Re: Dell PS/2 PC104 keyboard doesn't work correctly in DOS?

Ant wrote:
> Hmm, it seems like this is a motherboard issue and I don't know why
> (doesn't make any sense). I tried the same problematic Dell keyboard on
> a decade old laptop/notebook and my older desktop PC (4-5 years old).
> Both did not show the symptoms with the same bootable medias. I don't
> know what the heck is going on.
>
> FYI with detailed specifications on the desktop PC that shows the
> symptoms: AMD Athlon 64 X2 (dual core) 939 4600+ CPU, MSI K8N NEO4-F
> (MS-7125; PCB v3.0) motherboard (NVIDIA nForce4), EVGA e-GeForce 7950GT
> KO (512 MB; PCIe; NVIDIA; v174.74 beta driver since later versions broke
> and removed their video mirror options), an used mid-tower Antec P180
> ATX case with four 120mm case fans, onboard nForce network controller,
> disabled onboard sound, 600 watts SeaSonic S12 PSU, 2 GB of PC3200 DDR
> RAM total (two 1 GB of RAMs [Patriot/PDP Systems + Kingston], Broadband
> Technologies Air2PC-ATSC-PCI HDTV tuner card (r0.2; DVB; connected to a
> DB2 HDTV bowtie antenna (30 miles)), ASUS TV Tuner Card 880 NTSC
> (cx23880), Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1612
> Rev. B 16X/48X ATAPI/IDE drive, Plextor PX-W1210 PlexWriter (12/10/32A;
> IDE), 3 internal HDDs (Seagate 320 GB SATA 7200rpm HDD (3 Gb/sec),
> Seagate ST380011A 80 GB HDD, and Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus
> ST3120026A 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200 RPM)), 3.5" TEAC disk drive, Windows
> XP Professional SP3 (Internet Explorer 6.0 SP3; DirectX 9.0c (latest
> month), all updates), and Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400 (4.1 setup; analog).
>
> Computers are weird.

They are indeed weird. Try section 9.11 Keyboard controller here.
The SuperI/O chip on the motherboard, has the interface to the PS/2
keyboard and mouse. There is an actual 8 bit microcontroller inside
there, emulating an 8042. What is it doing ? Who knows...
It is not documented.

http://www.ite.com.tw/product_info/f...12F_V0.9.3.pdf

Keyboards are subject to translation, so at least at some level,
what comes from the keyboard might not be a "character" as such,
and rather a keydown/keyup code. The OS may translate that.

I know on some other non-PC computers, there is an actual
dip switch on the bottom of the keyboard, hidden by a small
cover, and the switches control some translations. The PC
works differently, because you don't see any switches on the
keyboard. (None of mine have any.) So something is doing
translation.

Some OSes support "changing the keyboard map", and that
may show itself as strange characters coming from the
keyboard, when it isn't set properly. Does DOS do that ?
Does DOS has a "locale" ?

You'll have to do some more searches and fill in the details.

In the case of some other non-PC computers, the path from
keyboard to screen, takes a whole textbook to document. The
scheme may not be as trivial as you think.

Some other teaser URLs.

http://pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/chip/kbctrl-c.html

http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/legacy.htm

There are other tricks hiding down there, like copying
a character from a USB keyboard, and making it look like
it came from the PS/2 interface. That helps, when an OS
doesn't support USB, but does know PS/2.

Hours of research ahead...

Good luck,
Paul

>
> On 12/26/2008 3:09 PM PT, Ant typed:
>
>> Hi.
>>
>> Do you happen to know why my current PS/2 Dell PC104 (SK-8110 model)
>> doesn't work correctly when I boot up DOS (e.g., Windows 98's) from a
>> bootable 3.5" disk or CDs? The keyboard's arrow keys don't work, shift
>> key stuck (entering numbers showed symbols, capitalized letters,
>> etc.), insert mode on, using insert key showed 0, etc. Same thing if I
>> run a DOS GUI program like old Norton Ghost 2003.
>>
>> I do not have this problems in Windows XP Pro. SP3, Debian/Linux, and
>> CMOS. I tried different PS/2 PC104 keyboards like my old generic
>> Chicony and an older Dell (RT7D20) brands. They all had no problems. I
>> also tried direct connection (not using any adapters) instead of using
>> an old KVM. I don't understand why this specific one has problems.
>> It's not old either since I got it new from someone about a year ago.
>>
>> Thank you in advance.