HotRod SE **Update** Solved

[Scotty]

HELP!!!  I am dying to play Robotron again!  I have a HotRod SE.  I thought the encoder went bad, and some kind soul on here sent me a controller.  Thank you again Jeremy!!!  However that did not fix the problem.  I borrowed an identical unit from a friend, and it is doing the EXACT SAME THING.  Here is the situation:

When I go in to windows, No dice.  Nothing.  Open word pad, press any key, nothing functioning.

HOWEVER...  In the Bios...  Left joystick WORKS FINE!!  Cursor moves up, down and all around!!

This is where it gets weird.....   

I triple boot (XP, Vista and Win7).  and the MS menu screen where it lists the OS choices, the left stick (up and down keys) do **NOT** work.  HOWEVER........  any key press on the HotRod will stop the 30 second clock used to pick an operating system.  So it *IS* getting a signal of some kind, but not working properly. 

I did read on another forum that the HotRod is not compatible with some some older Gateway machines.  I am running a Gigabyte MB with a core2dual.  Could it be a compatibility issue???

HELP!!!!

**Update**  For some UNKNOWN reason, I had to have a PS/2 Keybaord plugged in to the back of the HotRod.  This was **NOT** the case on my old computer.  Plugged PS/2 KB in, and we are ROCKING!  Scored 100,000 on robotron after about 3 games.  Woohoo!!!!

[romshark]

Do you have a PS/2 keyboard you can plug into the other port on your Hotrod? Try that, and see if that keyboard functions normally. The Hotrod might actually function with a keyboard plugged in, if there's some weird compatibility thing in your motherboard.
Also, are you using a PS/2 keyboard port on your computer, or a PS/2 to USB adapter?

[Scotty]

I am using a wireless Keyboard mouse combo (USB) and the HotRod is plugged in to the PS/2 slot.  I am well aware of the problems of HotRods not running with a PS/2 to USB adapter.

[Scotty]

Help!!  I got 12-14 hours at work tomorrow...  I need a Robotron fix!!

[jeremymtc]

Hi Scotty,

Don't know if you have this issue sorted out, but here is what I did for a while: I gutted an encoder out of an old keyboard, and left it plugged into the passthrough on the HR encoder (via an A/T keyboard adapter, no less ). It's ugly, but it works.

GL man.