[Solved] Keyboard freezes when X server starts

[AlexRg]

I've got an AMD Turion based laptop. Mint 8 worked quite fine via LiveCD. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it after the installation: both keyboard and mouse "died" after the start of X Server. I've modified xorg.conf a little bit and managed to bring the mouse back to life. But the keyboard is still "frozen".

Below you can see how the xorg.conf looks like (not quite sure about the details, I've typed it as I remember). Any ideas?

Section "ServerLayout"
Screen "DefaultScreen" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "DefaultMonitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "DefaultScreen"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "DefaultMonitor"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
Option "AllowEmptyInput" "False"
EndSection

[remoulder]

Mint 8 doesn't have an xorg.conf by default. Was this there when the kbd/mse were freezing or did you create it afterwards? You might try renaming it and booting without it, also you don't need the display sections if you're just trying to configure the kbd and mse.

[AlexRg]

1. I've already tried erasing xorg.conf - that didn't change anything. So I've generated the file and made some changes to disable device autodetection by HAL. That helped, at least partially -- I've got the mouse back. But the keyboard is still dead, unfortunately.

2. I agree the display settings are not necessary. But I guess that the problem isn't there.

[remoulder]

You haven't told us anything about your computer, ie.make/model, or whether you are talking about the onboard keyboard/trackpad or external (presumably USB) devices that you are plugging in. There are certain issues with some Dell models that have been posted about before. One thing you could try is to add acpi=off on the kernel boot line after quiet splash. I'm assuming you know how to do this as you seem knowledgeable about linux, but if not just shout.

[AlexRg]

1. Well, it's a RoverBook Pro (presumably an ODM model): AMD Turion X2 1600 MHz, nVidia nForce Go 430, GeForce Go 6100. 1 GB RAM.

2. That's an integrated keyboard that has a problem. I haven't tried plugging in an external keyboard, though ('cause I don't have one ).

3. Already tried acpi=off; Mint doesn't boot at all with this setting.

It seems a little odd that LiveCD works almost without any problems, but booting from a hard drive becomes a hassle.

[remoulder]

What keyboard did you choose when you installed? It maybe that choosing an evdev-managed keyboard may work. A few things you might try are

At grub menu edit the kernel line and remove the quiet splash to view the boot messages and look for errors that may help to pinpoint the problem.

Try irqpoll as kernel option.

Try i8042.nomux=1 i8042.noloop=1 as kernel option

Try i8042.nopnp=1 i8042.dumbkbd=1" as kernel option, see http://www.backports.ubuntuforums.org/s ... 842&page=2

Try switching to a console with Alt+F1 at the GDM screen if the kbd still works, otherwise select recovery mode and drop to a command line, then run sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup to try different keyboard selection.

I also found a Russian page re installing linux on a Roverbook Pro. Didn't translate it, maybe it has some info http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/sanjek65/post33258783/.

[AlexRg]

I've checked the X server logs and found the following lines:

(EE) Failed to load module "kbd" (module does not exist)
(EE) No input driver matching "kbd"


After that, I only had to install the missing module via the Package Manager (xserver-xorg-input-kbd) without even leaving the GUI (sic!) and restart the X server. However, it's pretty strange to see that such a basic package was missing.

[remoulder]

it's pretty strange to see that such a basic package was missing.

Not really. A lot of things can go wrong during an installation and even one that appears to have completed successfully may have errors. A lot of similar problems are caused by users not checking the MD5 sum on the downloaded ISO and/or burning too fast and creating disk errors. Not that I'm saying this is the case with your installation, but is amazing how often a simple re-install clears up supposed problems with new installations.

Glad you got it working