Thinkpads Forum

Good Afternoon,

I have a T61 (14.1" Wide Screen and Windows 2k SP4) type 7663-V75 with using a Belkin USB to PS/2 Adapter (P47237) to connect my eMachines keyboard and mouse from the late 90s. The mouse works perfectly, but the keyboard refuses to work. I've called up both Belkin and IBM/Lenovo in regards to this issue and Belkin said since I have a laptop I can only use the built in keyboard and not a external one where Lenovo tells me that there is no way to disable the onboard keyboard and possibly the Keyboard will not work on a USB adapter. I've tired a Apple USB keyboard and it worked.

Lenovo also states the only way for my external Keyboard to work is by getting a 150-200 dollar docking station with a built in PS2 connection which is VERY out of price for me. I would really want to see if disabling the keyboard would work through Software as I'm too shy to go ahead and open up my T61 to detach the keyboard on such a new unit. Windows Device Manager will not even allow me to disable keyboards.

Make things even worse I'm stuck with the Adapter since I Purchased it from Circuit City.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Using my old monitor, Keyboard, and Mouse would be a pleasure so I can convert my Thinkpad into a desktop style setup... When I'm on the go, my Thinkpad goes with me.

I have some bad news for you. Typically (at work) we have had bad luck with inexpensive ps/2 to usb adapters. Often you need an adapter that has some sort of logic circuitry inside (like these, for example - no affiliation, I'm just googled them). The tip-off is that the good converters are physically larger than the typical cheap ones. We bought a different brand for our shipping computers back in 2003-2004. The converters (similar to the ones I linked, except these had both keyboard and mice ports) ran about $45/ea.

The cheap converters ran OK for the USB mice, but would not run our ps/2 keyboards (we had industrial models) or our ps/2 wedge readers/barcode scan guns (essentially a keyboard device). We had to get the more expensive converters to run the keyboards and wedge readers.

Belkin has a rep for good cables--but also for USB gizmos that have driver problems and sometimes they just don't work.

If that adapter is not listed on the Windows Hardware Qualification List (HQL) and does not have a Vista logo ("Made for Vista," etc.) on the box--there is no reason to expect it to work properly.

There are some adapters logo-certified to work with Vista, but you can also just buy a USB keyboard and skip the adapter. (I know, some old keyboards are just too good to let go.<G>)