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KVM problem, keyboard not always synched on bootup

Muse

Muse

Lifer
Everything used to work just fine. I probably did something stupid. I tried to hot swap my PS2 keyboard for my other MS ergonomic (same model) because the first one was acting dodgy. 99.9% of the time I use system A, and now when I boot, much of the time (maybe 75%?) the keyboard doesn't work until I hit the scroll key quick a couple of times. That's the toggle action that switches between systems A and B. Mouse, no problem, video no problem. It's just the keyboard that's no longer synched all the time. I have to hit scroll, scroll and then the keyboard works. Not a showstopper, but a definite annoyance. What can I do to get things aligned again?
 
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You may have hit a key combo that left the KB on the other PC while everything else was alowed to switch to a differnt system. Look at your key combos and find the one that resets it so everything is on the same system.
 
I constantly ran into a similar problem back when I had a KVM switch: my mouse was erratic and basically unusable when any cables were swapped while either or both machines were powered.

Solution was to power down both systems. Then boot both systems. Peripherals should now be fine.

Note: You may need to unplug the power supplies as well: my AMD machine was recognized by the switch, even when powered off, so the solution only worked if I completely disconnected the AMD machine from the outlet.
 
I constantly ran into a similar problem back when I had a KVM switch: my mouse was erratic and basically unusable when any cables were swapped while either or both machines were powered.

Solution was to power down both systems. Then boot both systems. Peripherals should now be fine.

Note: You may need to unplug the power supplies as well: my AMD machine was recognized by the switch, even when powered off, so the solution only worked if I completely disconnected the AMD machine from the outlet.
Click to expand...

You may have hit a key combo that left the KB on the other PC while everything else was alowed to switch to a differnt system. Look at your key combos and find the one that resets it so everything is on the same system.
Click to expand...
Hmm. The situation seems to have gotten significantly worse. Yesterday on two occasions the main machine lost all response from the keyboard. Even hitting the KVM switch combo (scroll lock twice in rapid succession) did not restore response from the keyboard. Amazingly (to me!), I could not access an application in the tray (this is XP) using the mouse and the application's icon (of an already open application). IOW, for instance, I had a notepad file open and there was no way to get into it. I rebooted the first time and regained keyboard usage but later it had disappeared again.

The second system is connected but I have not turned it on since well before these problems began.

I guess I should try booting both systems and if the problems have not disappeared, I can try the other idea, being to find and use a key combination that will reset the KVM to defaults. Thanks for the help!
 
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I'm on the system right now. There are 2 machines, they are named BEAUTY and TRUTH. BEAUTY is the main system, I very rarely boot TRUTH. You see them in my sig.

Right now, I'm typing from TRUTH. BEAUTY is unusable, TRUTH seems OK. BEAUTY doesn't have the keyboard working right. The KVM seems to switch between the systems OK.

On BEAUTY the keyboard is acting wacky, don't know exactly how to describe it. I hit a normal key like "j" for instance, and a dialog comes up as if I'd hit a key combination such as Control+J. For instance, on BEAUTY I just opened a metapad file (text editor), hit the key "d" and up comes a dialog saying "Save changes to new file?" I mean a "d" is supposed to appear. Other keys do different wacky things. WTH is going on?

I've powered down and up both machines. In between, removed power from everything. At night I usually turn off all power (flip the main powerstrip off), and did so last night.

BEAUTY is dual boot and I booted into the other, now rarely-used OS partition, and the problems seem the same. Windows troubleshooting help for the keyboard was as always completely useless! Suggestions appreciated.
 
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It's as if the control key were stuck on, but with the other machine (TRUTH), it is not! They are using the same keyboard, of course, via the KVM... 😕

Perhaps a clue??? A month or two ago I had a problem with the keyboard that plagued me. People suggested here that the alt key was stuck on, so I swapped out the keyboard for my other MS ergonomic (similar if not identical KB). That's how I got into this mess, I hotswapped, like I said in the OP. The problem I had before went away, I cleaned the alt key on the previous KB, which sits unused right now. I somehow think the KBs are not the problem.
 
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Well, looks maybe fixed now. I removed the KB in Device Manager, did the mandatory reboot and it was still inoperative. I knew the KB was in effect because certain key combos were working, for instance Control+P brought up the print dialog. I go into Device Manager again and go to see the keyboard, change NOTHING and Windows says I have to reboot to put the changes in effect, WTF! I reboot (what else could I do?), and now the keyboard is working. Wow. I'm never ever going to try a hot swap with a KVM again, it's not worth risking a helluva hassle.
 
So, I'm typing merrily along on my newly working-again BEAUTY system and after 15 minutes or so I'm in the middle of an email message and without warning the keyboard starts acting screwy again, completely FUCKED UP! Please, any suggestions? 😕
 
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