Fake keyboards?

[maxtch]

Has anyone heard of them? My motherboard refuse to boot if it can not find a keyboard, but I use a Bluetooth keyboard which it does not recognize during boot, forcing me to connect a USB keyboard every time I need to reboot the machine, only to remove it later.

 

Is there any “stub” or “fake” keyboards out there that will allow me to bypass that check without, well, actually connecting a keyboard to the machine? Or do I have to program my own microcontroller board for that? (I am actually currently programming up such a device using an repurposed project board and a STM32F042 microcontroller.)

[kelvinhall05]

You can probably disable that setting in the BIOS, no?

 

If not, just go to a thrift store and spend 50 cents on a keyboard that you can plug in then toss in a drawer or behind your desk.

[KuJoe]

Depending on the motherboard you might be able to go into the BIOS and tell your PC to continue booting.

[maxtch]

1 minute ago, kelvinhall05 said:

You can probably disable that setting in the BIOS, no?

 

If not, just go to a thrift store and spend 50 cents on a keyboard that you can plug in then toss in a drawer or behind your desk.

My machine is in a server rack and it is already very cluttered back there. What I am looking for is a device the size of a Flash drive that can convince the BIOS that I have a USB keyboard but does nothing afterwards.

1 minute ago, KuJoe said:

Depending on the motherboard you might be able to go into the BIOS and tell your PC to continue booting.

Somehow the option is not there in Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H BIOS.

[KuJoe]

I did a search online and some people had similar issues with their Gigabyte motherboards, some of them were able to fix it by changing USB ports. I'd give that a try.

[Turretgaming]

33 minutes ago, maxtch said:

Has anyone heard of them? My motherboard refuse to boot if it can not find a keyboard, but I use a Bluetooth keyboard which it does not recognize during boot, forcing me to connect a USB keyboard every time I need to reboot the machine, only to remove it later.

 

Is there any “stub” or “fake” keyboards out there that will allow me to bypass that check without, well, actually connecting a keyboard to the machine? Or do I have to program my own microcontroller board for that? (I am actually currently programming up such a device using an repurposed project board and a STM32F042 microcontroller.)

use a bash bunny or something like that as it can make itself look like a usb keyboard. its normally a hacking tool but could work for your needs.

[.Apex.]

36 minutes ago, maxtch said:

What I am looking for is a device the size of a Flash drive that can convince the BIOS that I have a USB keyboard but does nothing afterwards.

if you buy or find a really cheap membrane keyboard and open it up, you'll find that the PCB is very tiny, so just take that out and connect it and hide it somewhere, but make sure you insulate it or put it inside a container so it doesn't short stuff out

 

 

the connector on the left is the USB cable, it's that tiny

[Turretgaming]

3 minutes ago, syn2112 said:

if you buy a really cheap membrane keyboard and open it up, you'll find that the PCB is very tiny, so just take that out and connect it and hide it somewhere, but make sure you insulate it or put it inside a container so it doesn't short stuff out

 

 

the connector on the left is the USB cable, it's that tiny

you should wrap it in electrical tape or flex seal.

[maxtch]

3 hours ago, Turretgaming said:

use a bash bunny or something like that as it can make itself look like a usb keyboard. its normally a hacking tool but could work for your needs.

Program up my own microcontroller is similar to bash bunny actually, although it is a bit more cost since I have to write code for it myself.

3 hours ago, syn2112 said:

if you buy or find a really cheap membrane keyboard and open it up, you'll find that the PCB is very tiny, so just take that out and connect it and hide it somewhere, but make sure you insulate it or put it inside a container so it doesn't short stuff out

 

the connector on the left is the USB cable, it's that tiny

Pricing of keyboards are odd here...

[maxtch]

3 hours ago, KuJoe said:

I did a search online and some people had similar issues with their Gigabyte motherboards, some of them were able to fix it by changing USB ports. I'd give that a try.

What do you mean "changing USB ports"?