Question Regarding Ps/2 Compatibility with New Motherboards

[LordGurciullo]

Sup guys!! Long time no see!

Fellow Keyboard lover here, just got a new computer and a new desk and wanted to bust out some old favorites to try with my new setup.

Horrified to find out that apparently some of my keyboards don't work.

I have the new series boards for the 4th gen

Z87 ASROCK Extreme 4.

Went to plug in my old bad boy my pc at with ps/2 adapter. lights blink when comp comes on but then nothing happens, I read that this keyboard (in particular requires a lot of juice) and new mobos will not allow the ps/2 port to get that much juice anymore -- is that true?
If it is... it makes sense for a keyboard from 1982 however disappointing that is.

But then I plugged in my cherry brown G80-11802LPAUS/03  - The one with the trackball, and it seems this one also won't work. Same as the pc at, it lights up on reboot but fails to work. The cord also doesn't plug in all the way ( a little loose).

WTF is going on here!?!?! I know all my boards work on all my previous machines, are they trying to phase ps/2 out!! Does anyone know which boards actually work? What should i do? adapters?


Thanks all! love you guys!

[rootwyrm]

One, contrary to marketing and fanbois, ASRock is the any-remaining-quality-eliminated brand of Asus. They are automatically junk.

Second, they have a habit of using underrated fuses. End result being, anything over say 150mW draw (even though spec says 275mW IIRC - either way, it's less than half an M) pops the fuse. Meaning the fuse test fails permanently - there is absolutely no way to replace it.

By contrast, I use Gigabyte and MSI. (Asus is blacklisted for customer service fail repeatedly and spectacularly, plus obviously bad products.) Never had the least bit of problems with highest draw M's and them. Power's there, just a matter of fusing it correctly.

[dorkvader]

I have the ASRock Z77 extreme6, and haven't had any issues with it so far. It's way better than the biostar I had been using previously. quality comparisons aside, I also haven't had any trouble with the PS2 port, even powering multiple keyboards from it For kicks one day I daisy chained two ACCESS-IS and a TG3 BL82 (with LED's all the way up), and I think it was working.

Now are you sure your MB is actually okay? There is a chance it just isn't working. Do you have any other PS/2 keyboards to try?

[rootwyrm]

Don't even get me started on Biostar. Seriously. Then I will go back to the 1990's and their knockoff chipset junk and nobody wants to hear that eight year rant.

That said: even same-same model is irrelevant, because Asus and ASRock constantly make undocumented, undisclosed mid-flight changes. The behavior is consistent with a blown fuse or defective/improperly operating SIO (e.g. BIOS refusal). G80-11800's well within envelope, so I'd rule the PS/2 port as blown fuse or otherwise defective. It's not worth troubleshooting further.

[oTurtlez]

Never got why everyone had such bad support with Asus. Everytime I've had an issue with one of their products, I called them up, got put with a human within a few seconds, and solved my issue within minutes. Plus their advanced RMA system was great as well. I had an original sandy bridge board with the defect, they sent me out a replacement and gave me 2 weeks to ship the defective board back on their dime. I've never had a problem with them.

[rootwyrm]

Never got why everyone had such bad support with Asus. Everytime I've had an issue with one of their products, I called them up, got put with a human within a few seconds, and solved my issue within minutes. Plus their advanced RMA system was great as well. I had an original sandy bridge board with the defect, they sent me out a replacement and gave me 2 weeks to ship the defective board back on their dime. I've never had a problem with them.

Because that is not the norm, period. Maybe check the reviews. Maybe read an article. Maybe read a post or two or three or four. You get the idea. Or maybe check the Customer Service Scoreboard (rating: absolute failure and worse than Dell).

[LordGurciullo]

So what do you guys think I should do?

Are you saying you have an asus extreme z87 that is powering an PC AT keyboard with the ps/2 adapter?

The cherry brown I mentioned also will not function... BOTH of them light up for a second when the comp starts but then fail to work.


Im pretty sure I can use the adapter for the cherry brown... but CAN YOU USE AN ADAPTER with the PC AT keyboard? going from the default to ps/2 to usb? that doesn't seem like a good idea

[bazemk1979]

One, contrary to marketing and fanbois, ASRock is the any-remaining-quality-eliminated brand of Asus. They are automatically junk.

Second, they have a habit of using underrated fuses. End result being, anything over say 150mW draw (even though spec says 275mW IIRC - either way, it's less than half an M) pops the fuse. Meaning the fuse test fails permanently - there is absolutely no way to replace it.

By contrast, I use Gigabyte and MSI. (Asus is blacklisted for customer service fail repeatedly and spectacularly, plus obviously bad products.) Never had the least bit of problems with highest draw M's and them. Power's there, just a matter of fusing it correctly.

 I just love people who talk and have no clue what they say, keep it up we are cheering for you.

[xSpartanCx]

With my asrock z68 I need to restart the computer every time I plug in my Model M for it to work.

[FuriousGeorge]

With my asrock z68 I need to restart the computer every time I plug in my Model M for it to work.

Isn't that true for all motherboards? It's been years since I used ps/2, but I don't remember it being hot swappable.

[oTurtlez]

With my asrock z68 I need to restart the computer every time I plug in my Model M for it to work.

Isn't that true for all motherboards? It's been years since I used ps/2, but I don't remember it being hot swappable.

PS/2 requires a fresh boot for NEW devices to be recognized. If you go and unplug a PS/2 device and plug it back in while the computer is already booted you'll be fine, but in order for the computer to recognize a new PS/2 device, it must have a fresh boot.

[xSpartanCx]

Ah. The only time I've ever used a PS/2 keyboard is my dad's when I need to change some BIOS settings.