[HOWTO] Fix for Stuck Volume/Multimedia Keys

[drvista]

could you do that fix on karmic ??
i tried to do that but the fix compile suusccfully but not working

[allaf]

I can confirm that it doesn't work for karmic. Very annoying because my keyboard worked fine with jaunty!
I also tcompile d the jaunty versio and tried it but the result is not good : the key doesn't repeat itself anymore but it looks like it doesn't do anything

[mrvanes]

I also had problems fixing this bug under Karmic, but fixed the fix

I did some testing and it turns out my volume/mute keys (now?) generate a value = 2 for all keypresses except the first one. That is why it works the first keypress. In the Karmic evdev.c now is a conditional statement after the 'if (value = 2)' code, which takes all kinds of dead keys into account (?), but only #if GET_ABI_MAJOR(ABI_XINPUT_VERSION) <= 2. It turns out the the dead-key code isn't compiled in (GET_ABI_MAJOR(ABI_XINPUT_VERSION > 2?) so that for every volume key press except the first, the routine immediately returns, without generating any keypress nor release.

The simplest fix for this is to insert the fix-code ABOVE the 'if (value = 2)' condition.
I'm not sure WHY the conditional statement is there and what I'm going to break by putting the code above, but my volume keys work again

Hope this helps.

[drvista]

This is a rewrite of the fix

1) Back up your current evdev driver, just in case. This line will back up to your home directory (~/), you can modify it if you want; just remember where you put it for later.

cp /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/evdev_drv.so ~/

2) This will download the current evdev source for you:

apt-get source xserver-xorg-input-evdev

3) Inside the folder for the evdev version you just downloaded, you'll find a 'src' folder. Look for the block that contains:

/* Filter all repeated events from device.
We'll do softrepeat in the server, but only since 1.6 */
if (value == 2
#if GET_ABI_MAJOR(ABI_XINPUT_VERSION) <= 2
&& (ev->code == KEY_LEFTCTRL || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTCTRL ||
ev->code == KEY_LEFTSHIFT || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTSHIFT ||
ev->code == KEY_LEFTALT || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTALT ||
ev->code == KEY_LEFTMETA || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTMETA ||
ev->code == KEY_CAPSLOCK || ev->code == KEY_NUMLOCK ||
ev->code == KEY_SCROLLLOCK) /* XXX windows keys? */
#endif
)
return;

Above it, on a new line, copy and paste the following code:

/* fix events for volume keys */
if(ev->code == KEY_VOLUMEDOWN || ev->code == KEY_VOLUMEUP) //MODIFY THIS LINE
{
//post a keydown and then a keyup, as media keys have no automatic key-up
xf86PostKeyboardEvent(pInfo->dev, code, 1);
xf86PostKeyboardEvent(pInfo->dev, code, 0);
return;
}

Then install the needed packages for compiling

sudo apt-get install build-essential libtool automake gcc xorg-dev xutils-dev

Compile. Firstly, we'll need to make sure you have everything set up to compile. Install anything this step requires, or just continue if it tells you you're 'already newest version'. You'll need to type in your password to give yourself installation rights.

cd xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.2.5
chmod +x autogen.sh
./autogen.sh
make
sudo make install
sudo cp /usr/local/lib/xorg/modules/input/evdev_drv.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/

Recovery

If your keyboard/mouse stopped working, don't panic! Instead, switch to one of your virtual terminals by pressing CTRL+ALT+F2. Then, execute the following command:

Code:

sudo cp ~/evdev_drv.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/

That will restore your original driver. Then, restart the computer with the following commands.

Code:

sudo shutdown -r 0

[mrvanes]

Just a tiny nitpicky detail: you write about looking for code in the 'src' directory. It would be very helpful to hint that this code actually exists in evdev.c.

And another thing: How am I going to press CTRL-ALT-F2 if my keyboard stopped responding?

[jrf2027]

I haven't had a chance to upgrade to Karmic yet...I'm planning on trying 64-bit this time around, does anybody know if this fix is necessary on 64-bit, and if it is, is it the same as what is posted above?

[allaf]

just to let you know my keyboard is working again, i didn't do anything except applying updates on karmic (64bit version).

[ihateregistering1]

how can it be, this _still_ has to be fixed by hand?!

[noureddineam]

thank you drvista !! your fix for karmic worked great on my HP zv6000 laptop

[aharown07]

Im using Karmic now... (actually Mint 8) and trying to implement this for my Dell 1558.
When I do step 2 I get

E: You must put some 'source' URIs in your sources.list

Not sure what I need to add to my sources. Advice?

Edit: added sources in the "software sources" tool, but now I get this...

E: Unable to find a source package for xserver-xorg-input-evdev

So I still don't have the right item there I guess?
(This is probably because I'm in Mint and the Ubuntu "source code" repos. is not enabled by default. If someone can tell me what it is, I can add manually)

Edit: I think I've got it. Do tell me if I'm wrong:
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted

Seems to be working