Re: Microsoft Keyboard Causes Bootup to hang

From: Tim (Tim_at_NoSpam.com)
Date: 05/21/04 

Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 21:08:12 +1200

Nic,

Please try and answer the questions below. Someone may be able to point 100%
at the cause if you do...

There are several things you could do to check earthing problems that
include checking the resistance between the earth plug on the mains cable
and the chassis on the PC - this should be zero ohms. Another is to check
the mounting of the PCB in the case. Cases have light metal flanges aroung
each IO socket on the rear. These are supposed to touch the socket mounted
on the mobo. They are there to stop EFI / RFI leakage. Also check that the
mobo has been mounted correctly. Most usually metal posts are supplied and
they provide earth conduction to the motherboard.

If you did not have the correct chassis plate (IE none as some people have)
and a problem with the earth and .... a the keyboards USB cable plugged into
a self powered hub then... all sorts of things could go wrong. Earth is
there to protect things when things go wrong, so if there is no earth or
partial earth then small amounts of current can go all over the place.
Recently Paul stated something about PSU's pumping out a small flow to earth
being 'normal'.

Have you tried the keyboard on another PC yet?
Have you tried another one of these keyboards you know is working from
another PC on your PC?

When you plug in the keyboard, plug the keyboard directly into the PS/2 slot
& plug the USB mouse connector into the PS/2 style adapter (green) into the
adjacent Mouse port. Do *not* run the mouse through an intermediate USB hub.
The keyboard socket is always in the corner towards the edge of the PC. Is
this correct? If in doubt, pull the mouse out. If in doubt pull out *all*
USB stuff & external peripherals until this problem is solved.

Check the keyboard plug does insert correctly. On several occasions I have
had plugs and adapters (like the green one) where the plastic is too far
down the sleeve to allow the plug to go in far enough - this is in part due
to the case. Checked?

Do not unplug / plug in keyboards at run time. It may still happen that this
can blow an internal motherboard fuse or worse, there is no fuse there any
longer. (This used to be a problem, I don't know if it still is).

You say the keyboard is an "Elite". Is this a bluetooth keyboard? If it is
the story may be different.... as I have the "Microsoft Wireless Natural
Multimedia keyboard" and am using that to describe everything..

HTH
- Tim

"Walmsley's" <nik.walmsleySPAMKILL@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:c8kacc$de0$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> Funy you should mention earthing, when I was disconnecting each component
> piece-by-poece, the audio Jack touched the metal at the rear of the PC
> (Whilst it was off) and it buzzes the speakers. Also, when I very first
> log
> onto my screen name, right after the windows start-up sound has finished
> playing, there is a little crackle from the speakers (Creative I-Trigue
> 2.1).
>
> I accept that a bad earth could cause problems, but wouldn't this affect
> wired & wireless alike?
>
> Just another thought.
>
> Nik.
>
> "Tim" <Tim@NoSpam.com> wrote in message
> news:c8jmfm$s69$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have one of these & I know others that do too - no problems at all.
>>
>> 1st step: ascertain if there is a fault with your keyboard - try someone
>> elses on your machine & / or try yours on a machine with one already and
> see
>> if it works.
>>
>> This will actually tell you a couple of things: problem with keyboard, or
>> problem with system. I have read of mobos with earthing problems at the
> PS/2
>> connector so you can't rule this out.
>>
>> Batteries? They're fine - been runnnig on one set of batteries since last
>> year - work all day every day. The batteries are NMH that are near their
> end
>> of life. Battery life is substantially better than the original wireless
>> devices.
>>
>> - Tim
>>
>>
>> "Walmsley's" <nik.walmsleySPAMKILL@btinternet.com> wrote in message
>> news:c8i63l$e7q$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
>> > Hi
>> >
>> > I've got a brand new PC (pre-built):-
>> > P4 3.2ghz HT
>> > 512mb ddr 400mhz RAM
>> > Asus P4P800SE Mo/Bo (Latest BIOS)
>> > 200GB S-ATA Maxtor Drive
>> > Windows XP Home
>> >
>> > I've connected a new Wireless Keyboard and mouse from Microsoft
>> > (optical
>> > wireless desktop Elite) - LATEST drivers
>> >
>> > The Wireless hub has 2 cables running from it. 1 is for the PS/2
>> > connection
>> > to the PC, the other is USB for the mouse.
>> >
>> > When I connect the Keyboard to the PS/2 socket the system will not
>> > boot.
>> > It
>> > powers up, and the H/D light flickers away, but it will not send video
>> > signal to the Monitor, and pressing the power button again does not
> switch
>> > it off (I have to hold it for the 4 secs to power down.)
>> >
>> > If I hit the reset button, the whole thing fires up fine,
>> > If I connect a different Keyboard to the PS/2 it fires up fine.
>> > I've tried changing the wireless channel and this has no effect.
>> > If I disconnect the wireless K/B, power up with a different K/B, power
>> > down,
>> > reconnect the Wireless K/B, it fires up OK on the FIRST attempt ONLY.
>> >
>> > A very bizarre problem!
>> >
>> > I'm hoping someone else out there has had this problem, and solved it!
>> >
>> > Any advice on this greatly appreciated!
>> >
>> > Nik.
>> >
>> > --
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>>
>>
>
>