Ok, here goes -

Debian Sid, 2.6.5 kernel, 5336 nvidia drivers. It boots fine one day, goes into X etc, all nice and happy. The next day, i boot in, but this time, it refuses to detect my mouse at all, anywhere. I havent changed any configuration etc, just doesnt want to see my mouse on either /dev/psaux, /dev/input/mice or /dev/input/mouse0(1,2,3). Anyone got any ideas? The Xfree log just shows it cant open /dev/psaux (or whatever i set the mouse to), not a valid device etc.

Secondly, trying to update to the new nvidia drivers, is, well, impossible (at least i cant get it working). Now, im doing this on a different machine (not the mouse problem one - still using Debian Sid and a 2.6.5 kernel). The first time i tried it, after installing the new drivers i just got a blank screen when it tried to load X, and nothing would break it out (was asking in IRC, and nothing anyone suggested would work), in the end, i managed to get it to not boot into X and removed the drivers, reinstalled the old ones, and then tried again. After that, i tried various combinations of installing and uninstalling the 2 drivers (5336 and 6101). I could always get the 5336 drivers to work, but never the 6101 to work.

This is the XFree log - Ive never seen that "Caught signal 8" error before, what is it?

The mouse error right now is the more important one, since i cant even get to X etc on that machine, at least the other one works with the old 5336 drivers, but to say im not impressed with the 6101 so far is an understatement.

Thanks

try this solution from a post further down:
As root:

echo -e 'mousedev\npsmouse' >> /etc/modules
modprobe mousedev
modprobe psmouse



First off, if your mouse stops working for whatever reason, X will not run..I dunno why but I had a usb mouse which was'nt detected properly and X would just lock up and I'd have to do a hard reboot.
I just installed sid, before I installed the new nvidia drivers i upgraded to the latest kernel image available (2.6.6-r2?) I think. Installed the kernel headers and kernel source, downloaded the nvidia drivers from the nvidia site, booted into a console login, and ran the nvidia install script (sh NVidia****.run) after that adjusted my XF86config-4 file and changed 'nv' to 'nvidia' and commented out 'dri'. Drivers run great, I have an fx5900.

If you are sure your mouse is functioning correctly, then it sounds as tho perhaps you have the mouse drivers loaded in the kernel as a module, and somehow the module loading got screwed up...so the kernel doesnt think there is a mouse.

I would suggest removing the old nvidia drivers, updating the kernel to the latest available and then, if the mouse issue is fixed, install the nvidia drivers manually the way I have described above.

I'm not sure what the module is called that runs the mouse drivers, If you know the name of it you can try doing insmod mousedev or maybe modprobe mousedev to see if you can force the loading. Then try running cat /dev/psaux or cat /dev/input/mice or cat /dev/mouse and move the mouse around between tries, if you get garbage on the screen the mouse is working oh..just remembered..you can use the command 'modconf' as root at the console and see if you can find your mouse driver in there...

hope this helps?

"Debian Sid, 2.6.5 kernel, 5336 nvidia drivers. It boots fine one day, goes into X etc, all nice and happy. The next day, i boot in, but this time, it refuses to detect my mouse at all, anywhere. I havent changed any configuration etc, just doesnt want to see my mouse on either /dev/psaux, /dev/input/mice or /dev/input/mouse0(1,2,3). Anyone got any ideas? The Xfree log just shows it cant open /dev/psaux (or whatever i set the mouse to), not a valid device etc."


2.6.1. Getting PS/2 and USB mice to work with 2.6.x kernels
http://www.linuks.mine.nu/debian-faq-wiki

Thanks, that worked nicely.

Ive been using a 2.6.x kernel for a while now though, and it only just started doing, which i found to be a bit strange.

In guess they dont call it Debian Unstable for nothing eh?...)