keyboard indictator lights problem

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hello

I have a Windows NT 4 workstation that the keyboard indicator lights are no
working. The caps lock, num lock, and scroll lock functions all work, their
status just does not show on the keyboard. The indicator lights do work
during the initial boot up and the os selection screen. After that nothing.
I have tried a new keyboard already with no luck.

I am convinced that this is a software issue, not hardware as the indicator
lights work duing the computer's initial boot.

Any advice?

Thank you.

 

[Calvin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hi J-Bird,

Seen this one before. By any chance do you have the IONetworks USB stack
insalled on this NT4 machine ? If so did you load the HID (Human Interface
Drivers - ie: Mouse and Keyboard) - this is the cause of the problem, the HID
drivers conflict with the standard PS2 drivers supplied with NT4 causing the
effects you described.

Have a look at http://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/usb.htm for a lot more details.

It is easy to fix, remove the IONetworks stack using 'Add/Remove Programs' in
Control panel, reboot, then re-install them, this time making sure you DON'T
choose the HID drivers when you get to the screen during install where it asks
which drivers you want.

If you want to use USB Mice and keyboards I would suggest you use a PS2 to
serial adapter on the mouse and use the PS2 port. I haven't tried USB keyboards
on NT4, but I'm sure a similar 'trick' could be used that allows operation of
the normal PS2 keyboard driver.

Hope this helps,

Calvin.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Sorry, I don't have any of this hardware on the machine. Its just a PS/2
keyboard.

"Calvin" wrote:

> Hi J-Bird,
>
> Seen this one before. By any chance do you have the IONetworks USB stack
> insalled on this NT4 machine ? If so did you load the HID (Human Interface
> Drivers - ie: Mouse and Keyboard) - this is the cause of the problem, the HID
> drivers conflict with the standard PS2 drivers supplied with NT4 causing the
> effects you described.
>
> Have a look at http://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/usb.htm for a lot more details.
>
> It is easy to fix, remove the IONetworks stack using 'Add/Remove Programs' in
> Control panel, reboot, then re-install them, this time making sure you DON'T
> choose the HID drivers when you get to the screen during install where it asks
> which drivers you want.
>
> If you want to use USB Mice and keyboards I would suggest you use a PS2 to
> serial adapter on the mouse and use the PS2 port. I haven't tried USB keyboards
> on NT4, but I'm sure a similar 'trick' could be used that allows operation of
> the normal PS2 keyboard driver.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Calvin.
>

 

[Calvin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hi J-Bird,

Oh Well.... was worth a shot 🙂

I presume you have checked the obvious things like trying another keyboard. Just
because it works initially under BIOS control doesn't necessarily mean it will
function when the Microsoft Win NT drivers take over - they operate the keyboard
port in a different fashion that the keyboard may not like - again another stab
in the dark, but better to eliminate the obvious first !

Calvin.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Sorry.

I tried all this first. The lights on a new keyboard went out when I got
into NT. I updated the BIOS to its current version. No luck there. I
haven't seen a problem like this before.

"Calvin" wrote:

> Hi J-Bird,
>
> Oh Well.... was worth a shot 🙂
>
> I presume you have checked the obvious things like trying another keyboard. Just
> because it works initially under BIOS control doesn't necessarily mean it will
> function when the Microsoft Win NT drivers take over - they operate the keyboard
> port in a different fashion that the keyboard may not like - again another stab
> in the dark, but better to eliminate the obvious first !
>
> Calvin.
>

 

[Calvin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hi J-Bird,

Do you know what driver NT is using to run the keyboard - have you added
anything like Intellipoint (wheel mouse) software to the machine ?

Intelimouse software fundamentally changes the way in which NT4 uses the
keyboard port - totally different drivers are used (MSI8042.sys) is the
Intellimouse driver in question.

Calvin.