Is the keyboard hot pluggable?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Olcott
  • Start date Start date
P

Peter Olcott

Can the keyboard be safely unplugged, and plugged back in
with the power turned on?
 
Can the keyboard be safely unplugged, and plugged back in
with the power turned on?
Click to expand...
USB, yes. PS2 - well some can and some can't. Usually it buggers up the
motherboard PS2 port.
 
Meaning that it damages the motherboard PS2 port?
Click to expand...

Meaning that it could, but more often the problem is it
isn't designed to be redetected.

Simple answer - don't do it.
 
Meaning that it could, but more often the problem is it
isn't designed to be redetected.

Simple answer - don't do it.
Click to expand...

Already did it, and trying to see if this is the cause of my problems.
What problems can this cause? If this is the cause of my problems
would replacing the keybarod with a USB keyboard fix the problem?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
PeteOlcott said:
Already did it, and trying to see if this is the cause of my problems.
What problems can this cause? If this is the cause of my problems
would replacing the keybarod with a USB keyboard fix the problem?
Click to expand...

If the only thing you managed to bugger up is the PS2 keyboard controller,
possibly. Can't hurt to try though.

SteveH
 
Already did it, and trying to see if this is the cause of my problems.
What problems can this cause? If this is the cause of my problems
would replacing the keybarod with a USB keyboard fix the problem?
Click to expand...

Try keyboard with another system. Try another keyboard with
that system.

Yes a USB keyboard should still work, it is only coincidence
it is a keyboard as the port is different.
Click to expand...
 
On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:24:39 -0800 (PST), PeteOlcott



Try keyboard with another system.  Try another keyboard with
that system.

Yes a USB keyboard should still work, it is only coincidence
it is a keyboard as the port is different.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Would both types of keyboard interfaces (USB and PS2) use the same
keyboard controller on the motherboard?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:39:30 -0800 (PST), PeteOlcott


Try keyboard with another system. Try another keyboard with
that system.
Click to expand...

Best not to risk doing that. Although it's never happened to me I
have heard stories (from trustworthy sources) of damage being passed
from system to system in this manner. The keyboard is unplugged and
the system is damaged. The system then damages any keyboard plugged
into it. The damaged keyboard then damages any system it is plugged
into. For a cheap keyboard I doubt it's worth the risk. If you had a
premium or particularly treasured keyboard, maybe - keyboards are
highly personal things after all - but test it on a scrapper first.
I'd generally throw out the keyboard as a bad risk and seal off the
mobo's keyboard port with e.g. epoxy to prevent anything being
inserted in future. Just make sure it isn't one of those graphite or
silver loaded conductive epoxies.
 
Would both types of keyboard interfaces (USB and PS2) use the same
keyboard controller on the motherboard?
Click to expand...

No. FWIW the keyboard controller is actually embedded in the
keyboard. The two different standards use completely independent
systems. From memory even the scancodes are different.
 
Would both types of keyboard interfaces (USB and PS2) use the same
keyboard controller on the motherboard?
Click to expand...

No, the PS2 ports generally have the controller in the
superIO chip. The USB ports are a separate controller which
is (depending on the age of the board) in a discrete USB
controller on older boards or the soutbridge (or northbridge
on single chip, chipsets) on newer boards.
 
Best not to risk doing that. Although it's never happened to me I
have heard stories (from trustworthy sources) of damage being passed
from system to system in this manner.
Click to expand...

It is possible but IMO, if one were to always throw away any
suspect part instead of retrying it, there would be a lot of
trash unnecessarily.

The keyboard is unplugged and
the system is damaged. The system then damages any keyboard plugged
into it.
Click to expand...

Not likely. If the keyboard controller were damaged it
would just not work with another keyboard, not damage
another keyboard.

The damaged keyboard then damages any system it is plugged
into.
Click to expand...

While possible, it is also unlikely... remembering that the
two parts did work together already, rather than one or the
other being grossly defective.

For a cheap keyboard I doubt it's worth the risk. If you had a
premium or particularly treasured keyboard, maybe - keyboards are
highly personal things after all - but test it on a scrapper first.
I'd generally throw out the keyboard as a bad risk and seal off the
mobo's keyboard port with e.g. epoxy to prevent anything being
inserted in future. Just make sure it isn't one of those graphite or
silver loaded conductive epoxies.
Click to expand...

Seems a bit extreme. When the controller is damaged it's
just be the logic circuit burnt out which doesn't generally
subject connected parts to damage. It might be different if
it were a manufacturing defect.
 
Would both types of keyboard interfaces (USB and PS2) use the same
keyboard controller on the motherboard?
Click to expand...

No

PS/2 was not designed to be hot plugable, so you have a good chance of
breaking something by doing so.

USB has alwasy been hot pluggable so you're safe to plug in whenever you
like.
 
Peter Olcott said:
Can the keyboard be safely unplugged, and plugged back in with the power
turned on?
Click to expand...

While not a good idea, I've done it on about every system I've ever owned.
The current one falls out every few weeks or so, at which time I plug it
back in and go about my business.

The only thing that is noticeably different is that the typematic rate
changes, at least until the next boot.

I wouldn't recommend it, though.

Jon
 
Peter said:
Can the keyboard be safely unplugged, and plugged back in
with the power turned on?
Click to expand...

If the keyboard is PS2 i would say the answer is a no. If the keyboard
is USB i would say yes

j1mb0jay
 
Peter said:
Can the. keyboard be safely unplugged, and plugged back in
with the power turned on?
Click to expand...
You can usually get away with it, but except for the USB ports, the
hardware isn't designed to tolerate that because its chips can't
handle current surges very well, and there are almost no protection
devices placed between the MOS chips and outside world. The situation
was usually better with old designs, where every outside connection
would have a resistor in series (and perhaps an inductor), a capacitor
to ground, and be clamped to ground through a diode and clamped to Vcc
through a zener diode. And between those components and the expensive
chips would often be a generic buffer chip that was not only rugged
but could be replaced inexpensively.
 
Not likely. If the keyboard controller were damaged it
would just not work with another keyboard, not damage
another keyboard.
Click to expand...

I agree it is unlikely and it has certainly never happended to me
personally, however it _has_ happened that way in the past. At
the very least it is an issue to be aware of, save you end up
destroying more and more equipment in the attempt to diagnose what
has gone wrong. A simple £10 fix for a new USB keyboard could end
up costing hundreds.
Seems a bit extreme. When the controller is damaged it's
just be the logic circuit burnt out which doesn't generally
subject connected parts to damage. It might be different if
it were a manufacturing defect.
Click to expand...

I do see another possibility, using a disposable keyboard (a £5
type, or one that has been replaced because some of the keys are
tempremental) to test the system. If it works, great, you've
isolated the problem which was the original keyboard and it needs
junking. If not, then conservately regard _both_ keyboards as
suspect and junk them and block of the port (now known to be
defective) to prevent any further possibility of damage.
 
kony said:
Meaning that it could, but more often the problem is it
isn't designed to be redetected.

Simple answer - don't do it.
Click to expand...

Indeed! I' ve done it before (PS2 port on old Asus CUSL2-C)) and the
keyboard controller was definitively dead. Fortunately, I could still use an
USB kbd.
 
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