Review on 🔁 IOGEAR 4-Port Dual View Dual-Link DVI KVMP Switch with Audio and Full Cable Set - TAA Compliant (GCS1644) by Reginald Hamilton

This worked for me for about a year and a half. However, this did not work voluntarily; I had to push a lot. Some systems don't like it at all during the boot process. For systems like the Lenovo ThinkPad W700 and P70, I had to route the USB connection through a switch - in one position it connects directly to the PC, in the other position the 'keyboard' is USB powered. Keyboard to PS/2 system device that connects to the keyboard side of the PS/2 keyboard + mouse to the USB system device. This is the only way the keyboard will work on boot. Once the operating system takes over, everything is fine. The need for this fancy device (and the fact that it added over two hundred dollars to the cost of using this KVM) was enough to earn it a one star rating in my review. The second star fell off when it seemed shaky at times about a year later. Sometimes the keyboard or mouse would not respond even when the operating system was running or when a USB->PS/2->USB device was installed on systems that required it. In fact, the keyboard and/or mouse appeared to be completely off - both have LEDs, and the LEDs on one or both go off. Switching from the panel often didn't help; I would have to turn everything off (no keyboard and mouse!), then turn off the KVM switch, then turn on the KVM switch and boot everything back up. Usually everything worked after that, but sometimes I had to turn everything off for a while. When I unplugged the keyboard and mouse from the KVM switch and plugged them into the PC, they worked fine. When reconnected to the KVM switch, it usually turned on briefly and then turned off again. The inconvenience was almost worth another star, but it got worse. After another six months, the keyboard and mouse will periodically turn off and may turn back on by themselves. When it starts doing that, everything has to be completely shut down to get it back to normal, and sometimes it doesn't take a whole day to come back up, although sometimes it takes a couple of days to shut down again. . Although it hasn't completely disabled the keyboard or mouse, it sometimes skips events - it randomly jumps the mouse up, down, or whatever - and it usually happens in batches (mouse and button tracking gets irritating for a while or it starts skipping from click events or pressing a key on the keyboard) and then returns to normal. Again, connecting the keyboard and mouse directly to the PC fixes the problem. Sometimes (if the keyboard works) a prompt to reset or enable emulation helps (but sometimes the situation gets worse). The rest of the second star is definitely there. I called IOGear to ask for a replacement. As far as I've entered the process, they haven't offered any issues, but they don't have an "advance replacement" option - I've even offered to do something like buy a new one if they send it back after they have received the faulty , but they refused. That means I'll probably go without a KVM switch for at least two weeks - long enough to ship my device to them, have them evaluate my device, process the return, pull out a new/refurbished one, box it up, and finally ship it out me. Another star is lost. I use this for work. I can't afford to lie down for two weeks (or even one). I admit I could afford to buy another one, but I won't. I will look for a similar product from a company that offers professional support and can provide an upfront replacement if something goes wrong. I'm not expecting a new device without any protection whatsoever, but I need a process where I can get it quickly. It's basically worked for a year (with some tweaking) and IOGear seems poised to replace it when I'm ready and able to service. As soon as I buy a replacement from someone else, I send it in for exchange. I might sell it to someone who doesn't need it for work after I get a replacement. If they redeem the guarantee (still 18 months old) without too much hassle it stays at the two star level. When this process becomes a pain, it falls on a star.