Serial mice and PS/2 KVMs

[modem7]

It's a standard 6-pin MINI-din to 6-pin DIN.

I'm sure that you meant, "6-pin MINI-din to 5-pin DIN"

It has absolutely nothing to do with the mini-DIN adapter.

I'm pretty sure that if a short develops in the adapter, such that on the large DIN, pin 4 (ground) and pin 5 (5 volts) were the pins shorted, that the keyboard fuse in the AT is going to blow.

I'm positive it's the computer drawing too much power.

Sounds like you missed lutiana's, "Blew out the fuse on both my 486 and 386 so I gave up trying."

If the wires of the mini-DIN adapter were changed, it would be a different number of pins (like a 7 pin mini-DIN which wouldn't fit), or the two devices being connected wouldn't be using the same signal... such as MIDI and PS/2.

Below is a picture of my old Royel soldering station. As can be seen, the iron itself connects to the station via a DIN5 connector. What if I were to tell you that, post production of the unit, that Royel sold a DIN5 to MINI-DIN6 adapter that allows the use of later generation Royel irons, and that that adapter, compared to the one used for AT keyboard ports, crosses over different pins.

Below are two adapters that from the outside look identical. On one end is a male DB25 and on the other end is a female DE9. If I try to use them on my AT to convert the 9-pin serial connector to 25-pin, only the adapter on the left will work. The adapter on the right crosses over different pins because it's designed for a different purpose.

 

[MikeS]

It has absolutely nothing to do with the mini-DIN adapter. It's a standard 6-pin MINI-din to 6-pin DIN

Umm, yes; my DIN plugs also only have 5 pins...

I'm positive it's the computer drawing too much power.

Are you really "absolutely" "positive" that it's the computer that's drawing too much power (from where?), and not, oh, say, maybe the keyboard (if in fact that's actually the problem)?