disconnecting keyboard: big trouble !?!

[Rob]

Steve Ireland wrote:

>>Robert Huff wrote:
>>
>>>>For some reason, I needed to borrow the keyboard from my FreeBSD
>>>>PC (running 4.9 STABLE). So I disconnected the keyboard.
>>>>
>>>>When I reconnected it some time later, the system refused to use
>>>>the keyboard. Key hits were totally ignored.
>>>
>>>Is the keyboard USB or PS/2?
>>
>>Sorry, forgot to mention this.
>>Yes, it is PS/2. Both, mouse and keyboard are.
>>
>>Is there really no way to let FreeBSD reinitialize the keyboard?
>>Is a reboot the only way to go when the PS/2 keyboard has been
>>unplugged?
> 
> This is a PS/2 thing, not an operating system thing. You really can
> fry your motherboard plugging and unplugging PS/2 devices while the
> system is powered up.

Hmm, really? I don't know anything about this motherboard matters.
However, I used to disconnect the PS/2 mouse. When reconnected again,
I restarted the FreeBSD mouse daemon and everything was fine again.

Am I just lucky with the mouse here, or is a PS/2 mouse a less dangerous
PS/2 device than the PS/2 keyboard?

So back to my original question: a reboot is the only option after
disconnecting the PS/2 keyboard. Right?

Regards,
Rob.