My keyboard fell. It yanked the wiring out of the keyboard. That is, the little 4 wire multiplex connector thing. No big deal, I opened the keyboard and replaced that. But… there’s a grounding wire that runs from the top of the… electronic membrane layer thing. I can’t figure out where this grounding wire is supposed to go, except perhaps into the same cable as the 4-wire connector. But I can’t see that, because if there was a connection there, it’s broken 3-4 inches into the cable (there’s that much uninsulted wiring on the end of the grounding wire).
What exactly does the grounding wire on a keyboard do? Am I at risk for blowing out the keyboard controller on the motherboard running without it? And where is it supposed to connect to? If I strip the main keyboard wire, will I find open grounding wire to splice it with?
Are we talking about a USB cable here? If so, the ground is really only used for EMI suppression. It’s a braided shield around the two twisted pairs that make up the USB power and data conductors. You can leave it unconnected, but if you do so you may notice some erratic behavior from time to time, particularly if you’re in an electrically noisy environment, e.g., next to a factory with large motor-driven equipment, or arc welding operations. You might also notice inreased noise in radio and broadcast television reception.
My concern primarily is blowing out the keyboard controller on the motherboard. I’ve done that once before (by hot unplugging a ps2 keyboard) and I don’t want to rebuild this system for a stupid reason like that.
In that case, it may also be a required electrical ground for both the +5V and data lines, in addition to being an EMI shield. Does the keyboard work without it connected? If so, it’s just for EMI shielding, and my post above applies.
Works fine, thanks. Just overly worried, probably.
I had no idea unplugging a ps2 keyboard could kill an entire motherboard, and I was quite pissed at the time, so I’m trying to be cautious now. I don’t really want to replace a keyboard if I don’t have to. I hate buying new keyboards - there’s an arms race to cram as many useless keys onto new ones so they can say “OUR KEYBOARD IS BETTER, 150 KEYS!!”