Home > Consumer Reviews > Belkin F1DS104U 4-Port Omniview USB KVM Switch

I bought the Belkin F1DS104U because I have a desktop and a laptop I wanted to control with a single console setup (keyboard, trackball, and monitor). I use a USB keyboard and trackball so I thought this product would be perfect for me, and it gave me the expandability to add another system (laptop) from work.

This product is billed as a KVM for the SOHO, and most home users these days have multimedia keyboards. However, this product DOES NOT support the multimedia functions of keyboards WHEN attached to the KVM per Belkin's manual. The KVM has USB ports specifically set aside and labeled for the keyboard and the mouse (or trackball). Because the firmware for the product allows hotkey switching between system, Belkin set up the product so that the hotkeys were only recognized through the "keyboard" labeled port. However, with the keyboard connected to this "keyboard" port, none of the multimedia keys work (yes, even with proper drivers installed). Two unique keyboards were tried without success.

The KVM does have two additional USB ports for peripherals. On a whim, I attempted to connect the multimedia keyboard to one of these ports and (tada) full multimedia functionality (at the loss of one of the available peripheral USB ports and hotkey switching). This issue is undocumented in the Belkin manual and Belkin site to this day.

A separate and just as aggravating issue is the inability of the KVM to deal with NOT having a mouse (or trackball) connected to it. I connect my trackball through my keyboard (it has a two port USB hub) to reduce cable clutter. If the KVM does not have a mouse connected to it, it emits a piercing "beep" at regular intervals. My quick fix? I connect an extra mouse I had in my spare parts bin to the KVM and dropped it behind my desk out of sight. The surrogate mouse sits idle and appears to alleviate the issue, but it does show up on both of my systems' hardware config. Luckily, I have not run into any conflicts with two mouse input devices.

A 45 minute call to Belkin's customer service back in June '02 yielded no solutions to my problems (I discovered the workarounds on my own through a couples hours of trial and error). The tech took my contact information and promised to call me back in the next couple of days ... I'm still waiting for that call (it's December).

I thought the product idea was a great concept ... Belkin just dropped the ball miserably in the execution and support.

While this KVM works great with USB mice, it has terrible support for USB keyboards.

I have one of these at work and I've had nothing but problems. It will randomly type 77777777777 or something when I hit the shift key. The shift key randomly gets stuck for no aparent reason when I'm selecting text. Everytime I press CTRL-ALT-DEL to log onto a computer after switching to it, I am unable to type anything for over a minute unless I press a bunch of the shift keys to 'unstick' them. The problem is, the USB KVM switch is RE-INTERPRETTING the USB keyboard signal so that it can trap the Scoll-Lock key (used for switching). This is totally unacceptable because it also breaks the functionality if you have an enhanced keyboard like the kind from logitech which has many additional keys (volume, scroll wheel, etc).

This device would have been MUCH better if it simply acted like a disconnect/reconnect of the USB cable (which is perfectly fine) for the keyboard.

I'll wait awhile until USB-DVI-KVM switches mature before purchasing one for home use.

This is my review for the Belkin 4-port USB/Audio/VGA KVM. I share with you the following experiences and tips.

First, you can't NOT plug in a USB keyboard without the unit beeping incessantly. However, if you have a wireless keyboard/mouse combo that has a single USB dongle on the receiver, you have to plug it into the mouse USB port on the KVM to use the both the wireless mouse AND keyboard. Which causes the no keyboard beep. Which will drive you nuts.

I spent approx. 2 hours trying to update the firmware to a NO KEYBOARD BEEP revision available from Belkin. It requires enabling a parallel port in your BIOS, making sure to set the BIOS port to NORMAL as opposed to ECP, EPP, BI-DIRECTIONAL, etc. This is NOT documented, from what I could tell.

Additionally, Belkin recommends running a firmware driver fix for Win2K and WinXP machines prior to the firmware flash, as the firmware updater won't recognize the parallel port properly without the driver update. A friend also noted that you should to run the updater in compatibility mode (Win98) in WinXP and Win2K.

The firmware update took about 5-10 minutes. After the update, you're asked to disconnect ALL cables from the unit to get it to reset. ALL CABLES MUST BE REMOVED -- POWER INCLUDED. Be prepared for it to beep again when it resets. I honestly thought the firmware flash had not worked when I heard it.

I read online that this KVM DOES NOT WORK WITH DOCKING STATIONS, which is why I bought the unit for use with my desktop and a Dell laptop/port replicator. Thankfully, it DID WORK, and I was able to switch from desktop to laptop/docking station without too much trouble.

Sometimes, when the USB is switching, the computer that I'm going to can't reinitialize the USB device and WinXP throws a minor error. I just go back and forth for a second to get it to re-initialize. Try switching to an empty KVM channel if you need to.

I'm wary of using the KVM's built in USB hub (2-port) because of this USB switching issue. I had planned on connecting a USB hard drive between the two computers, but I'm concerned that I would (a) lose data or (b) damage the hard drive switching back and forth between the two computers, particularly if USB switching doesn't always work.

So far, I've used it while playing hi-res games on my desktop which hasn't caused additional problems like video or USB bandwidth issues. Good luck with your purchase.

This produce is in desperate need of firmware updates.

First off, when you go to update you have to first run an early update that allows your computer to run the updates. Which isnt documented well.

Second, and BIGGEST!! I am running a microsoft wireless keyboard / mouse combo. Which only has 1 USB! Which you have to plug into the mouse port to make it work. If you plug it into the keyboard port then your mouse wont work. Now the problem is, if oyur keyboard ISNT in the keyboard port then you cant do the hot switching.

So ... basically for what i want it is annoying. I can have my wireless keyboard mouse ... but now i have to go to the kvm (which doesnt sit close to me) to switch computers.

Grrr .... i think what annoys me the most is you'd THINK this would be an easy firmware upgarade

I bought it to use with 3 computers. However Belkin does not sell [an inexpensive] all in one cable for this product... And by the time you use different cables, everything is REALLY messy. Also the worst problem is that it says it can support 4 computers, which it can, but you can only put on the sheath when you use only 2. I emailed Belkin and they said that they use the same casing for the 2 port as they do for the 4 port. So it really looks messy. The item itself works flawlessly, but I shelled out the extra bucks so the sheath would cover all the ugly cables. I don't reccommend this product unless you are going to use 2 ports, or you don't mind the messy cables without the sheath.