[SOLVED] New HP laptop - keyboard randomly not working on log-in screen

[Kunkle]

Hi all,

I've just put Cinnamon 20.2 (edge) onto a brand new HP 14s-dq2514sa laptop. I've also upgraded to Kernal 5.14, which I understand works better for HP users.

I've been running it for about 4 days now, and it all works well so far, except for one very niggly problem which I'd love to resolve. When I boot up, the keyboard mostly doesn't work when my log-in screen asks for my password. Sometimes it does, but almost never immediately. There's usually a delay, which can be anything between 5 to 60 seconds before the keyboard begins working. Other times (about 50%) it never works, no matter how long I wait. I can always log in though. I have to use Onboard virtual keyboard to log in about 50% of the time, which is cumbersome and irritating. After log in the keyboard works as normal (except just once, where no keys worked at all, a reboot rectified it).

Anybody any idea what this is? It's all very random.

[SMG]

Anybody any idea what this is? It's all very random.

Please check the [SOLVED] HP Laptop Keyboard Not Working At LM Boot Start topic starting with this post for a workaround someone else with what seems to be a similar HP laptop found worked for them.

[Kunkle]

Thank you VERY much. I followed the steps and links from your link, and it's worked beautifully. I rebooted and suspended 3 times each, and the keyboard worked instantly on all occasions. The only tiny downside is the caps-lock LED no longer works. But who cares about that?

I used information gathered from a couple of threads, and some posts from another forum. So in case anybody else has this problem, I shall bring all that info together here and set out my exact steps below.

Step 1

Add a temporary kernal parameter, which is a one-boot test.

1) Load your grub menu
2) Highlight the relevant Linux boot entry
3) Type e to edit
4) On the Linux line, after it says "quiet splash" add i8042.dumbkbd=1

For example:

Code: Select all

linux   /boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-53-generic root=UUID=12345678-1234-5678-9abc-123456789abc ro quiet splash i8042.dumbkbd=1 

5) Press F10 to boot
6) Use cat /proc/cmdline to confirm that parameter was specified
7) If your keyboard worked instantly without delay, then your issue is likely now solved, so proceed to step 2 for a permanent fix.


Step 2

Add a permanent kernal parameter.

1) Use sudo nano /etc/default/grub
2) You should now see a line which reads:

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

3) Edit it to read:

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i8042.dumbkbd=1"

4) Save the file. This is where I was slightly stumped. In the end I hit ctrl + s, then shut Terminal using the red x. When the warning said "There is still a process running in the terminal. Closing the terminal will kill it". I clicked on "Close Terminal". This worked for me, although I have no idea if this was the precise action I should have taken. Perhaps you know better than me.
5) Run sudo update-grub
6) Reboot
7) Use cat /proc/cmdline to confirm that parameter was specified.
Enjoy feelings of triumph as your keyboard now works normally, except for the caps-lock LED light.