« previous next »
Pages:  [1]     Go Down

Author Topic: Lock lights with active adapter  (Read 1688 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Itxi

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 16
Lock lights with active adapter
« on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 05:16:29 »
Hello again geekhack.

Some of you may remember the thread I made (here).

Well I've cleaned up the keycaps with Hydrogen peroxide and oxy powder and they look much better. I also bought an AT-Ps/2 adapter and a 'blue cube' ps/2 to USB adapter. The keys work fine but the lock lights don't.

They'll occasionally come on if I spam one of the lock keys on and off, but then if I press a lock key again the lights all go off again. I imagine it's a signalling problem rather than power or hardware, since when I accidentally connected the board in the wrong scan mode the lights all flashed when the computer was trying to read device information.

Is this just an incompatibility issue with the blue cube and my board? Is the cube faulty? Or is this just something I have to put up with when using such an old board with adapters?

Thanks for your time :)
« Last Edit: Thu, 19 April 2012, 06:34:19 by Itxi »
Logged

Offline Soarer

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 1918
  • Location: UK
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 06:24:40 »
It's going to be tricky to work out which is at fault without swapping either keyboard or cube - you could use any old PS/2 keyboard to check the cube.

Do the lock LEDs all flash on when the keyboard powers up?
Logged

Offline Itxi

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 16
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 06:37:37 »
It's going to be even more difficult since I don't have another ps/2 keyboard to test the cube with.

I haven't started the PC with the board plugged in yet, but when I plug it in afterwards the lights do not flash. They only flashed when I had it switched to XT signalling because I think the pc failed to recognise it as a keyboard.
Logged

Offline mkawa

  •  No Marketplace Access
  • Posts: 6562
  • (ツ)@@@. crankypants
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 08:57:37 »
Quote
Is this just an incompatibility issue with the blue cube and my board? Is the cube faulty?
the former seems more likely than the latter. if the cube were faulty, i would expect it to be faulty in a more interesting way.
Logged

to all the brilliant friends who have left us, and all the students who climb on their shoulders.

Offline Soarer

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 1918
  • Location: UK
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 09:22:09 »
Quote from: Itxi;578695
It's going to be even more difficult since I don't have another ps/2 keyboard to test the cube with.

I haven't started the PC with the board plugged in yet, but when I plug it in afterwards the lights do not flash. They only flashed when I had it switched to XT signalling because I think the pc failed to recognise it as a keyboard.
That's odd, the flash of the LEDs usually happens just when power is applied, rather than when anything happens with the signalling. Anyway, it points to something wrong in the board - maybe just a loose connector to the LEDs. That it flashed in XT mode might just be coincidence - after all, you would've just turned the board upside down to flip the switch ;)
Logged

Offline Itxi

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 16
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 10:02:51 »
Not quite, the board was half-disassembled when it was plugged in, so I didn't have to move it at all to activate the switch.

It's hard to describe, but you know how the LED on a USB stick flashes? That's what all the lock lights were doing at the same time when it was plugged in in XT mode.

I'll see if I can spot any loose connections though.
Logged

Offline Soarer

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 1918
  • Location: UK
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 10:13:55 »
Ah, OK. You mean flickering? That does sound like something's loose or corroded. It could also be a dry joint, most likely on the soldering of the connector(s) - I'm guessing that the LEDs are on a separate little circuit board, is that right?
Logged

Offline Itxi

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 16
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 19 April 2012, 12:25:07 »
It's more of a purposeful flashing than anything, when it's plugged in normally and the lights are on they're on solidly. It's only when you change the state of the locks that the lights do anything.

Everything's on one circuit board, the soldering all looks fine at the back
Logged

Offline mich

  • Posts: 156
Lock lights with active adapter
« Reply #8 on: Fri, 20 April 2012, 02:25:48 »
If you have access to some box with native PS/2, connect the board there and see what happens.
Logged
Pages:  [1]     Go Up
« previous next »