Making older G80-3700 operable?

[exanile_tabasco]

I picked up a G80-3700HQAFR (MX Black (dunno if vintage, feels smoother than a recent Black), Cherry doubleshots, no logo) from a local Ebay seller who claimed that it was surplus for a bank. The claim didn't make a lot of sense as the HQAFR is in French layout, but the condition of the keypad corresponds to "New/unused". A quick look at the serial number revealed that this was from the 4th week (so probably january) of 2000.

It has a PS/2 connector, and a PS/2 passthrough. I connected it to my desktop's dedicated PS/2 port, and it isn't usable. Deskthority said that older G80-3700s may not work without another normal keyboard connected to the passthrough, so in the absence of a PS/2 keyboard, I tried to use a USB-PS/2 adapter for my main keyboard and plugged it in; unfortunately, it was the same result.

However, DT also says that the way to tell if you have a passthrough dependent G80-3700 is to look at the numlock. If it flashes briefly when first plugging the keypad in, then it works, albeit not without a passthrough keyboard. My keypad does this; the numlock LED does indeed flash once when i'm plugging it in. But DT's page also says that the only ones affected by this are old G80-3700HQAs made in 1997, and with an AT connector and AT passthrough. Mine has a PS/2 connector and PS/2 passthrough.

Do I just need to get a hold of a cheap PS/2 keyboard somehow to stay plugged into this keypad?

[Tactile]

PS/2 are not hot-pluggable, so the first test would be to power down the computer, plug in the keyboard, then power up the computer & try it. In the old days you could even damage a keyboard or the computer PS/2 port by hot-plugging. Todays PS/2 stuff is usually more robust & won't be damaged, but hot-plugging PS/2 is still improper with no guarantee the keyboard/mouse will work.

[SpAmRaY]

All you should need is an active ps2 to USB adapter.

What kind of USB adapter did you try?

techkeys.us/products/usb-to-ps2-serial-multimode-adapter

That's the one I use.

Connecting a ps2 keyboard to the keypad is used to program it with custom programming.

It's possible it's on the custom layer mode with nothing programmed the DT wiki has the proper key presses to make to change modes.

[exanile_tabasco]

Thanks for the replies and big thanks to Tactile; it seems I have been a USB convert for way too long ) just restarting the PC worked.

Quite the reminder of how far tech has come, and even just in terms of PS/2 alone. This is the oldest functioning piece of hardware I have ever used; I have a Pentium II MMX from 1997 and a S3 Trio64 card from 1994 as well as another older VGA from 1991 or something, but none of those are still usable.