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

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

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" <OpaOpa@sega.net> 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...
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion,comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

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...