Customer Reviews

Replacement PS/2 Keyboard to USB Adapter - M/F

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

OK, folks, listen up. There are two kinds of USB - PS/2 adapters. There's this kind, which simply changes one plug for another. It doesn't do any signal processing at all - it's just a dumb plug changer. For most of you, this will not work, because in order to use a PS/2 keyboard with a USB plug in the back of your computer, your adapter needs to change the signal somewhat. That's why you see the more expensive adapters - about $12 to $15. Those have circuitry inside them that actually changes the PS/2 output of your keyboard into a signal that the USB input of your computer will recognize. I learned this the hard way, too.

The description here does not tell the whole story. The manufacturer's website states:

"This product is designed as a replacement adapter for keyboards that originally shipped with a PS/2 to USB converter. If your product did not ship with a converter, we suggest trying a USBPS2PC instead."

I believe this is why the other reviewers are complaining that the product doesn't work. I'm going to buy the "USBPS2PC", which I also found on Amazon (product number B00028OP2Y).

These PS2-USB "adapters" are the worst thing to ever come from mankind. Why? All they do is switch over wires to a different plug. They do not "magically" make ps2 products usb compatible or the other way around. Almost never in the product description is this told. Many people have bought these to be very disappointed that they don't work. On the other hand, if you know you have a compatible keyboard, they work well. Make sure your keyboard states it's compatible with usb-ps2 adapters before buying an adapter! The work of actually converting formats is done by the keyboard, not the "adapter".

When plugged into an USB port, windows XP complains that the device cannot be recognized. I tried both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports on an old compaq presario and new dell computers. The same problem.

I should have paid more attention to the reviews as this didn't work for me, either. I got the same message, doesn't recognize usb. I don't know if there could be a driver for this. I don't think the product is necessarily defective, it just doesn't work with Windows XP.

You can't simply plug a PS/2 keyboard into a USB port, unless the computer is smart enough to understand how to deal with the signals coming from the PS/2 device. Sure, some computers can do it, and so you would use this adapter. But it's not a converter, and does not claim to be one. It cannot do magic.

If you bought it and it doesn't "work", you should have done your research. It doesn't make sense to me to simply jump on Amazon and order something without knowing whether it's what you need. I don't think it's fair to give one star and complain. The product does exactly what it's supposed to do. All you had to do was Google "how to connect a PS/2 keyboard to a USB port" or something before clicking "Add to Cart".

Got old keyboards hanging around that you want to use with your USB capable devices? Well, forget about that crazy idea, unless you want to throw down more money than a cheap USB keyboard costs. I appreciate your desire to maintain legacy technology for the sake of sharing your savvy, but this little gadget isn't going to make things work. It's just going to have windows tell you it sees some unrecognizable USB device that it doesn't know what to do with.... and unless you've got some serious motivation to make this work, it's probably not worth your time.

Nothing against the people who make this mind you, but it's just not going to do what you might hope, given a naive understanding of serial communication.

This is being said because i'm an idiot and found out firsthand after buying two.

received adapter on time and had it installed in seconds and worked as advertised. I will be bying more of these adapters in the future. Amazon was great

This item does not work. I bought it with 'lupoc' and after informing them that it did not work they were not very helpful in resolving this issue and their service was bad to put it mildly. Don't waste your time with this, it is a defective product.

Do not waste your money on this, it does not work even though I tried several different keyboards.