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#1
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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... |
#2
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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... |
#3
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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... |
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