zsnes 1.42 isn't recognising keyboard

[manakind]

playing secrets of mana co op connected via netplay fine but only on TCP, i played to the point where you unlock the 2nd character but its not recognising my brother's keyboard and he can't swap in. I've been on here for a bit. and so far I've tried;

1.made sure 'pl3/4 as pl1/2' is unselected
2.higlighted keyboard/joystick and then set them
3.tried using a 360 controller didn't work either
4.restart etc.

p.s. using laptop and destop, brothers keyboard has different imput (not USB) its circular

yeah i have no idea what to do now any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

[odditude]

and his keyboard is configured as player 2 on his computer?

[grinvader]

After making sure that the input is correctly configured on his side and that the netplay has him as player 2, after getting the second character, press start on controller 2 to take control of it.

Similarly, after getting a third party member, press start on controller 3 to switch to manual.