Msg: Re: Ever have a keyboard die on you ?

Yes. I killed and Avant Stellar with popcorn. Another Avant Stellar (now protected with a skin) seemed to fail a few weeks ago, but that turned out to be the ps2 connector receptacle in the computer. A ps2-usb converter that works well can be found at Radio Shack.

Alas, Avant Stellar keyboard is no longer made, as far as I can tell.

Lisa Kleinholz

From: J R FOX
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: Ever have a keyboard die on you ?

No, I've been very careful about the beverage thing. Haven't smacked the back
of the 102 yet, and the cable connections are pretty tight, but I think I may have
a tentative diagnosis. I plugged the Avant in, and that was unresponsive also.
This likely points the finger at the PS/2 to USB converter, which is really more
than just an adapter. I had to try several before I found one that did a complete
"translation", and reliably. It was a SIIG, and served me well for at least a couple
years. These things probably have a much higher failure rate than the sort of
keyboards we're talking about. If I was my usually prudent self, I may have set
aside a spare on this. Otherwise, there is another trip out to Fry's in my near
future.

(My original question was more geared towards whether some chip or electrical
component might go bad over time, even absent any mishaps. I'm thinking
'probably not', because these keyboards are well built and rather hardy items.)

Before this happened, there were several occasional bootups where the Num Lock
did not turn off automatically like it should have, and then could not be turned off
manually. In retrospect, this may have been an early warning sign for that converter.

Jordan

--- On Thu, 5/17/12, Harry Binswanger wrote:

Then you've never spilled liquid on a keyboard?

I guess you've tried whacking the back of the thing and wiggling the wire to the USB?