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Unfamiliar with USB

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FractalWalk:
I've got what I am sure is a stiupid question but I know absolutley nothing about USB and I have a problem.

I recently received a Gateway USB keyboard and am trying to get it to work along with my keyboard hack. My system came with Windows 98 already installed and when I plug in the keyboard it searches for drivers. Although the drivers it is looking for are already on the hard drive it prompts me to insert the Win 98 CD. The install searches the CD and can't find the drivers (and neither can I!).  

I force the install to browse the directory on my hard drive that has the drivers and it finds the appropriate files and says that it is finished and prompts me to restart. After re-starting the USB keyboard still does not work. If I unplug and plug the keyboard back in, it does nothing as if it is already recognized.

My System Product support tells me to download Gateway drivers. But when I go to Gateway's web site there are no drivers associated with this keyboard model. Gateway won't help because I don't have a Gateway system.

Any help regarding this matter or info on USB in general would greatly be appreciated.

u_rebelscum:

--- Quote ---I recently received a Gateway USB keyboard and am trying to get it to work along with my keyboard hack.
--- End quote ---
 
I heard bad stuff about gateway USB keyboards.  Don't have one myself, so I'm not much help here.


--- Quote ---After re-starting the USB keyboard still does not work. If I unplug and plug the keyboard back in, it does nothing as if it is already recognized.
--- End quote ---

When you plug or unplug a USB device (with working drivers), the mouse cursor should temporary blink the hour-glass wait symbol.  This means the USB device is correctly seen, and the driver is being loaded/unloaded as needed/not needed.  If you don't get the cursor to show the hour glass, either your computer loads the driver very quickly, or you have the wrong driver or driver settings.

MS has a good USB discription in its MSDN pages. try http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q263218 or search for usb on their http://msdn.microsoft.com pages

FractalWalk:
Thanks u_rebelscum.

I do get the hourglass. So, if I understand you correctly, my system is finding and loading the drivers. If I have the wrong drivers would it still load them anyway?

Howard_Casto:

The original Windows 98 isn't fully usb compliant and you'll have problems with it sometimes, 98se is much better and anything newer than that will work with it no problem.  

You will not get drivers from gateway as they are proprietary and discourage second hand usage of their accessories.  You need to go to driver site that isn't affiliated with gateway or any other company.  

u_rebelscum:

--- Quote ---I do get the hourglass. So, if I understand you correctly, my system is finding and loading the drivers. If I have the wrong drivers would it still load them anyway?
--- End quote ---

Your system has assigned drivers and trying to load them, yes.  And it looks like it's trying to load the wrong driver, then.  It least you know that windows sees the keyboard being plugged in. :-/  Howard_Casto is right that gateway has proprietary hardware and drivers, and you need to get the driver from a third party driver site, if they have drivers that work for you. :(

BTW, check what drivers windows loads by:
starting your computer with USB keyboard unplugged
go to settings -->  control panel --> system --> device manager
expand (click on the '+' symbol) HID, keyboard, and USB
look at the devices loaded
plug in the keyboard.  the list should refresh, and you'll need to expand the items again.
see what devices are added
double click on that device(s) be see its properties.

If the problem is that a mouse driver is loaded, you'll see that. ;)   You should also get a device in the HID item, in addition to a keyboard driver.  a green question mark is okay, but a yellow or red "!" means somethings wrong.  If it's the wrong keyboard driver, well, at least you'll know a keyboard driver is being loaded. :-/

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