O/T: Computer question

[Anonymous-0]

My mom has an older computer, 266Mhz Pentium II, Windows XP. There is a problem with the keyboard port. I have a couple PS/2 to Serial adapters. Can I run the keyboard from one of the serial ports?

Thanks,

Anthony.

 

[bo]

Probably. But, just do it, if it won't work, it won't work. You can't possibly mess up anything on a computer unless you know how to get into a bios. Plug it in , turn it on and see.

 

[Mathias NY]

You probably can, it shouldn't hurt anything to try. Do you have a PS/2 to USB adapter? If so, that would probably be a better solution.

 

[rhouston]

If you have broken off the key in the PS2 keyboard port just take a staple straighten it out heat it with a lighter then stick it into the broken key let it melt part way into the key. Then after a minute to let it cool you can remove the broken off key.

You may also want to try a USB keyboard. You will have to give the machine up to 5 minutes sitting at the logon prompt before plug and pray sees the usb keyboard.

A 266 mhz machine is kinda old for XP. 500 mhz was my cut off point for XP and even that is kinda pokey.

 

[Dan-IA]

In an alternate universe I fixed computers for the last 20 years. Even a 266 has a good chance of having USB onboard and a BIOS that can handle a USB keyboard.

Granted, I'd retire that computer for something 10x the speed by swapping out the hard drive and reactivating XP, but that's just me.