keyboard cable compatibility

[Chyros]

Hiya everyone,

I need some help replacing a cable. Recently I had an issue with an AT101W of which someone had chopped the cable off. To fix this, I tried a few other PS/2 plugin cables (one of those things that plugs into four pins on the PCB, just about everything seems to have this) but this didn't work. Because I couldn't work out what I needed to do to make it work (and because it wasn't in the best of conditions anyway, and I have several) I disassembled it for parts and didn't think much of it.

Now though, I've got a keyboard with a slightly dodgy cable. It works, but not 100%. As such, I'd like to try and replace it with a cable that does fully work, but I don't want to risk shorting something out and ruining the keyboard. So, how do I proceed from here? What do I need to keep in mind? Does it need to be the same cable from an identical model? Hope someone can help .

[Muirium]

The four pins are ground (0 volts), vcc (+5 volts), clock and data. If you see them marked on the PCB: thank your stars. But if you just have a cable to look at, they are in fixed positions on the AT / PS2 jack.

Soarer's got some nice documentation bundled with his converter. Which is what I suggest you install anyway, maybe with a nice USB cable from Pexon…

[fohat]

If you have a multimeter and a working rig, just go point-to-point and see what connects to what at each end.

But remember Fohat's Rule: never trust color! Even under the same manufacturer.