Photograph of old (circa 1983) and new (2009) computer keyboards.
Despite great advances in the computer industry to make plug and play hardware a reality, the fact remains that there are still several disparate specifications which defy such an endeavor. Namely, the universal recognition and operation of computer keyboards with their motherboards. Keyboards connect directly to motherboard headers and as such are subject to low-level hardware discovery which, at times, is less than accurate.
Hardware Damage
Virtually the largest cause of disparate communication between a motherboard and keyboard is that of a faulty keyboard port. There are two widely used keyboard connective specifications, PS/2 and USB. If a keyboard seems to be totally ignored at start-up by a computer system, there is a high-degree of probability that there is a hardware failure at the connector. In the case of a USB port being faulty, you simply need to move the keyboard connector to another port. If a PS/2 port is faulty, you will need to procure a USB keyboard or PS/2 to USB converter to use the keyboard as there is traditionally only one PS/2 on any given motherboard.
Unsupported Hardware
There are two reasons why a specific keyboard may be unsupported by a motherboard. Firstly, a keyboard may simply be several months or years younger than the computer and as a corollary the motherboard was not designed for that specification. Secondly, if the keyboard possesses some proprietary architecture, such as the Logitech's G15, the keyboard needs to have manufacturer driver software installed correctly to be recognized and function properly.
Key Mapping
Keyboards are largely designed with their regional key sets in place at the time of shipping. However, if a keyboard is utilized outside of its intended region it can function quite erratically if at all. To fix this malfunction, you must change the key mapping, sometimes called character mapping, settings within the operating system to make the keyboard operate correctly with the disparate computer.
Motherboard Settings
The BIOS, Basic Input Output System, of a motherboard may have a specific keyboard setting, which it will use to search for a keyboard device. If this is set to USB or PS/2 and the keyboard is not plugged into the corresponding port, the motherboard may misread a device as a keyboard or not read it at all. A remedy to this situation is to unplug all unnecessary devices from the computer and only plug in the keyboard to a specific port. Then attempt to enter the BIOS and change this setting. If the keyboard is unresponsive, restart the computer while plugged into the other port and try again.
USB Recognition
Many older BIOS systems will not recognize a USB keyboard until the operating system has loaded and launched the keyboard's driver software. This is a problem when one wishes to enter pre-operating system functions, as their keyboard is not responsive. The only way to circumvent this situation is to use a PS/2 adapter with the USB keyboard so the motherboard will recognize it on boot through the PS/2 port. One may also keep a second keyboard around that is a PS/2 type, however, this approach is hardly practical.
Tags: computer keyboards, driver software, operating system, plugged into, specific keyboard, that there