Hello, I recently started working on a Tandy MMPC Model 10 (more well known as the Tandy Sensation) that won’t work with any PS/2 keyboard I connect to it, rendering the computer unusable. I work for a museum as a technician, but am entirely self-taught, so there are gaps in my knowledge that can make a very simple problem more complicated than it should be; for that reason, I’m trying to learn the “proper” way of diagnosing and repairing problems, and I’m running into a wall with this keyboard problem. I’ve tested the voltages on the port and it seems fine, so I don’t think it’s a physical problem with the port, but the keyboard controller is on the motherboard and not socketed.

Can anyone give me some insight on how they would address and solve this problem? My thoughts were to either add an expansion card with a keyboard port (except it’s an ISA machine and I don’t know what expansion card if any would let me do that), solder in a new keyboard controller (challenging and I don’t know if it would work), or control it remotely from my laptop via Kermit (but I can’t get past the BIOS check for the keyboard). Does anyone have any ideas?