Is my USB wireless keyboard not hot-swappable?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AdeW
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A

AdeW

I have a Technika H38FE2 wireless USB keyboard and mouse.

In the instructions it says: "Ensure the PC is switched off. Plug the
receiver into the USB port. ... Restart the PC"

I thought all USB devices can be plugged in while the computer is
switched on right?
 
AdeW said:
I have a Technika H38FE2 wireless USB keyboard and mouse.

In the instructions it says: "Ensure the PC is switched off. Plug the
receiver into the USB port. ... Restart the PC"

I thought all USB devices can be plugged in while the computer is
switched on right?
Click to expand...
If you do that , wat would the bios do without a keyboard?
Windows might not care , but the bios wants a keyboard as well..
 
If you do that , wat would the bios do without a keyboard?
Windows might not care , but the bios wants a keyboard as well..
Click to expand...

I have a PS/2 keyboard already plugged which i'm typing on right now.
 
Per AdeW:
I have a Technika H38FE2 wireless USB keyboard and mouse.

In the instructions it says: "Ensure the PC is switched off. Plug the
receiver into the USB port. ... Restart the PC"

I thought all USB devices can be plugged in while the computer is
switched on right?
Click to expand...

I have a few of Microsoft's wireless keyboard/mouse combos.

I also have an MS "Arc Mouse" for my laptop.

No problem hot-swapping any of them.

Windows XP.
 
I have a few of Microsoft'swirelesskeyboard/mouse combos.

I also have an MS "Arc Mouse" for my laptop.

No problem hot-swapping any of them.

Windows XP.
--
Click to expand...
Are they all USB? none of them PS/2?

PS/2 isn't hot swappable is it?

The instructions also say "Windows 2000/XP/Vista: You do not need to
install software for operation of the mouse and keyboard."

I'd have thought it was for installing any software drivers - you're
told not to have any other programs running - but if you've Win2000
and above I can't see why you can't plug the keyboard in while the
computer is on.

Here's a weblink to see the keyboard.
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-3676.aspx
 
I have a Technika H38FE2 wireless USB keyboard and mouse.

In the instructions it says: "Ensure the PC is switched off. Plug the
receiver into the USB port. ... Restart the PC"

I thought all USB devices can be plugged in while the computer is
switched on right?
Click to expand...

They can, but sometimes for the initial install you need to reboot.

Why not just follow the instructions? Sounds like you might be making this a
bit more complicated than it needs to be.

mh.
 
In message
<b7b51ce3-6d0b-4552-b89b-beee97ce52ee@j14g2000yqm.googlegroups.com> AdeW
Are they all USB? none of them PS/2?

PS/2 isn't hot swappable is it?
Click to expand...

Officially no, although in practice 99% of the time you won't fry
anything.

Once in a while, you will, such is the perils of hot-connecting an
interface not designed for it.
 
No, wrong, not ALL USB devices are hot swappable. But USB keyboards
are. However, if a USB keyboard is not plugged in when the system is
powered up, some BIOS' will not subsequently recognize one if it is
plugged in later. It depends on the bios, and, also, on some of the
settings inside the bios to enable/disable USB keyboards (this is bios
and therefore motherboard dependent).

MOST USB devices are hot swappable.
 
You can USUALLY "hot swap" a PS/2 keyboard. But not always. As I
mentioned with respect to USB keyboards, it is bios and motherboard
dependent.
 
kony said:
I've often seen systems where if they had been booted w/o a
PS2 keyboard connected, you can't get it to work w/o a
reboot even ignoring the safety or wisdom of doing so.
Click to expand...

I'd rather have people spread the notion of PS/2 not
being hot swappable like USB is, in order to prevent
more lost motherboards due to blown PS/2. I don't hot
swap mine. If I need to move my favorite keyboard and
mouse (both PS/2) to another machine, I power off to
do it.

I'm also careful with Firewire, because there
are enough sad stories around, to be suspicious
of the design of the Firewire connector system.
There are theories about how failures occur,
but no proof.

USB, I don't have concerns about that, with at
least the hot swap end of things. The only motherboard
I'm careful with, is my P4C800-E Deluxe, due to it
having the failure-prone ICH5R. If I use the USB on
that system, I plug the USB device in with the power
off. There have been enough failures of ICH5/ICH5R
without me adding to the list. I don't have to worry
about that with the other machines. My current VIA
based system has been trouble free on USB.

Paul
 
No, wrong,notALLUSBdevices arehot swappable.  ButUSBkeyboards
are.  However, if aUSBkeyboardisnotplugged in when the system is
powered up, some BIOS' willnotsubsequently recognize one if it is
plugged in later.  It depends on the bios, and, also, on some of the
settings inside the bios to enable/disableUSBkeyboards (this is bios
and therefore motherboard dependent).

MOSTUSBdevices arehot swappable.
Click to expand...

I've bought a *wireless* USB keyboard.

Is it the fact that it has a wireless infra red receiver that makes it
not hot swappable?

The keyboard itself doesn't even physically touch the PC.
 
The fact that it's wireless is almost irrelevant, but if you do plug it
in after the PC is up, you may have to hit a reset button (may have
other names) on both the keyboard itself and the wireless receiver
(which, by the way, may be either infra-red or RF).
 
Generally a wireless keyboard has a microcontroller in it's
base receiver that makes the system think there is a
keyboard even if the physical keyboard isn't present at all,
so yes it should be fully hot swappable within the
limitations we've already mentioned, that if the bios needs
to detect it prior to drivers loading, it would need plugged
in when the system enumerates the hardware after POST.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

So in other words what you're saying is the PC would have to be
restarted if the keyboard was plugged while Windows was running.
 
USB, I don't have concerns about that, with at
least the hot swap end of things. The only motherboard
I'm careful with, is my P4C800-E Deluxe, due to it
having the failure-prone ICH5R. If I use the USB on
that system, I plug the USB device in with the power
off. There have been enough failures of ICH5/ICH5R
without me adding to the list. I don't have to worry
about that with the other machines. My current VIA
based system has been trouble free on USB.

    Paul
Click to expand...

If its dependant on the motherboard, I have a Dell computer which has
the USB sockets at the back Mar 2000 (ship date) Optiplex GX1 Pentium
III (I've looked inside and can't see a model # on the motherboard)
and...

....two others I get to use which have the USB sockets at the front...

Dell Optiplex 740 AMD Athlon 64, WinXP 2002 SP3 and
Dell Dimension 3100 Pentium 4 WinXP 2002 SP3.

Would their motherboards be likely to be modern enough?

Does having the USB socket at the back of the Mar2000 Pentium III one
give a clue as to how robust it is?
 
AdeW said:
If its dependant on the motherboard, I have a Dell computer which has
the USB sockets at the back Mar 2000 (ship date) Optiplex GX1 Pentium
III (I've looked inside and can't see a model # on the motherboard)
and...

...two others I get to use which have the USB sockets at the front...

Dell Optiplex 740 AMD Athlon 64, WinXP 2002 SP3 and
Dell Dimension 3100 Pentium 4 WinXP 2002 SP3.

Would their motherboards be likely to be modern enough?

Does having the USB socket at the back of the Mar2000 Pentium III one
give a clue as to how robust it is?
Click to expand...

The point of my statement was, that instances of designs that
have problems with USB port reliability are relatively rare.
Intel has not admitted there is a problem with ICH5/ICH5R.
The only site admitting there is a problem with chips like
that, is the Gigabyte site. They are mainly concerned
with static discharge. I'm not convinced their analysis
is totally correct. There was one user who had a USB failure
that happened when his system was rebooted. In that case,
the initial damage may have been by static, but the only
trigger was the reboot. I think there is more to the issue
than just static electricity. But if Intel chooses to not
explain the problem, we'll never know. I'm sure Intel has
done post-mortem analysis and knows exactly what the mistake
was.

http://tw2005.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/FAQ/FAQ_456.htm

Your Dimension 3100 comes just after that generation of
chip, so should not have a USB issue. The 915GV likely has
something like ICH6 on it. Using a utility like Everest,
you may be able to list the hardware inventory in the computer,
and figure it out from that.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3100/en/sm/specs0.htm#wp1052310

Other brands and model numbers of chips should not have a problem.

The only other instance I know of, is PCI USB2 cards with
NEC chips, tend to be static sensitive. I've seen reports
from a number of people, where one or more ports on their
PCI USB2 cards end up blown. While the other ports
continue to work. The ports seem to fail independently
on the NEC chip.

The above Gigabyte article makes a reference to ICH4
also having the problem, but I haven't seen evidence of
that in the newsgroups. Whenever the USB problem shows
up, it seems to be the ICH5/ICH5R at fault. If it is
happening to ICH4, nobody has complained about it.

Paul
 
In message <[email protected]> Barry Watzman
No, wrong, not ALL USB devices are hot swappable. But USB keyboards
are. However, if a USB keyboard is not plugged in when the system is
powered up, some BIOS' will not subsequently recognize one if it is
plugged in later. It depends on the bios, and, also, on some of the
settings inside the bios to enable/disable USB keyboards (this is bios
and therefore motherboard dependent).
Click to expand...

Doesn't the USB interface require hotswapping at an electrical level?

Sure, you'll find cases where the device or driver needs notice to avoid
data loss, or but you're electrically safe to disconnect if needed.
 
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