[vox-tech] swapping mice

[Troy Arnold]

On Wed, Mar 12, 2003 at 08:09:00PM -0800, Samuel Merritt wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2003 at 10:21:54PM -0500, Mike Simons wrote:
> > On Wed, Mar 12, 2003 at 05:17:19PM -0800, Robin Snyder wrote:
> > 
> > > It is plugged in and getting some kind of data.  (The receiver box
> > > lights up.)  I shut down X using ctrl-alt-backspace.  No go.  I even tried
> > > rebooting, in case ctrl-alt-backspace didn't shut enough processes down.
> > > (I don't think it does.  Had to reboot to get the Mouseman working again.)
> > [...]
> > > What am I missing?  (And can I do this without rebooting?)
> > 
> >   PS/2 style devices are not supposed to be reconnected while the machine
> > is live.  I don't know the details but I've often seen PS/2 style
> > devices not operate correctly or at all when they are unplugged and
> > re-plugged in.  I've read that it's possible to fry the motherboard
> > controller chip for the PS/2 port by hot-swapping devices.
> 
> I've done it. I was working on an older Pentium-class system, and the
> keyboard stopped working. It was still passing packets, though, so I
> figured the keyboard plug had come loose. 
> 
> I pushed it back in, and voila: the machine stopped passing packets.
> Froze up hard, and never booted again. 

Yup, I fried a Pentium 90 motherboard this way.  I sent the motherboard
back to the manufacturer and they replaced the chip for me.  Didn't even
charge me though it was obviously my fault.

-troy