PS/2 "keyboard" not working on Thinkpad T20 w/ 98SE

Hi, I have a digital game controller from a company called ACT Labs
which plugs into the keyboard PS/2 port and is supposed to be
identified by the system as a keyboard. However, I can't seem to get
it working on my IBM Thinkpad T20 laptop which is running Windows 98SE.

I am aware that the PS/2 port on this laptop does not accept keyboards
by default, but I have the needed splitter/adapter and can indeed get a
normal keyboard working just fine by plugging it in. I know that the
game controller works since it works fine on other computers and I can
even get it working on this laptop if I first plug a normal PS/2
keyboard in and then unplug it and plug in the controller. But I'm
sure that shouldn't be necessary and in fact it's not necessary on the
other computers I've used the controller on, on other computers the
PS/2 pad is recognized and works straight off whether or not any other
keyboards have been plugged into the system since boot. The computers
that the controller works on are both desktops, one runnning Windows
2000 and the other ME.

I would assume that since the controller begins working after a real
keyboard has been plugged into the PS/2 port that there's something
wrong with the way it identifies itself and so Windows doesn't even
think it's a keyboard and just ignores it. This problem must have been
addressed in later versions of Windows (or maybe it has to do with the
fact that it's a laptop that I'm not able to get it working on, I
dunno). SO, anyway, aside from just wondering what's up, what I'd like
to know is is tere any way to maunally load the same drivers that
automatically get loaded when a real PS/2 keyboard is inserted. That
way I'll be able to use the gamepad on my laptop without having to
carry around a full size keyboard with me just plugging in and
unplugging once.

I've done some pretty extensive Googling on the topic and can't seem to
find any good solutions. The closest I've found is a guy whose PS/2
keyboard wasn't being recognized behind a KVM switch. He was running
XP and in some other ways his problem wasn't identical to mine, but
solution he eventually came up with was booting the system with the
keyboard plugged in directly and then hibernating so that all the
existing drivers would remain in place and using that instead of hard
reboots. I suppose I could do this, but it seems like there should be
a better solution.

By the way, the controller is not even recognized in DOS or in my
system's BIOS menu, so it doesn't seem to be a strictly Windows
problem.

Any help anyone could give me would be much appreciated.


....word is bondage...

ThinkPads can generally be used with a "true PS/2" keyboard. Fancy
Internet keyboards rarely work.
Your is not even a keyboard, much less "true PS/2".
That's the fact,s Jack
BTW, unplugging and plugging your PS device with the unit on will
likely blow out the PS2 port at some point

On 26 Aug 2005 18:32:35 -0700, "Sweater Fish" wrote:

Hi, I have a digital game controller from a company called ACT Labs
which plugs into the keyboard PS/2 port and is supposed to be
identified by the system as a keyboard. However, I can't seem to get
it working on my IBM Thinkpad T20 laptop which is running Windows 98SE.

I am aware that the PS/2 port on this laptop does not accept keyboards
by default, but I have the needed splitter/adapter and can indeed get a
normal keyboard working just fine by plugging it in. I know that the
game controller works since it works fine on other computers and I can
even get it working on this laptop if I first plug a normal PS/2
keyboard in and then unplug it and plug in the controller. But I'm
sure that shouldn't be necessary and in fact it's not necessary on the
other computers I've used the controller on, on other computers the
PS/2 pad is recognized and works straight off whether or not any other
keyboards have been plugged into the system since boot. The computers
that the controller works on are both desktops, one runnning Windows
2000 and the other ME.

I would assume that since the controller begins working after a real
keyboard has been plugged into the PS/2 port that there's something
wrong with the way it identifies itself and so Windows doesn't even
think it's a keyboard and just ignores it. This problem must have been
addressed in later versions of Windows (or maybe it has to do with the
fact that it's a laptop that I'm not able to get it working on, I
dunno). SO, anyway, aside from just wondering what's up, what I'd like
to know is is tere any way to maunally load the same drivers that
automatically get loaded when a real PS/2 keyboard is inserted. That
way I'll be able to use the gamepad on my laptop without having to
carry around a full size keyboard with me just plugging in and
unplugging once.

I've done some pretty extensive Googling on the topic and can't seem to
find any good solutions. The closest I've found is a guy whose PS/2
keyboard wasn't being recognized behind a KVM switch. He was running
XP and in some other ways his problem wasn't identical to mine, but
solution he eventually came up with was booting the system with the
keyboard plugged in directly and then hibernating so that all the
existing drivers would remain in place and using that instead of hard
reboots. I suppose I could do this, but it seems like there should be
a better solution.

By the way, the controller is not even recognized in DOS or in my
system's BIOS menu, so it doesn't seem to be a strictly Windows
problem.

Any help anyone could give me would be much appreciated.


...word is bondage...

Sweater Fish wrote:
Hi, I have a digital game controller from a company called ACT Labs
which plugs into the keyboard PS/2 port and is supposed to be
identified by the system as a keyboard. However, I can't seem to get
it working on my IBM Thinkpad T20 laptop which is running Windows 98SE.

DETAILS SNIPPED

Since making my original post, I discovered two things: first, no
drivers are loaded when a proper keyboard is plugged into the PS/2
port, the port is just "opened" so to speak and second, I tried
installing Windows XP on a partition and tested my PS/2 controller in
that and had the exact same symptoms as in 98SE, so it's definitely a
hardware incompatibility, not a software problem.

Those two facts pretty well dashed my hopes of coming up with a
software solution to my problem.

I did come up with a solution, though. I simply bought a PS/2 keyboard
at a thrift store for $1.50, cannibalized its small main board out and
stuck this right into the controller that I wanted to use, taped some
wires together (I don't have a soldering iron currently) and screwed it
all back together. Works like a dream and fits like a glove and
actually it even makes the controller just a bit heavier, which is
nice. Not the most elegant solution perhaps, but sometimes you have to
do it dirty. I love this copntroller, by the way, its features and
design are much better than any digital USB or gameport pad I've tried.

I'm happy.


....word is bondage...