USB to PS/2 Adapter

[John-USN]

I have a older Dell laptop (P4, in great shape), but, my single USB port has
broken loose inside the laptop case, and now I have to "jiggle" anything
that I connect to the USB port for it to work.

I was trying to come up with an inexpensive work-around, vice dropping the
laptop off for repair. If I was to use a USB to PS/2 adapter and plug in a
thumb drive or Pocket PC cradle cable to it....would it work?? Or, is that
adapter strictly for mice and keyboards?

Thanks....Regards, John

 

[criticalimpact]

Im pretty sure that the ps2 port is soley for mice and keyboard, i've
got no suggestions on how to fix it apart from maybe opening the laptop
up and prehaps glueing the usb or something

 

[Bennett Price]

Perhaps a PCMCIA-USB adapter card. For example:

http://www.techadvice.com/info/item.asp?cid=24&pid=991&iid=21429

 

[kony]

I have a older Dell laptop (P4, in great shape), but, my single USB port has
broken loose inside the laptop case, and now I have to "jiggle" anything
that I connect to the USB port for it to work.

I was trying to come up with an inexpensive work-around, vice dropping the
laptop off for repair. If I was to use a USB to PS/2 adapter and plug in a
thumb drive or Pocket PC cradle cable to it....would it work?? Or, is that
adapter strictly for mice and keyboards?

Thanks....Regards, John

The adapter is only a pin-adapter, and the reason why the
mice and keyboards work with one is that they aren't
actually "USB" devices rather than dual-mode devices. They
are _both_ USB and PS2 capable devices that just happen to
have a USB plug on their cable end instead of PS2.

So a device that is something other than a keyboard or mouse
might be designed capable of using the PS2 and USB port, and
likewise be terminated with a USB plug that needed such an
adapter to run on PS2, but since most other devices don't
have as much potential need or benefit to run from PS2, it
is seldom you will find any that can do both if not a
keyboard or mouse.

In general a USB device other than keyboard or mouse won't
be able to use the adapter. If your laptop has a free
expansion card slot, see if you can get a USB card for it.

You might call around to several places inquiring about the
cost to repair your USB port, the cost could vary a lot with
some places suggesting you replace the entire mainboard but
others willing to resolder/epoxy/etc to get it working
again. The former might cost a few times more than the
latter and possibly cost-prohibitive.

 

[John McGaw]

I have a older Dell laptop (P4, in great shape), but, my single USB port has
broken loose inside the laptop case, and now I have to "jiggle" anything
that I connect to the USB port for it to work.

I was trying to come up with an inexpensive work-around, vice dropping the
laptop off for repair. If I was to use a USB to PS/2 adapter and plug in a
thumb drive or Pocket PC cradle cable to it....would it work?? Or, is that
adapter strictly for mice and keyboards?

Thanks....Regards, John

Does your laptop have a PCMCIA slot? Most do. If you have one you can
easily insert an inexpensive card which will give you USB and/or
Firewire ports.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/PCMCIA.html