[SOLVED] Laptop keyboard stopped working at lock screen

[Frazar]

I have a bit of an issue with my laptop keyboard. For some reason, it stopped working once linux is started:

• Once I'm at the lock screen, the keyboard does not work. Neither does an external keyboard

• It does work in BIOS

• It also works when using a live session

The last notable thing I did before it stopped working was to install a program called "linux-remote" (https://pypi.org/project/linux-remote/). However, I don't know if that is what caused my problems.

Luckily, I can ssh into my laptop so I could try the following things:

• Uninstall linux-remote.

• Install all pending upgrades.

• (re-)install xserver-xorg-input-all
  Apparently that solved similar issues for some people (see also this post).

• I even tried holding the F8 key during boot as described in this post even though that was for a Dell laptop and mine is from Asus.
  Obviously I did it twice, just in case this would disable the keyboard additionally.

Unfortunately, so far nothing fixed the issue. I hope someone around here has an idea what is going on.

Output of inxi -Fxxxrz is attached below.
What else do you need?

Code: Select all

 $ inxi -Fxxxrz
System:    Host: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Kernel: 5.4.0-77-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.5.0 Console: tty 0
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: S451LA v: 1.0 serial: <filter>
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: S451LA v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: S451LA.403 date: 01/17/2014
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 40.1 Wh condition: 40.3/46.4 Wh (87%) volts: 14.4/14.4 model: ASUSTeK S451-32 type: Li-ion
           serial: <filter> status: Charging cycles: 460
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-4200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Haswell rev: 1 L2 cache: 3072 KiB
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 18357
           Speed: 799 MHz min/max: 800/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 3: 798 4: 800
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
           chip ID: 8086:0a16
           Display: server: X.org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa tty: 157x60
           Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console. Try -G --display
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 chip ID: 8086:0a0c
           Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0
           chip ID: 8086:9c20
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-77-generic
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000
           bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168
           IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Device-2: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 8086:08b1
           IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 577.55 GiB used: 71.37 GiB (12.4%)
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 840 Series size: 111.79 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 8B0Q
           scheme: GPT
           ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABF050 size: 465.76 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm
           serial: <filter> rev: 1J scheme: GPT
Partition: ID-1: / size: 100.48 GiB used: 71.20 GiB (70.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
           ID-2: /boot size: 1.88 GiB used: 174.8 MiB (9.1%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 7.63 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda4
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mdoyen-homebank-bionic.list
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mdoyen/homebank/ubuntu bionic main
           2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/mdoyen/homebank/ubuntu bionic main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nextcloud-devs-client-bionic.list
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nextcloud-devs/client/ubuntu bionic main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nilarimogard-webupd8-bionic.list
           1: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/nilarimogard/webupd8/ubuntu bionic main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com tricia main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ bionic partner
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/steam.list
           1: deb [arch=amd64,i386] https://repo.steampowered.com/steam/ stable steam
           2: deb-src [arch=amd64,i386] https://repo.steampowered.com/steam/ stable steam
Info:      Processes: 149 Uptime: 9m Memory: 7.60 GiB used: 233.1 MiB (3.0%) Init: systemd v: 237 runlevel: 5 default: 2
           Compilers: gcc: 7.5.0 alt: 5/7 Shell: bash v: 4.4.20 running in: tty 0 (SSH) inxi: 3.0.32

[Petermint]

On my latest machine, the Nvidia chip did that. I tested with the three driver choices * the three Linux kernel choices. Some combinations locked the machine at a black screen straight after boot. One combination worked using the 5.8 kernel instead of the 5.4. Later kernels are good for new machines, less than a year old.

Do you use Timeshift? One approach is to experiment with reverting to earlier snapshots. You can also look in log files for errors, using the live boot. A remote login lets you run dmesg as a way to see recent errors.

[Frazar]

On my latest machine, the Nvidia chip did that. I tested with the three driver choices * the three Linux kernel choices. Some combinations locked the machine at a black screen straight after boot. One combination worked using the 5.8 kernel instead of the 5.4. Later kernels are good for new machines, less than a year old.

My laptop is already a few years old but I'll try some combinations of kernels and drivers.

Do you use Timeshift? One approach is to experiment with reverting to earlier snapshots.

To be honest, I don't know. I might have turned it on at some point but that was certainly only using the GUI. I'll check the web for command line options and try it out.

You can also look in log files for errors, using the live boot. A remote login lets you run dmesg as a way to see recent errors.

I don't see how checking error messages using during live boot would help as everything works fine in that situation. But I'll look into dmesg.

Once I tried out your recommendations, I'll let you know what the results are.

[Petermint]

I don't see how checking error messages using during live boot would help

From a live boot, you can look at /var/log/syslog* on the problem machine.

[Frazar]

Do you use Timeshift? One approach is to experiment with reverting to earlier snapshots.

To be honest, I don't know. I might have turned it on at some point but that was certainly only using the GUI. I'll check the web for command line options and try it out.

Turns out I have used timeshift in the past, but the newest snapshot is from 2018. So no luck in that regard.

[Frazar]

I don't see how checking error messages using during live boot would help

From a live boot, you can look at /var/log/syslog* on the problem machine.

I had a look at /var/log/syslog but to be honest, that is just too much information for me.
Do you have any clue what I might be looking for?

Searching for "keyboard" gave the following result. There are some warnings but I can't make anything out of it.

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Aug  2 14:02:04  keyboard-setup.sh[370]: Datei /run/tmpkbd.629660 kann nicht geöffnet werden.
Aug  2 14:02:04  keyboard-setup.sh[370]: WARNING: Unknown X keysym "dead_belowmacron"
Aug  2 14:02:04  keyboard-setup.sh[370]: message repeated 3 times: [ WARNING: Unknown X keysym "dead_belowmacron"]
Aug  2 14:02:04  systemd[1]: Started Set the console keyboard layout.
Aug  2 14:02:04  kernel: [    2.030334] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input3
Aug  2 14:02:05  /slick-greeter-set-keyboard-layout: Current keyboard configuration: rules:      evdev#012model:      pc105#012layout:     us
Aug  2 14:02:05  /slick-greeter-set-keyboard-layout: Applying keyboard configuration: ['setxkbmap', '-model', 'pc105', '-layout', 'de', '-variant', '', '-option', '', '-v']
Aug  2 14:02:05  /slick-greeter-set-keyboard-layout: Result: Warning! Multiple definitions of keyboard model#012         Using command line, ignoring X server#012Warning! Multiple definitions of keyboard layout#012         Using command line, ignoring X server#012Trying to build keymap using the following components:#012keycodes:   evdev+aliases(qwertz)#012types:      complete#012compat:     complete#012symbols:    pc+de+inet(evdev)#012geometry:   pc(pc105)
Aug  2 14:02:05  /slick-greeter-set-keyboard-layout: New keyboard configuration: rules:      evdev#012model:      pc105#012layout:     de

The same applies to dmesg. Too much information for me and I have no idea what to look for.
My search for "keyboard" yields the following:

Code: Select all

[Mo Aug  2 14:01:59 2021] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input3

And this is what I see with dmesg when I plug in a USB-keyboard:

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[Mo Aug  2 14:54:02 2021] usb 1-1.3: new low-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[Mo Aug  2 14:54:03 2021] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=05af, idProduct=0301, bcdDevice= 1.20
[Mo Aug  2 14:54:03 2021] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[Mo Aug  2 14:54:03 2021] input: HID 05af:0301 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.0/0003:05AF:0301.0005/input/input30
[Mo Aug  2 14:54:03 2021] hid-generic 0003:05AF:0301.0005: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [HID 05af:0301] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.3/input0
[Mo Aug  2 14:54:03 2021] input: HID 05af:0301 System Control as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.1/0003:05AF:0301.0006/input/input31
[Mo Aug  2 14:54:03 2021] input: HID 05af:0301 Consumer Control as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.1/0003:05AF:0301.0006/input/input32
[Mo Aug  2 14:54:03 2021] hid-generic 0003:05AF:0301.0006: input,hidraw3: USB HID v1.10 Device [HID 05af:0301] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.3/input1

[Frazar]

Unfortunately, my attempts at finding the reason for this issue were not successfull.

In the end, I tried upgrading to Mint 20, which luckily worked and solved the issue.
I'll mark this thread as "solved", even though I never really figured it out...

Thanks for your help!