Keyboard Encoders freeze at XP bootup (and Num Lock stays lit)

[gamhakr]

I have a Ipac added to a Hot Rod control panel I got on trade recently. The Hot Rod interface isnt programmable and I cant have ALT-CTRL-SHIFT as action buttons. I never ran the Hot Rod before adding the IPAC. Hot Rod infos says they can be daisy chained.

I ran it several times and no problems. But as I continued to test it eventually the controls started to freeze at XP bootup (Pro 32bit SP2). I can enter BIOS with it, and toggle all of the LOCK keys on and off until it hits a certain part of the XP bootup. If I dont hit any of them only NUMLOCK stays locked. But one time I had CAPSLOCK lit during the XP freeze part and it froze instead. You cant toggle them off once froze.

I've tried different things to understand what is causing it (unplug keyboard, etc). It seems it stops once I enter the BIOS, and then reboot and let it load. It also seems to not freeze for a while if XP is properly shutdown. The process of shutdown is little more than windows saving any desktop etc changes made, so I cant see why it would care whether or not its shutdown all the way. Not being able to externally shut it down is a problem.

I guess I'd just totally unhook the Hotrod PCB but dont have the wiring I need to polish it off (I'd like to hang on to the wiring harnesses). I must say I found it annoying to not be able to find a pinout for that little board, much like not being able to reprogram the darn thing. I can see why it appears they're out of business.

Any insights into any of this will be appreciated.

On another setup I have, the IPAC pcb doesnt respond to the motherboard, so I've just been using a tiny keyboard with 2 USB contrllers, trackball etc. The annoying thing is when I start the system, once in XP I have to hit numlock to use the rest of the keyboard. But its TINY (8" long)and doeant have a numpad on it. It doesnt freeze the system controls, but I'd like to know how to prevent it from starting up in NUMLOCK mode.

[northerngames]

if it is connected usb try using ps2 instead I always had no problems with ps2 but had various troubles with usb.

[gamhakr]

I only have PS2 on each PCB.

I've been looking on the web and theres tons of long pages and threads out there complaining about numlock starting either on or off during XP bootup. Pages are easy to find about attempting to enable or disable it, it turns out. I suppose I'll try to disable it at bootup in the registry which means if all goes well it wont ever shut down with numlock on (therefore saving that setting). I just wont be near it for a good several days to test it anymore.

But I cant find anything about the keyboard controls freezing.

I forgot to mention that everything else works fine when this happens (hyperspin starts up, etc).