[SOLVED] Keyboard not working on upgrade

[tipdrinker]

Hi,

I initially discovered this problem when trying to install Linux Mint, however when i tried to install Kubuntu i realized that this must be an ubuntu problem.

the problem is basically that when my live CD loads, i am unable to use my keyboard. It works fine when installing ubuntu 8.04 but in this latest ubuntu it doesn't work. I can select to boot the cd, but once the desktop environment loads i cant type. Any idea what's the matter or how i could work around it?

My keyboard is a logitech cordless desktop ex110 (keyboard and mouse combined)

[ArcherB]

I'm having similar issues with Mint, except my keyboard worked fine with the CD, but not once it was installed. Here is my post from there (if the formatting doesn't work, use your imagination):

First, I'll start with how I got here. You can skip this part if you want to go straight to the problems...

Mint5 was running great, but I really liked the new stuff Ubuntu 8.10 so I wanted to upgrade. Formatting my HDD is not an option as there is no way to back up all my family photos, mp3's, movies and so on. So, I used the "upgrade tool". After a few issues with "unresolved dependencies" and whatever, the upgrade finished. I rebooted and was up and running again with a few issues. Mostly minor stuff like the "quicksearch" would not work in synaptic, I couldn't use a GUI to edit my sources and a few other issues like kpilot being orphaned in apt. This was enough to make me try another method of installing that I read in the blog where you do the install from the live CD and simply don't format any drives. This allowed me to keep my settings, although any non-default applications were gone. This is where I ran into trouble.

The Problems:
On reboot, GDM started, but my mouse and keyboard would not work. I was able to ctrl-alt-f2 to a terminal and work there so the keyboard worked, but no inputs in X. I copied my xorg.conf file from my working Ubuntu 8.10 box and got the keyboard to work, but still no mouse. The xorg.log shows:

Cannot locate a core pointer device

Next, networking would not work. ifconfig would show no IP address for eth0. Further researched showed a eth0:0. I resolved this by manually adding a configuration to my /etc/network/interfaces file for both network devices (eth0 and eth0:0).

Once I got my network back up I was able to run apt and get some badly needed troubleshooting tools. I installed vnc so I can log in from my Ubuntu box and actually use a GUI to make editing config files easier (vi kinda sux) and filezilla so I could copy files back and forth. VNC runs OK for the most part except every time I hit the space bar, it brings up a search window. I was able to fix this before my "second " upgrade, but don't remember what I did. Still not a big deal as once I close the app, it stays gone until the next vnc session.

Now I can't get frequency scaling or sensors to work. I've tried both powernowd and cpufreqd. Powernowd responds with:

CPU frequency scaling not supported...

and cpufreqd responds with:

No cpufreq interface found, not starting cpufreqd

cat /proc/cpuinfo shows:

processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 35
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 175
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2202.805
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni lahf_lm cmp_legacy
bogomips : 4405.61
clflush size : 64
power management: ts fid vid ttp

processor : 1
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 35
model name : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 175
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2202.805
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni lahf_lm cmp_legacy
bogomips : 4405.88
clflush size : 64
power management: ts fid vid ttp

I think that is a good enough start for now. The problem maybe some sort of HAL or ACPI issue, but wth do I know. I'll be happy if I can get these three issues, mouse in X, frequency scaling and CPU monitoring working.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[tipdrinker]

looks interesting,

I don't know if my problem are the same issue or if it's similar but either way i don't have enough command of terminal to sort it out that way.

maybe if i was given point by point instructions i could go into terminal the ctrl-alt-f2 way, and type my way out of the problem, presuming the keyboard works.

[ArcherB]

looks interesting,

I don't know if my problem are the same issue or if it's similar but either way i don't have enough command of terminal to sort it out that way.

maybe if i was given point by point instructions i could go into terminal the ctrl-alt-f2 way, and type my way out of the problem, presuming the keyboard works.

I gave up on mine and reinstalled after moving all my system folders to a sub directory in my home folder. It kept all my home files, but basically did a clean install.

If I understand correctly, your issues are with the CD, not an installation. When booting from a CD or even a thumbdrive I had no problems. Network, keyboard and mouse all worked.

Still, you still may want to try that ctrl-alt-f2 thing just to see if you keyboard is working at all. While I don't know if I can tell you what to do there, even researching it is a waste of time if you have no input device at the console.

Good luck!

[tipdrinker]

well i feel like a bit of an egit but i found the solution for the problem was to plug out the usb for the keyboard and put it back in! what a fool i am