On Sun, Sep 19, 2004 at 05:39:11PM -0400, Adam Rosi-Kessel wrote:
> Please cc me on replies.
>
> I've got a couple of problems for which I can't identify the responsible
> subsystem, so I thought I'd ask in a general forum like this. Here's the
> first:
>
> Running Debian Sid, various 2.6.x kernels.
To enter text into the terminal, open up a file using your destop (like
say /etc/passwd), select one letter, then middle click in the terminal.
Will be slow, should work.
> About one out of every three times I boot up my laptop, my keyboard is
> totally unresponsive. The mouse works fine. I can do machine fn-calls,
> e.g., fn-f5 to activate bluetooth, or fn-f7 to switch CRT/LCD. But the X
> server doesn't respond to any keystrokes, and keys like Caps Lock don't
> change the status light. I don't know if the keyboard would work in
> console, since I can't switch over there. (I've never had this problem
> occur when I boot up to a lower runlevel, however).
To change consoles without a working keyboard, use the chvt command.
E.g. use copy&paste and:
sudo chvt 1
your password
> I was pretty sure this was linked to my specific hardware, but I recently
> moved from a Dell Latitude to a IBM Thinkpad X40, and still get the same
> behavior. There's very little in common (hardware) between the two
> systems, so I think that excludes hardware.
>
> On those times when the keyboard doesn't work, it *does* work in the
> bootloader (GRUB); it's only after booting up that the keyboard doesn't
> work.
>
> Ctrl-alt-del is also non-functional, so the only way I can restart is to
> power off.
sudo init 0
sudo init 6
> Nothing unusual in the log files. Also occurs with several different 2.6
> kernels, including 2.6.8.1. I'm not sure it has ever happened with a
> 2.4.x kernel, but for various reasons I can't use those kernels, so I
> haven't experimented that much.
>
> Can anyone suggest a way to hunt down this problem? I can't even guess
> the origin.
>
> (likely irrelevant, but I do get 'atkbd.c: Spurious ACK on
> isa0060/serio0. Some program, like XFree86, might be trying access
> hardware directly.' a lot in dmesg).
Perhaps your X server is improperly configured, and depending one what
keys you press after bootup, it sometimes misdetects your keyboard type?
If your boot to a lower non-X runlevel and run:
sudo XFree86
can you Ctrl-Alt-BackSpace the server?
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