Keyboard enumeration problem

[Jeff Barnett]

The machine involved is running XP Pro SP3 and uses a Microsoft Digital
Media Pro keyboard - MDMPK for short -- on the PS/2 port. A while ago, I
replaced an older MDMPK with a newer one. (Liked the keyboard so much
that I bought a few and put in closet in case they were discontinued.)
At this point a problem appeared:

If I shut down the computer and reboot, the firmware interface sees and
allows the keyboard to be used; however, allowing the boot to continue
to XP presents the login interface with the keyboard not working.
Fortunately, the mouse continues to work. If at that point, I restart
the computer using the mouse, it boots into XP with the keyboard
working! If at anytime, I restart the computer, the keyboard works. If I
shut it down, I must cold start then restart with the mouse before the
keyboard is seen.

My try at fixing the problem was to remove the keyboard in the device
manager and reboot so that XP would need to enumerate the MDMPK again.

Any debugging suggestions or clues as to what might be going on?

 

[Paul]

The machine involved is running XP Pro SP3 and uses a Microsoft Digital
Media Pro keyboard - MDMPK for short -- on the PS/2 port. A while ago, I
replaced an older MDMPK with a newer one. (Liked the keyboard so much
that I bought a few and put in closet in case they were discontinued.)
At this point a problem appeared:

If I shut down the computer and reboot, the firmware interface sees and
allows the keyboard to be used; however, allowing the boot to continue
to XP presents the login interface with the keyboard not working.
Fortunately, the mouse continues to work. If at that point, I restart
the computer using the mouse, it boots into XP with the keyboard
working! If at anytime, I restart the computer, the keyboard works. If I
shut it down, I must cold start then restart with the mouse before the
keyboard is seen.

My try at fixing the problem was to remove the keyboard in the device
manager and reboot so that XP would need to enumerate the MDMPK again.

Any debugging suggestions or clues as to what might be going on?

I found a manual for it, and it says the device is dual personality.
It is PS/2 or USB. You could try removing the PS/2 passive adapter
and just use the USB connector, then see if behavior improves. It
could be, that the keyboard is getting confused, and hasn't internally
detected it is on PS/2 properly.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/media/i3d/01/A/man-migrate/MANUAL000067604.pdf

Another option, is to examine your computer, and see if the motherboard
is old enough to have a 1x3 "power header" for each port. On some
motherboards, a jumper is available that selects +5V or +5VSB for
USB or PS/2 peripherals. (Some motherboards can have as many as five headers
for things like that, while others have one shared jumper for everything.
Modern motherboards, remove this option entirely.) The +5VSB choice
maintains keyboard power while the computer sleeps (or perhaps, even
hibernates), and may avoid some of the nuisance events. If you're one
of those people who switches off A.C. at the back after each working
day, then that jumper choice won't help. But if you leave the
system powered but sleep it, then such a jumper may make the keyboard
behave a bit better (fewer "repair boots").

I think just running it on USB, is likely to be the most satisfactory solution.

Paul

 

[000-222-000]

The machine involved is running XP Pro SP3 and uses a Microsoft Digital
Media Pro keyboard - MDMPK for short -- on the PS/2 port. A while ago, I
replaced an older MDMPK with a newer one. (Liked the keyboard so much
that I bought a few and put in closet in case they were discontinued.)
At this point a problem appeared:

If I shut down the computer and reboot, the firmware interface sees and
allows the keyboard to be used; however, allowing the boot to continue
to XP presents the login interface with the keyboard not working.
Fortunately, the mouse continues to work. If at that point, I restart
the computer using the mouse, it boots into XP with the keyboard
working! If at anytime, I restart the computer, the keyboard works. If I
shut it down, I must cold start then restart with the mouse before the
keyboard is seen.

My try at fixing the problem was to remove the keyboard in the device
manager and reboot so that XP would need to enumerate the MDMPK again.

Any debugging suggestions or clues as to what might be going on?

Jeff Barnett First you need to install it's Software' you can get it here::

< http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/digital-media-pro-keyboard >

 

[Jeff Barnett]

Jeff Barnett wrote:

I've removed the original post here because the server wont take the
reply saying "too many quoted lines"!???

I found a manual for it, and it says the device is dual personality.
It is PS/2 or USB. You could try removing the PS/2 passive adapter
and just use the USB connector, then see if behavior improves. It
could be, that the keyboard is getting confused, and hasn't internally
detected it is on PS/2 properly.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/media/i3d/01/A/man-migrate/MANUAL000067604.pdf

Another option, is to examine your computer, and see if the motherboard
is old enough to have a 1x3 "power header" for each port. On some
motherboards, a jumper is available that selects +5V or +5VSB for
USB or PS/2 peripherals. (Some motherboards can have as many as five
headers
for things like that, while others have one shared jumper for everything.
Modern motherboards, remove this option entirely.) The +5VSB choice
maintains keyboard power while the computer sleeps (or perhaps, even
hibernates), and may avoid some of the nuisance events. If you're one
of those people who switches off A.C. at the back after each working
day, then that jumper choice won't help. But if you leave the
system powered but sleep it, then such a jumper may make the keyboard
behave a bit better (fewer "repair boots").

I think just running it on USB, is likely to be the most satisfactory
solution.

Paul

Thanks for your response. I tried USB and that didn't seem to fix
anything. I did a remove in device manager before shutting down and
switching interface.

 

[Jeff Barnett]

Jeff Barnett First you need to install it's Software' you can get it here::

< http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/digital-media-pro-keyboard >

I did that years ago. Also recall this problem didn't occur until I
switched with supposed identical hardware. (Neweer so you could read the
key labels, but otherwise identical.)

 

[Paul]

I've removed the original post here because the server wont take the
reply saying "too many quoted lines"!???

Thanks for your response. I tried USB and that didn't seem to fix
anything. I did a remove in device manager before shutting down and
switching interface.

If you look in setupapi.log, can you see a new entry for the attempt
to install the keyboard ?

PS/2 probably doesn't have any reset mechanism, but I would have thought
a USB bus reset would work, and increase the chances of lending some
sanity to the thing on the very first try.

You can run multiple keyboards on a system, so they shouldn't need to be
removed. To give you an idea of just how goofy the keyboard combinations
can be, I've run my existing PS/2 keyboard, at the same time I had a
USB to ADB bus adapter and an old Macintosh (ADB bus) keyboard connected.
And typing on either keyboard works. The same thing is true of mice.
You can run with multiple mice.

The problem could be power related, but then, there might be
other side effects if that was the case.

I'm not even thinking along software lines, because I don't
see why a reboot would help if it was software. Hardware, you'd be
doing a "warm start", with respect to the keyboard remaining powered
on the second try.

And your "too many quoted lines" - I checked your header, and as
expected, you're on AIOE. Way too many filters on that thing.
I've been smacked a couple times there with the "too many quoted lines"
thing. Fortunately, when you "fix" that, so your post will be accepted,
it also changes the message hash so you're not immediately smacked
by another filter rule as you attempt to post.

Paul

 

[000-222-000]

I did that years ago. Also recall this problem didn't occur until I
switched with supposed identical hardware. (Neweer so you could read the
key labels, but otherwise identical.)

Do a uninstall of drives::
By::

Go to Control Panel

Click on
System

on the tool bar click on
Hardware

you will see
Device Manager

Chick on Keyboards

Right Hand Chick on::
Standard 101/102-key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Chick Uninstall

Or and all Keyboards
Chick Uninstall

REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER

it will reinstall the Drives...

 

[glee]

I've removed the original post here because the server wont take the
reply saying "too many quoted lines"!???

Thanks for your response. I tried USB and that didn't seem to fix
anything. I did a remove in device manager before shutting down and
switching interface.

Hmmm.... I thought Paul's instruction of switching to USB would fix it,
too. I've had that problem on rare occasion using an MS mouse with it's
PS/2 adapter, but it doesn't persist.

There's a few simple things you can try in order to eliminate possible
causes:

If you have any other computer available (at home, work, a friend) plug
the problem keyboard into their computer using USB, and see if the issue
exists on another computer also... if it does, keyboard has a problem.

Plug a borrowed keyboard into the computer (not an MDMPK) and make sure
the issue doesn't occur with other keyboards. BE SURE if you are using
it as PS/2 that you do NOT plug or unplug the keyboard while the
computer is powered on.

Try another of your collection of MDMPK's and even the old one you
removed, to see if the issue is just with this one.

I know you have the software installed (IntelliPoint) but uninstall it
from Control Panel and then try the keyboard without it installed.... it
will act like a standard keyboard without any extra IntelliPoint
features.

If the issue goes away, reinstall the IntelliPoint software (preferably
a newer downloaded version), then open the Microsoft Keyboard applet
installed by IntelliPoint on your Start Menu, and choose the correct
installed model of MS keyboard in that applet.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Jeff Barnett]

The machine involved is running XP Pro SP3 and uses a Microsoft Digital
Media Pro keyboard - MDMPK for short -- on the PS/2 port. A while ago, I
replaced an older MDMPK with a newer one. (Liked the keyboard so much
that I bought a few and put in closet in case they were discontinued.)
At this point a problem appeared:

If I shut down the computer and reboot, the firmware interface sees and
allows the keyboard to be used; however, allowing the boot to continue
to XP presents the login interface with the keyboard not working.
Fortunately, the mouse continues to work. If at that point, I restart
the computer using the mouse, it boots into XP with the keyboard
working! If at anytime, I restart the computer, the keyboard works. If I
shut it down, I must cold start then restart with the mouse before the
keyboard is seen.

My try at fixing the problem was to remove the keyboard in the device
manager and reboot so that XP would need to enumerate the MDMPK again.

Any debugging suggestions or clues as to what might be going on?

I want to thank all of you who replied to this plea for help. At this
point, the problem seems fixed:

First I updated the drives/software from the Microsoft site. The
software was offered in PS/2 and USB flavors. I installed the former and
it did not help.

Second, I tried another MDMPK and it did not work either.

Third, I tried using the keyboard as a USB device. That seemed to work
but, unfortunately, the keyboard could no longer break S3 suspend.
Since, there was no power tab offered for the keyboard by the device
manager, this was unacceptable.

Fourth, switched keyboard back to PS/2 device and it worked!

The only explanation I have is the weak belief that there must have been
some dirt or whatever partially blocking electrical contact. But that
doesn't look very good on analysis.

Once again, thanks to all who responded.

 

[Paul]

I want to thank all of you who replied to this plea for help. At this
point, the problem seems fixed:

First I updated the drives/software from the Microsoft site. The
software was offered in PS/2 and USB flavors. I installed the former and
it did not help.

Second, I tried another MDMPK and it did not work either.

Third, I tried using the keyboard as a USB device. That seemed to work
but, unfortunately, the keyboard could no longer break S3 suspend.
Since, there was no power tab offered for the keyboard by the device
manager, this was unacceptable.

Fourth, switched keyboard back to PS/2 device and it worked!

The only explanation I have is the weak belief that there must have been
some dirt or whatever partially blocking electrical contact. But that
doesn't look very good on analysis.

Once again, thanks to all who responded.

To break S3 suspend, the keyboard needs to be powered from +5VSB.
On modern motherboards, that is the only choice, and so it should
have worked. On older retail motherboards, a header on the motherboard
controls whether the port runs from +5V (no wake up) or +5VSB (wake up).
If it was a Dell or HP, chances are such a header if present, would
already be in the +5VSB position. Only "home builders" end up with
motherboards, where the header ends up in the less useful +5V position.
(And I use that on purpose here on some computers, so hitting
or leaning on the keyboard by accident, won't wake a system.)

It's also possible the symptoms cleared, because changing the keyboard
interface choice, changed the driver situation a bit. I mean, if there
was a dirt problem, it probably would remain to haunt you.

Paul

 

[Jeff Barnett]

To break S3 suspend, the keyboard needs to be powered from +5VSB.
On modern motherboards, that is the only choice, and so it should
have worked. On older retail motherboards, a header on the motherboard
controls whether the port runs from +5V (no wake up) or +5VSB (wake up).
If it was a Dell or HP, chances are such a header if present, would
already be in the +5VSB position. Only "home builders" end up with
motherboards, where the header ends up in the less useful +5V position.
(And I use that on purpose here on some computers, so hitting
or leaning on the keyboard by accident, won't wake a system.)

It's also possible the symptoms cleared, because changing the keyboard
interface choice, changed the driver situation a bit. I mean, if there
was a dirt problem, it probably would remain to haunt you.

Thanks Paul. The motherboard is an Intel 965 and is getting long in the
tooth. I think I set up the keyboard on PS/2 because I'm a believer in
green computing even for non-laptops and that meant easy up from
suspend. Our other computer was built from an Intel 925 and that board
offers power tabs on USB devices when appropriate. The plan is to build
two new computers using socket 2011 technology and probably Win 7 Pro 64
bits in the near future with the works including SSD's and other fairly
high-end choices. One of us wants to play games better and the other
wants a snappier Photo Shop. I'm trying to hold things together at the
moment until I'm sure about the Win 7 choice. The 2011 and PCIE 3.0
technologies are slowly falling in price also.