?

[CompuDocs]

Had a customer call me with a strange problem. Seems they knocked the ps/2 keyboard port innards wacky when moving the machine. They took to B*st B*y to have it repaired. The tech put in a serial port and a ps/2 to serial adapter. Now the keyboard won't get recognized by bios but will work for a while in Windows and then quit.

This is a new one on me. Any information, comments?

Charlie

[Damned Angel]

WTF?? That is the stupidst thing I have ever heard of. Get the ps/2 yo serial adapter outta there, it will only work for a mouse. Breakout the soldering iron and put a new ps/2 header on that board, make sure it works and tell them to go back to the crappy store, smack the tech with a big trout and demand their money back. I bet the tech who fixed the machine just got his A+ or MCSE and has never touched a real machine before.

[CompuDocs]

Are you sure about the trout?




Charlie

[shawnMt]

A serial port and PS/2 adapter for a KEYBOARD?? That like, short circuits my brain just to think of it.

Its ok to have a mouse on a comm port but a keyboard needs a keyboard controller, not a damn comm port! Do like Angel says and replace the header. If you are not comfortable solering on the board then tell them they need a new board.

I also still like the trout idea, though it may be pushing it a little

[The-Fro]

Hehe, the trout is the most important part. I bet if you just did that, the keyboard would start working again on its own.

[goofbal]

Possible USB Port
user doesn't understand difference from usb and serial port?

[ellingtond]

Reminds me; last week I go into a new clients office. . .they needed some help and their last tech guy had disappeared. . . the owner was married to a friend so I agreed to go. . .

Anyway, they had one system, fairly new, with Win 98 and a nice new HP deskjet printer. (820 or something.)

The printer wasn't working correctly, so I started checking it out. . . there were NO other printers connected to this computer, but the guy had set it up on the COM2. . . he was using a modern Pentium II system with Win98 and an brand new printer and had it set up on the COM port (With a gender changer). . . .OK, why? If someone can offer a compelling reason, I am all ears. I reset it to LPT1 and it worked fine. . . .

That would make a good thread. . . strangest thing the tech guy before me did that I had to figure out. . . because the problem when you see something like that is you assume they did it for a reason, and you have to figure out what that reason was so you don't screw up something else. . .

[shawnMt]

ellingtond makes a good point.
If I go behind someone and there is something insanely wrong (like a new printer on COM2) I am always real careful, and assume at first, that the person did it for a reason.

Just a thought - maybe they were using some ancient software that would only print to a serial port?

[This message has been edited by shawnMt (edited March 27, 2000).]

[CompuDocs]

So far......

I just got the system today. It does have a USB, they just couldn't get the lingo straight on the phone. There's more.
The PC is an ACER model 5150LR. Went to Acers site to hopefully get a BIOS update to handle USB better. ACER doesn't acknowledge the P/N, doesn't even list a 5150, much less a 5100 series. It might be quite a trick to get this keyboard recognized before the OS kicks in, so getting into the setup is another task altogether. The serial ports both have DB9 to PS/2 adapters on them. The Microsoft ergonomic keyboard has both USB and PS/2 connectors. The mouse doesn't respond on the PS/2 port.

So far I am thinking, they can't get into bios to enable the ps/2 port for the mouse, so that's on com1. They have connected the keyboard using the usb, and since it doesn't work right are also using the ps/2 connector on com2.

I'm getting dizzy now.

Thinking about maybe having trout for dinner.

Charlie

[oldman]

from what i understand about USB if the bios does not support usb keyboard in dos you are out of luck

[cttech]

Ahhh yes the mysterious unknown Acer. I have seen this before, with the same problem. The I/O controller is most likely shot (it was on the one I worked on). Told the cust they needed a new M/B, however the boars is propriatary, and NLA from ACER. Sell them a new PC and be done with it.

[ellingtond]

Yea, besides the obvious Pac-Bell. . .I always tell clients not to buy a computer that starts with an A!

Acer, Aptiva, AST. . . . its easy to remember.