On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 01:28:23 -0800, Keith Keller
<kkeller-usenet@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us> wrote:

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>On 2003-12-01, Dave <davespamtrap@onemail.at> wrote:
>>
>> The PS/2 connector is *not* designed to be hot-pluggable. There is a
>> 0.5-1.0% chance you will toast the logic lurking behind the port if you
>> yank and reattach a keyboard or mouse.
>
>Just as a reference point, many years ago I did fry the PS/2 port and
>the keyboard pulling the plug from a machine that was powered on.
>Fortunately, the mobo was fine other than not being able to use a PS/2
>keyboard.

I did the same on an IBM system a few years ago. The repairman told me that the
mouse port and the keyboard port shared a power line, and that disconnecting the
mouse caused (somehow) this hot line to short out the keyboard driver chip.

--
Lew Pitcher
IT Consultant, Enterprise Technology Solutions
Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group

(Opinions expressed are my own, not my employers')