IBM M LEDs Not Lighting?

[SamirD]

I have several Ms (I've actually lost count) that are attached to several computers (also lost count).  Many of them simply sit ready for me at servers, so it's just me that uses them every so often for the most part.

But sometimes I have to ask someone else to walk up to a server and do something.  And that's when subtle little issues like LEDs not working become an issue.  It doesn't bother me, but now I'm wondering what might be wrong.

Like the keyboard I'm using right now--no LEDs even though the board works perfectly fine.  It's a round white logo M 1391401 from 1990.  I know I've got another that has a num lock that doesn't light although the others do.

Any ideas?  Thank you in advance for any feedback!

[rowdy]

There are others who are more knowledgable than me in these areas, but I can suggest obvious things like are they plugged into a computer that will cause the LEDs to light (e.g. my Mac only lets Caps Lock LED illuminate)?  Are the LEDs otherwise working (e.g. flash on briefly as the connected PC boots)?  Is the LED controller board still properly connected?

[SamirD]

There are others who are more knowledgable than me in these areas, but I can suggest obvious things like are they plugged into a computer that will cause the LEDs to light (e.g. my Mac only lets Caps Lock LED illuminate)?  Are the LEDs otherwise working (e.g. flash on briefly as the connected PC boots)?  Is the LED controller board still properly connected?

Thank you very much for the quick reply!

So to answer your questions, another M in the same computer lights fine and I recall when I bought all these Ms about 10-15 years ago I quickly tested them all out on the same computer and saw some units (I think it was only 2) that had some LEDs had issues like this.  I don't think it flashes when the system is rebooted like my properly working Ms do.  The next time I have to reboot the system, I'll watch for it.  If they do light upon reboot, what does that tell us?

I haven't opened any of them up (I didn't even clean them!) and just started using them.  Much of the nasty gunk on some of the really bad ones was cleaned off by my using them over the years (like another M I'm using right now--looks like I don't use the number 7 or 9 much, haha).  What would I be looking for to confirm if the LED controller board is properly connected?

I really need to catalog all the Ms I have so that I know what I have.  Just no time right now.

[Snowdog993]

I might be able to help with this issue.  There might be a bad ribbon or just a dirty connection of the ribbon to the LED panel.  Use a pencil eraser on the ends of the ribbon and reseat the ribbon.  That might be the quickest solution.
If that doesn't work, you might want to find or get a 4-pin Arduino cable (M-M or F-F and use a 4-pin header.)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171445075322
That's what they look like.

From my other post:

Attach a 4-Pin header to pins 9-12 on the controller and 1-4 on the LED panel.  Or if you have the different controller with the separate 4-pin header for the LED's you would go 1-4 on the LED header on the controller.




Easy fix.  Unless you need to replace the LED's themselves.

[SamirD]

I might be able to help with this issue.

Thank you so much!  Yes, looks like a really easy fix.   Made my day!

[Skechup]

Glad to hear that you got your keyboard fixed. Model M's are an absolute gem so I am glad that you got it fixed 

[SamirD]

Glad to hear that you got your keyboard fixed. Model M's are an absolute gem so I am glad that you got it fixed 

Oh, I haven't tried to fix it yet (no time to breathe), but I'm glad it should be an easy fix.

Yes, Ms are a gem for sure.  Ever since I was spoiled by having one as my first keyboard on our IBM PS/2 30-286, nothing has ever made me type faster.  (We still have the 30-286 and that original M.)

After building some custom systems and getting a pretty nice keytronic, we bought Ms, new in the box at $79 each.  Then I found a used computer guy that had a box of keyboards, and there were a bunch of Ms in there and he didn't even know what he had.  I picked up 20 Ms for the price of 20 crappy keyboards.   And my M gems are still with me today.

[Skechup]

Glad to hear that you got your keyboard fixed. Model M's are an absolute gem so I am glad that you got it fixed 

Oh, I haven't tried to fix it yet (no time to breathe), but I'm glad it should be an easy fix.

Yes, Ms are a gem for sure.  Ever since I was spoiled by having one as my first keyboard on our IBM PS/2 30-286, nothing has ever made me type faster.  (We still have the 30-286 and that original M.)

After building some custom systems and getting a pretty nice keytronic, we bought Ms, new in the box at $79 each.  Then I found a used computer guy that had a box of keyboards, and there were a bunch of Ms in there and he didn't even know what he had.  I picked up 20 Ms for the price of 20 crappy keyboards.   And my M gems are still with me today.

Oh man, you are really lucky. Sadly, my Model M 1391406 is no longer with me because of an incident which separated my Model M from me (You can read about it in my Intro post!). I am really happy that you got Model M's for that price, make sure you take care of them!

[SamirD]

Glad to hear that you got your keyboard fixed. Model M's are an absolute gem so I am glad that you got it fixed 

Oh, I haven't tried to fix it yet (no time to breathe), but I'm glad it should be an easy fix.

Yes, Ms are a gem for sure.  Ever since I was spoiled by having one as my first keyboard on our IBM PS/2 30-286, nothing has ever made me type faster.  (We still have the 30-286 and that original M.)

After building some custom systems and getting a pretty nice keytronic, we bought Ms, new in the box at $79 each.  Then I found a used computer guy that had a box of keyboards, and there were a bunch of Ms in there and he didn't even know what he had.  I picked up 20 Ms for the price of 20 crappy keyboards.   And my M gems are still with me today.

Oh man, you are really lucky. Sadly, my Model M 1391406 is no longer with me because of an incident which separated my Model M from me (You can read about it in my Intro post!). I am really happy that you got Model M's for that price, make sure you take care of them!

I did, but it was also almost 15 years ago (maybe even more!).  I didn't realize how lucky I was until I noticed other people talking about the M on sites like this one.  I thought I was the only one that was crazy about my keyboard!  I cherish every keypress now and am super-thankful that unicomp still makes parts.  One of the Ms I bought actually just had some missing keycaps.  Thanks to them I can get the caps and put it into service as well.

I recently found out that my favorite pointing device, the Logitech Trackman Marble wired has the same cult following as the M.  Go figure, lol.