PS/2 port myth ?

[spunkiiez]

Hello,

I've heard that you can fry your PS/2 port if you change (unplug then plug again) mouse or keyboard while the PC is powered on. is that true ?

TIA
Spunkiiez.

 

[dvdpiddy]

thats bull ive done that many times and nothing happened who told you that?

 

[bagg]

I have seen mobo's that lost their PS/2 keyboard port due to unplugging/plugging in while the machine had power to it. I have also seen mobo's that did not get damaged while unplugging the devices from the PS/2 ports. Generally speaking, shut the machine down first.

 

[joel100011]

It is certainly possible although it doesn't happen too often. This is also possible with USB since I have done that a few times. The way I understand it, there can be a spike in power when you are plugging or unplugging devices. PS/2 is not a hot swap standard, so something plugged in after the power is on will not be recognized either way.

 

[eviltechie]

I used to work at a PC repair and custom build shop, and one of my co-workers was always going on about how you will fry the motherboard if you hot plug PS/2 devices.

However, in my 4-5 years there I build and repaired thousands of systems and hot plugged too many PS/2 devices to count and never witnessed ANY problems. And, neither did any of the other technicians.

Perhaps we were just lucky, or perhaps it's not actually that much of a risk.

So, I guess if you're willing to take the risk, fine (I do). If not, get a KVM switch if you need to share PS/2 peripherals and/or monitors. KVMs are a lot slicker anyways.

 

[zyzplasmaz]

while i dont think this is a myth, the change of it happening is very very low. i done this a bunch of time, and havent fried anything yet either. should you do it on purpose? not if you can avoid it, it's better to be safe then sorry 8)

 

[Crashman]

I've seen it! Not often though.

A bunch of PC-Chips boards had keyboard ports that didn't grab the pins tightly enough, so they'd get frequent "hot plugs" from making intermittent contact. They all failed eventually, usually after several months. Which equates to hundreds of hot connect/disconnects.

 

[chuckshissle]

PS/2 port is basically plug and play port so I don't think there is any danger of frying or negatively affecting your system by switching devices while the system is on. But USB on the other hand, I've heard people having problems with it like lockups and rumors said that it has fried some system as well.

As for my system the only problem when I unplug something from the usb is that it doesn't recognize it when I plug it back and the only way to fix it is to restart my pc.

I've use all my port and stick all kinds of devices in any holes I could find in my pc and don't have problem with it.

 

[Crashman]

Oh, there's a way to hot-swap PS/2 keyboards...

Put the system into standby so it won't detect the keyboard being unplugged, switch them, and bring it out of standby.

 

[michaelahess]

PS2 is not plug and play, it was in use years before there was such a thing, unplug a mouse, then plug it back in, it won't keep working. I've seen many fried ports, only 1 board that might have died from it though. I certainly don't suggest removing and plugging with the power on. These aren't like usb guys. This problem is almost always with mice, keyboards will "plug and play" usually but not on all systems.

 

[Crashman]

I hot-swap floppy drives too!

 

[michaelahess]

now that's just crazy!

 

[AntiHax0r]

PS2 is not plug and play, it was in use years before there was such a thing, unplug a mouse, then plug it back in, it won't keep working. I've seen many fried ports, only 1 board that might have died from it though. I certainly don't suggest removing and plugging with the power on. These aren't like usb guys. This problem is almost always with mice, keyboards will "plug and play" usually but not on all systems.

Not entirely true...I unplug my mouse/keyboard while its on, it still works if I plug it back in rightaway, however if you unplug it before BIOS detects it, then it will be unusuable and you would have to Re-Post. In the OS, it doesn't matter.

 

[Crashman]

You must have something unique going on there, because if I unplug and replug a PS/2 keyboard while windows is running, it doesn't function. And using suspend mode has always been my only workaround.

 

[AntiHax0r]

I don't know... only thing that happens when I replug mine in, is that I get a button delay, like the settings are reset to default, but all I have to do is go to control panel, turn down the speed and turn it back up.

 

[Sonic_Reducer]

that depends on the motherboard some mobos just can do it some can't because in some mobos it works just fine the change and in some, major windows lock down

 

[chuckshissle]

I guess I must be lucky enough to not fry my system cuz sometimes I unplug my devices while its on. Thanks for the correction, Im going to be careful next time.