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Broken keyboard port

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First post, by retro games 100

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Mobo: socket 7 MS-5146
Keyboard port: PS/2

Problem: ps/2 keyboard plug won't go all the way in to the port. I do not understand what is preventing the plug from going all the way in.

I can get the keyboard to work, but only just!

Possible workarounds: 1) On the mobo, there is a 5 pin header, which I am guessing is for an "aux keyboard". 2) On the mobo, there is a 10 pin USB header. In the BIOS, you can enable USB, and then you can also enable USB keyboard. This looks promising.

What to do now? Shall I try and find a cable to attach to the 10 pin USB header on the mobo, and on the other end of this cable, attach a USB keyboard to it? Something makes me think that this sounds like an easy solution, but there may be compatibility problems.

Any clues please people? 😀

Reply 1 of 1, by retro games 100

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I think I know what the problem is. If you look at a ps/2 keyboard plug, in the middle, there's a plastic pin. It's quite long. On the mobo ps/2 keyboard port, the hole for this central plastic pin isn't deep enough! The previous owner has "hacked about with it", trying to deepen this hole - unsuccessfully. I guess at the mobo factory, something went wrong with manufacturing this keyboard port, and a hole wasn't drilled deep enough.

What I could do is snap off a bit of the plastic pin on the keyboard adaptor. That would allow the other (more important) pins to go in all the way in to the keyboard port.

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