Member Avatar for struesdell

Hi everyone,

I woke up this morning, had a cup of coffee, and turned on my computer so I could check my e-mail and read some news sites. Suddenly, my computer starts reporting at me with all kinds of system beeps, and I see that my startup is complaining that my keyboard isn't plugged in.

Thinking that my cat must have jostled the cable in the night, I wiggled it, pulled it out, plugged it back in, and hit F1. Worked fine. All the lights on the keyboard were normal, and windows began to startup.

About this time, I noticed that my Num-Lock indicator light was lit. I tried to toggle it, but no luck. This is a problem, as my o, p, l, ;, . and , keys all become numbers when Num-lock is turned on. I figured it was just windows demanding that my Num-lock stay on while it loaded.

My login screen pops up, and I go to enter my password. Keys don't work. Hmm. So I hit Caps-lock to see if that's working, no light. Hmm.

I tried restarting, I tried unplugging the keyboard and making sure it didn't have any missing pins or anything rediculous like that. I tried checking the cord for damage. Everything seems fine.

The last thing I tried was unplugging it after booting all the way to windows, and plugging in back in. It still works to hit F1 at startup ( and still complains that there's no keyboard, though the sound is gone. ) but it does nothing but stare at me with all its status lights blinking slowly.

I grabbed my fiancee's USB keyboard, and I'm trying to find help. Didn't get anything out of google, but it's tough to search for "PS2 Keyboard problem windows XP"

Anyone have any idea what this could be?

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Dani AI

Generated

Extra troubleshooting and repair notes for PS/2 keyboard issues. As suggested, trying a suspect keyboard in another machine is the quickest way to narrow whether the fault is the peripheral or the PC. The short checklist below adds focused diagnostics and low-effort fixes to try before replacing the keyboard.

  • Power down the PC before connecting or disconnecting PS/2 devices. PS/2 ports are generally not hot-pluggable and live swapping can damage the keyboard or controller.
  • Inspect the round DIN plug and the cable near the strain relief for bent pins, corrosion, frayed wiring or crushed insulation. Bent pins can sometimes be straightened carefully; cable breaks often occur inside the connector area.
  • If you can get into BIOS/POST and the keyboard works there but not in the OS, concentrate on Windows: check Device Manager, uninstall/reinstall the keyboard device, and check Accessibility options (Filter/Sticky/Togg le Keys) or any scancode-remapping utilities.
  • If the keyboard does not work in BIOS, treat it as hardware. Open it to clean the membrane/contact pads with isopropyl, check solder joints at the cable header, and inspect the controller board for cracked traces or blown components.
  • For compact or specialty boards, check vendor support for replacement membranes, controllers, or key modules. Note that passive PS/2-to-USB adapters only work if the keyboard supports USB signaling; otherwise use an active converter or a native USB keyboard.

If repair effort or parts cost outweigh replacement, a new keyboard or an active converter is the simplest route. For niche layouts, vendor repair or parts may still be the best option.

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Member Avatar for J_Search

struesdell,

Try the "broken" keyboard in your fiancee's computer. If it works, you know your problem is the computer. Otherwise...

What's the condition of the keyboard? There could be something creating a connection between the keys and the contact pad. (where the metal to metal connection is made for the keyboard to know you are pressing a key). However, usually when this happens BIOS will let you know that a keyboard key is stuck.

You could take apart the keyboard and check everything out. There isn't much to a keyboard but the top which holds all the keys in place, the middle pad which holds all the contacts, and then the little card with the microcircuits on it connected to the keyboard's wire. If you don't want to even bother, just buy another keyboard.

J_

Member Avatar for struesdell

Thanks J_Search!

I don't know why I didn't think to grab the keyboard and try it in my Fiancee's computer. Silly me. :)

Having now done so, it's definitely the keyboard! That solves the mystery. Now I just have to buy a new one. I've been using a TypeMatrix model 2020, so repairing it myself is going to be difficult. I'll just have to get a new one.

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it!

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