[SWLUG] dead keyboard controller - ideas?

[philicorda]

I've had something like this happen on a couple of old computers.  In 
both cases the controller was fine, but the PS2 socket had gone dodgy. A 
touch of servisol and wiggling the plug brought them back to life 
momenterely, at least for long enough work out what was going on. You 
get tiny cracks on the solder joints where the socket pins connect to 
the mobo, and they can be resoldered, but it's not easy to do without 
trashing it.
I don't know if thats what's wrong in your case (it sounds like it's 
totally dead rather than intermittent), but it's worth a try.