Keyboard layout keeps reverting back to US SOLVED

[Nomin]

I have two keyboard layouts installed. When I set it from the tray, it keeps reverting back to the US layout at random times in the coming minutes, really aggravating. This is a new issue which only started after upgrading to Uma.

Any fix or workaround for this?

[Nomin]

Anyone? This is really annoying, enough for me to consider switching to another distro after well over ten years with Mint.

[mikeflan]

Can you tell us what version of Mint you are running? One way to do that is to type this in a terminal:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxxxrz

Post the output in "Code" tags. The button that inserts these tags is marked </>
If your Linux Mint installation isn't in English, prefix any commands that you want to share output of with LC_ALL=C. That forces output to be English. For example instead of running the command "make", you'd run the command "LC_ALL=C make".

Do you run disk encryption?

Others do not report this problem. They do report problems with shortcuts, problems after logoff, suspend, or reboot.

I don't think this relates to your problem, but I'll submit it FYI anyway:
viewtopic.php?p=1990809#p1990809

[Nomin]

My Mint installation is in English, but I have both US and Finnish keyboards installed. I'm sure the problem would go away if I uninstall English, but I use that layout a lot so I'd rather not.

I don't recall if my SSD is encrypted or not - I think I did encrypt it.

Here inxi output.

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.12.8-051208-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Razer product: Blade Pro 17 (Early 2021) - RZ09-0368 
  v: 6.04 serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Razer model: DA760 v: 4 serial: <filter> UEFI: Razer v: 1.01 
  date: 01/05/2021 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 18.1 Wh condition: 73.2/70.6 Wh (104%) volts: 14.5/15.4 
  model: Razer Blade type: Unknown serial: <filter> status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: 8-Core model: Intel Core i7-10875H bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: N/A L2 cache: 16.0 MiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 73598 
  Speed: 2398 MHz min/max: 800/5100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1655 2: 820 
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800 
  13: 800 14: 800 15: 898 16: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics vendor: Razer USA driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:9bc4 
  Device-2: NVIDIA vendor: Razer USA driver: N/A bus ID: 01:00.0 
  chip ID: 10de:249c 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 3840x2160~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.6 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Razer USA 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:06c8 
  Device-2: NVIDIA vendor: Razer USA driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:228b 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.12.8-051208-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Razer USA driver: r8169 v: kernel 
  port: 3000 bus ID: 3d:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8125 
  IF: enp61s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 3f:00.0 
  chip ID: 8086:2725 
  IF: wlp63s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.83 TiB used: 312.43 GiB (16.6%) 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB1T0HBLR-00A00 
  size: 953.87 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> rev: EXF7201Q 
  scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Corsair model: MP400 size: 1.82 TiB 
  speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> rev: ECFM53.0 scheme: GPT 
  ID-3: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Kingston model: DataTraveler SE9 
  size: 14.64 GiB serial: <filter> rev: PMAP scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.58 TiB used: 150.72 GiB (9.3%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/nvme1n1p3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list 
  1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mumble-release-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mumble/release/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nordvpn.list 
  1: deb https://repo.nordvpn.com/deb/nordvpn/debian stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://mirrors.evowise.com/linuxmint/packages uma main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://mirrors.nic.funet.fi/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://mirrors.nic.funet.fi/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://mirrors.nic.funet.fi/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera-stable.list 
  1: deb https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free #Opera Browser (final releases)
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list 
  1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
  1: deb http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 464 Uptime: 15h 22m Memory: 31.22 GiB used: 9.36 GiB (30.0%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

[pak]

Hello Nomin

Did you get and answer to this issue?

I had to reload Linux Mint from USB and didnt realise when I set set everything up (including my login password) that the keyboard layout had defaulted to USA

I have found out how to change it to other layouts (UK English and French) and have a handy little flag at the bottom right of my icon tray which I can just click on to change between those three

However when I logged back on after switching the lap top off, I couldnt log in because the keyboard had defaulted back to USA (so the '#' key, I have that character in my password) wasnt displaying / mapping to that character

I have got around this by discovering that 'Shft + 3'' in USA = '#'. not the '£' which is displayed on my actual physical keyboard

I suppose in a way that makes security even tighter, but its very annoying as once I am 'in' to Linux Mint I can simply change the layout to UK at the click of one icon. But getting in to Linux Mint is a nightmare now (unless I remeber to type 'Shft + 3'!)

Thus being able to set my default keyboard layout to UK all the time (ie even after I have switched off the lap top and want to log back into Mint)

I have the same problem with my password for this Forum, I have to click 'forgotten password' to get a new one every time I want to log in.
As a supplimentary question, anyone tell me how I can reset my password to 'Linux Mint Forums' please?

[Nomin]

I still haven't found a solution, and it keeps occurring all. the. time. This is new in latest Mint distro, not sure where to report this?

[pak]

Sorry to hear that Nomin

fwiw (sorry not going to be helpful to you)
I went to the linked suggestion above (viewtopic.php?p=1990809#p1990809) and part of the way down were a few instructions to
1 check what your default keyboards is
2 access a GUI, from which you can select your computer and default keyboard
3 re run 1. to check if its changed to what you want your keyboard to be

I followed those and when I switched on this morning my default keyboard was UK english, so fingers crossed it'll stay that way now !

Thanks, as always, to @MikeFlan (Sun Aug 01, 2021 2:21 am)

[Nomin]

Is there a fix for this? I've upgraded to 20.3, still the same issue. This happens on three different computers.

[Nomin]

How and where can I report this? This is ridiculous, it's been a year and this keeps happening every few minutes, with no fix in sight.

[SMG]

How and where can I report this? This is ridiculous, it's been a year and this keeps happening every few minutes, with no fix in sight.

The inxi data you posted earlier in this topic shows you using a kernel from some unknown place. It is not a Mint/Ubuntu kernel. What is your current output of uname -r?

[MiZoG]

You don't happen to have IBus installed, do y? It has given me headache messing up my keyboard configuration.

[Nomin]

How and where can I report this? This is ridiculous, it's been a year and this keeps happening every few minutes, with no fix in sight.

The inxi data you posted earlier in this topic shows you using a kernel from some unknown place. It is not a Mint/Ubuntu kernel. What is your current output of uname -r?

My kernel is 5.15.0-41-generic

It's a generic kernel since the Mint kernel doesn't work with Razer Blade Pro 17. But this happens on two different laptops and one desktop with Mint, for over a year. The other computers are using the kernels updated with Update Manager.

[Nomin]

You don't happen to have IBus installed, do y? It has given me headache messing up my keyboard configuration.

I don't have iBus installed.

[SMG]

My kernel is 5.15.0-41-generic

It's a generic kernel since the Mint kernel doesn't work with Razer Blade Pro 17.

The information you posted is a Linux Mint kernel, so I do not understand your statement. In fact, there is a version 5.15.0-43 now available.

But this happens on two different laptops and one desktop with Mint, for over a year. The other computers are using the kernels updated with Update Manager.

To be able to file a bug report, one has to file it against the package/kernel/etc. which has the problem. That means one has to narrow down and find what is the source of the problem.

My guesses as to where to report a bug would be cinnamon-settings-daemon or Cinnamon. I ran a search on "keyboard" and found issues in both of those, but I do not know the code well enough to know the correct location.

[Nomin]

My kernel is 5.15.0-41-generic

It's a generic kernel since the Mint kernel doesn't work with Razer Blade Pro 17.

The information you posted is a Linux Mint kernel, so I do not understand your statement. In fact, there is a version 5.15.0-43 now available.

Then I'm indeed confused as you yourself said it's not a Mint Kernel earlier Perhaps I used the output from two or three different computers, this has been going on for a year now on three computers....

But this happens on two different laptops and one desktop with Mint, for over a year. The other computers are using the kernels updated with Update Manager.

To be able to file a bug report, one has to file it against the package/kernel/etc. which has the problem. That means one has to narrow down and find what is the source of the problem.

My guesses as to where to report a bug would be cinnamon-settings-daemon or Cinnamon. I ran a search on "keyboard" and found issues in both of those, but I do not know the code well enough to know the correct location.

Thanks, I'll report there!

[SMG]

Then I'm indeed confused as you yourself said it's not a Mint Kernel earlier Perhaps I used the output from two or three different computers, this has been going on for a year now on three computers....

This is the kernel you posted earlier:
5.12.8-051208-generic
There was no 5.12 kernel for Linux Mint and all kernel names are like the one you posted after I asked for your current one in that they have a .0 section and then a dash and a number than is 3 digits or less and then the word generic (or oem if it an OEM kernel). The number on this kernel has 6 digits after the dash.

Here are the two so you can see the comparison:
5.12.8-051208-generic
5.15.0-41-generic

Hope that helps explain what I meant.
It appears you had installed a mainline (5.12) kernel from somewhere on the Una install you posted at the early part of this topic.

[cfb]

A few things you could check.

First open menu -> Keyboard, select page "Layouts", then:

• Order your installed keyboard layouts in a most used order.

• Ensure that item "Use the same layout for all windows" is selected. Otherwise, a different layout may be chosen when switching to another window.

• Click button "Options" and check if you have selected a shortcut under "Switching to another layout". You may - without noticing - use this shortcut and trigger a layout change. I have been bitten by this myself.

Note: The description above is taken from LM21 Cinnamon. LM20 may be different.

[Nomin]

A few things you could check.

First open menu -> Keyboard, select page "Layouts", then:

• Order your installed keyboard layouts in a most used order.

• Ensure that item "Use the same layout for all windows" is selected. Otherwise, a different layout may be chosen when switching to another window.

• Click button "Options" and check if you have selected a shortcut under "Switching to another layout". You may - without noticing - use this shortcut and trigger a layout change. I have been bitten by this myself.

Note: The description above is taken from LM21 Cinnamon. LM20 may be different.

This fixed it, thank you! The ordering seemed to be the issue, as same layout on all windows was already selected. Finally no issues with the layout reverting to the wrong one.

Seems like a bug that it doesn't stick, though.