Keyboard/Touchpad not working [SOLVED]

[cipher17]

Hello Guys,

This is me doing some good karma for all those who are puzzled by this unique problem and also away from fabulous world of linux because of it.

Problem Statement:
After booting up for the first time in linux (using live CD or after installation) the keyboard and touch pad works fine. After subsequent reboot, the same fails to work. The keyboard works on the grub menu screen allowing you to select the OS however after Linux loads up both keyboard and touch pad or any 1 of them stops functioning.

Failure attempts to solve:
No matter how many linux distros you try, there are good chances problem will not be solved. I have personally tried using UBUNTU, MINT, FEDORA and MANDRIVA but all gave me same problem. I even toyed with different versions but no use. My keyboard and touch pad never worked more than once with any distro.

This whole thing lasted to me for a whole year. I was very excited about possibility of using linux but never could do it because of it.

Solution:
I am a complete newbie so I may be a little off using technical linux terms however the solution will work. Just follow the steps below.

Pre-requisite:
You should be installing the distro for the first time, so that ur keyboard and mouse are working otherwise please arrange for a USB keyboard and mouse for sometime.
TL;DR you need to be able to use keyboard and mouse.

GRUB 1: (exists in Linux Mint 7 - Gloria and other older versions. Also in Ubuntu versions before 9.10)

1) Run this in terminal
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
menu.lst file will open in a text editor.

3) Scroll through the file to find the section below.

## ## End Default Options ##

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd0,4)gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, memtest86+
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

3) Add the entry "i8042.nomux=1 locale=fr_FR i8042.reset" at the end of the line starting with kernel [This totally works, however I think some linux pro should be able to correct it even more by actually clarifying if 'locale=fr_FR i8042.reset' part is correct. It causes no side effect though and works perfectly fine]
that part of file should now look like this:

## ## End Default Options ##

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd0,4)gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro quiet splash i8042.nomux=1 locale=fr_FR i8042.reset
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro single i8042.nomux=1 locale=fr_FR i8042.reset
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria, memtest86+
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

4) save the file and exit. restart. Keyboard and touch pad should work.


Grub 2: (exists in Linux Mint 8 Helena, Ubuntu 9.10 ie in newer versions on linux. TL;DR: will show an empty menu.lst file if u use method for frub 1 ie wont have that file)

1) run the following command in terminal
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

2) grub script file should open. locate the following section in the file,

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=" "

add 'i8042.nomux=1 locale=fr_FR i8042.reset' as parameter to it.

final command should be

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nomux=1 locale=fr_FR i8042.reset"

save the file and exit gedit.

3) run the following command in terminal.
sudo update-grub

4) Let the grub.conf flie get recreated and then restart.

This is a bug that spans across several linux distros if not all adn is present on laptops (not sure of desktops). From whatever I could gather it is experienced in Lenovo (Y500 etc) and many of compaq laptop models. I really hope it can gets fixed so that all this circus is not needed.


I have finally got linux working on my box. I am really happy and excited, I know I will get stuck at many places during my transition from windows to linux, I am looking forward to getting help from the forum when that happens.

Cheers,
Cipher

[saktoonswi]

Thank-you! I have been dealing with a twitchy keypad and repeating keystroke keyboard until I found this. I have a Compaq V5209US and was ready to give up on Ubuntu. But this fixed it up perfectly.

[ipernar]

I've thought that problem was in hardware, now I see it is in software, Im on Mint 8, after I corrected this small parametar, problem dissapeared.

Thanks a lot guys!