Re: IIgs playing funny buggers

[Greg Berigan <gberigan@cse.unl.edu>]

alelee@praetor.hna.com.au (Alex Lee) wrote:

>My IIgs is starting to frighten me.  For some unexplained reason, 
>seemingly random, the keyboard will chuck a major spaz.  Either it simply 
>doesn't allow input from the keyboard (even including a reset!) or the GS 
>receives waves upon waves of the same character.  Interestingly, when I 
>disconnect the keyboard, the waves and waves of the same character 
>continue, even when the keyboard is then reconnected to the ADB. Pressing 
>another key seems to stop it (after disconnecting and reconnecting).  
>Also, if the keyboard seems to do nothing, the mouse still works perfectly.

As pointed out by others, it is not wise to disconnect and reconnect the
keyboard (or anything else) while the computer is on.  However, I don't
think this is the cause of the problem.

In general, one should never disconnect and reconnect the GS keyboard
from its cable frequently.  There is a design flaw in the ports, in that
they are not secured properly.  Indeed, they seem to be held on entirely
by solder.  The solder is probably cracking and causing the connection
to become flakey.

In the short term, you can try plugging the keybord in via the other
port on the keyboard, but then you may have mouse problems (beyond
getting used to using with your other hand).  You'll want to get the
port resoldered.

I was able to get mine done for free after bypassing the $15 diagnosis
fee (I knew exactly what was wrong already and didn't need to pay them
15 bucks to confirm it), but if you or a friend are handy with a
soldering iron you should be able to do it yourself.

One nice thing about using old hardware:  you don't have to worry about
violating the warranty.  Just don't screw it up or you'll find yourself
having to get used to reaching farther for escape (or worse, doing
without an escape key), using a smaller return key, and having your
caps-lock and control keys swapped.

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