PS/2 Loopbacks - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

mpedrummer2 · 01-13-2004, 04:24 PM

How would I make a device to convince a computer that a keyboard was plugged in?

I have a pallet of Compaq Deskpro PII 333's that I'm trying to play around with clustering. The problem is, they halt on keyboard errors, and that can't be overridden in the BIOS as far as I can tell. I already updated to the most recent BIOS, too.

I also have a pallet of dead keyboards, and I was thinking that there has to be a way to cut off the ends, short some pins (or maybe add resistors of some kind) and fool it into thinking there's a keyboard there.

Any takers? Google has been kinda useless so far, so I'm kinda stuck.

Thanks
MPEDrummer

steveincolumbus · 01-13-2004, 08:54 PM

1 ting to try
enable the "Quick Boot" option in the Advanced Setup menu. This will bypass the keyboard check and allow you to boot up without error.

heard somewhere that momentarly shorting +5 to ground would do it too on the kb lead

I am interested in this..... got to figure that out.....

mpedrummer2 · 01-13-2004, 09:22 PM

What I wound up doing...

I found a few of the keyboards in the bad bin that just had bad keys, or whatever, took out the electronics, and soldered a much shorter cable directly onto the circuit board.

From the research I've done (in the past 7 hours) I've discovered that keyboard detection is basically a challange and response method. When your keyboard blinks during boot, that's what's going on. The only way to falsefy that is to have a chip that knows how to respond.

Fortunately, I had a pallet of them

God bless bulk.

MPEDrummer

01-13-2004, 04:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
mpedrummer2 Insane	PS/2 Loopbacks How would I make a device to convince a computer that a keyboard was plugged in? I have a pallet of Compaq Deskpro PII 333's that I'm trying to play around with clustering. The problem is, they halt on keyboard errors, and that can't be overridden in the BIOS as far as I can tell. I already updated to the most recent BIOS, too. I also have a pallet of dead keyboards, and I was thinking that there has to be a way to cut off the ends, short some pins (or maybe add resistors of some kind) and fool it into thinking there's a keyboard there. Any takers? Google has been kinda useless so far, so I'm kinda stuck. Thanks MPEDrummer __________________ My sig can beat up your honor student.

01-13-2004, 09:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
mpedrummer2 Insane	What I wound up doing... I found a few of the keyboards in the bad bin that just had bad keys, or whatever, took out the electronics, and soldered a much shorter cable directly onto the circuit board. From the research I've done (in the past 7 hours) I've discovered that keyboard detection is basically a challange and response method. When your keyboard blinks during boot, that's what's going on. The only way to falsefy that is to have a chip that knows how to respond. Fortunately, I had a pallet of them God bless bulk. MPEDrummer __________________ My sig can beat up your honor student.

01-13-2004, 08:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
steveincolumbus Psycho Location: BFE, Kentucky	1 ting to try enable the "Quick Boot" option in the Advanced Setup menu. This will bypass the keyboard check and allow you to boot up without error. heard somewhere that momentarly shorting +5 to ground would do it too on the kb lead I am interested in this..... got to figure that out.....