"USB Device Not Recognized" Error Message

[terrispann]

I recently bought a HP Pavilion DV8000 laptop with Windows XP Home
Edition installed. The DV8000 doesn't come with a PS2 port so I used
the PS2 to USB converter in order to hook up an external keyboard
(Emachine 9021 Mutimedia) then I receive an "USB Device Not
Recognized" error. I was able to hook the EMachine Keyboard up to my
mom's older Gateway Desktop via both the PS2 connection and the USB
(using the adapter) and it worked fine both times just not on my
laptop.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this keyboard to work with
this laptop? I find the "Cut, Paste & Copy" keys invaluable and after
looking at the different keyboards out there that have these options I
found that the EMachine key boards suited me best.

 

[Kevin Weaver]

I recently bought a HP Pavilion DV8000 laptop with Windows XP Home
Edition installed. The DV8000 doesn't come with a PS2 port so I used
the PS2 to USB converter in order to hook up an external keyboard
(Emachine 9021 Mutimedia) then I receive an "USB Device Not
Recognized" error. I was able to hook the EMachine Keyboard up to my
mom's older Gateway Desktop via both the PS2 connection and the USB
(using the adapter) and it worked fine both times just not on my
laptop.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this keyboard to work with
this laptop? I find the "Cut, Paste & Copy" keys invaluable and after
looking at the different keyboards out there that have these options I
found that the EMachine key boards suited me best.

Did you check that maybe there are drivers that have to load in order
for that keyboard to work ? Did you refresh the list in device mgr ?
Does it show up in there ?

 

[Ben Myers]

Unfortunately, I suspect that over time, your experiences with the HP notebook
and the eMachine keyboard will be duplicated many times over. The industry is
doing its very best to kill off the old time 1987-vintage PS/2 ports, just as it
did the large AT keyboard connector and serial mice earlier.

Your only choices are to try other PS/2-to-USB adapters, or to get the USB
equivalent of the eMachine keyboard. I have the same long-term problem with
the old-timey clickity-clack clicky 101-key IBM PS/2 keyboard which I love
dearly. No, I do not love it in any special way. It's just that the touch is
absolutely the best ever... Ben Myers

 

[pop]

I agree with you Ben!
I have the old IBM 101 original keyboards on all three of my
computers... one of those keyboards has the old AT connector and At/PS2
adapter.

China is so proud that they can make or counterfeit anything. Why can't
they duplicate the feel of those old keyboards? Why can't they build a
keyboard in which you can spill coffee and the keyboard still works?

Hmmmph!

Carl

 

[Ben Myers]

When new, those IBM clickety-clack keyboards sold for around $100. At 1987
prices, it probably cost IBM $30 to $40 to manufacture them. Project that into
today's manufacturing costs, and you end up with a keyboard that costs at least
a couple of hundred to make, even with low labor costs on the Pacific Rim. In
short, nobody wants to buy a $300 keyboard, which is what it would sell for so a
company could make some profit.

Taking apart an IBM 101, one can see the intricacy of the design and how hard it
is to put one together. Each and every key is spring loaded. Each keycap is
removable, and the keycaps are in two parts. The plastic is tough and rugged.
The whole keyboard mechanism sits on what is essentially a large printed circuit
that carries the current for each key pressed. The circuit sits on a large
metal plate which certainly gives the keyboard its solid, heavy feel.

But I have several cartons of the 101-key clicky IBM keyboards squirreled away
(along with several large plastic bags of the keys), and every so often someone
who appreciates them will buy a refurb from me. They sell for about $30 apiece
on eBay.

Of all the modern keyboards I've tried, I think I like the Dell ones the best.
Dell's latest USB keyboard as well as the previous PS/2 one both have a decent
feel.

When IBM spun off Lexmark, the keyboards went along. For a couple of years in
the early '90s, Lexmark produced the same 101-key keyboard. It is also
interesting that IBM/Lexmark made OEM keyboards, and I have a 101 with a Dell
label on it. You have to give Michael Dell or someone credit for good
judgement in choice of a keyboard.

I was in a CompUSA today and sampled the 15 or 20 keyboards for sale there. All
I can say is I would not give any one of them to my worst enemy. Awful cheap
garbage... Ben Myers