* * * * *
                                        
  In most cases, the $100 chip will blow to save a 1¢ fuse, but occasionally,
                          the 1¢ fuse will do its job
                                        
Well, that's a fine kettle of fish, I thought as I powered up my main
computer and it reported it couldn't find the hard drive. First the keyboard,
and now the hard drive. I resisted the urge to say, “What else could possibly
go wrong?”

Late last night we had a power outage. I did the usual “shut down all the
computers, then shut down the UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply)es.
Fortunately, it only lasted some ten minutes and the power came back up. I
powered up the UPSes, then I started with my main computer. It got to the
point where I could log in, only the keyboard didn't work.

That's odd, I thought. I then powered up my other computer, the Mac mini.
Both computers use the same keyboard in a convoluted setup involving a KVM
(Keyboard Video Mouse demultiplexer) and Synergy [1] that works for me. The
keyboard worked fine on the Mac mini, so it wasn't the keyboard [2] that was
bad.

But both computers lack a PS (Personal System)/2 port, so I have to run the
keyboard cables through a PS/2-to-USB (Universal Serial Bus) converter (one
per system). Logging into my main machine from the Mac and scanning the USB
subsystem showed nothing connected, which lead me to believe said USB system
on my main machine was dead. But oddly, there was nothing in the boot
messages that said the USB couldn't be initialized or was otherwise bad. I
then thought perhaps some dust had gotten in the way? I mean, the system was
dusty.

I took the machine outside and let loose with some canned air. Back inside,
hook everything back up and Well, that's a fine kettle of fish …

At this point, I did not panic, but instead applied Conner's Three Rules to
Worrying:

  1. Can I do anything about the issue I'm worried about now? If so, do the
     thing and stop worrying.
  2. Can I do anything about the issue later? If so, wait until later and see
     rule 1.
  3. Can I do anything about the issue at all? If not, no use worrying about
     it as there's nothing you can do about it.

I figured rule 2 applied, and waited until later.

* * * * *

Later came, and I decided to take a methodical approach to the problem. I
unhooked the computer, opened the case and made sure all the cables were
firmly in place. Perhaps letting loose with the canned air knocked a cable
loose and in fact, that was the issue—the power cable to the CD-ROM (Compact
Disk Read Only Memory) had been knocked loose, and that's probably the hard
drive the computer was complaining about. Everything else seemed firmly in
place.

As an aisde, I do want to mention the case I have for my main computer is one
of the nicest cases I've seen. It's easy to get into without any tools,
wire/cable management is super clean, and nothing is hard to get at or
remove. It's a beautiful case.

Anyway, I hook everything back up, and lo'! It booted up, But alas, the
keyboard was still borked.

I still didn't panic. The computer works. I don't have to get a new harddrive
and the mess that entails. I can still work without a keyboard. At the very
least, I can see if I have a USB PC (Personal Computer) card in my collection
(I gave it a 10% chance of having one in storage) and if not, I could always
order one.

But then something said try the PS/2-to-USB converter on the Mac on my main
system. And lo'—it worked! It was the PS/2-to-USB converter on my main system
that for some reason fried—it wasn't the USB subsystem at all! And that's a
much easier problem to work around.

[1] https://symless.com/synergy
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard

Email author at sean@conman.org

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