Hey there,

I have been an Arch64/32 user for quite some time. Recently went to install Arch32 on Dell dimension e521, all fine until I got gnome up and running then after 5-10 min, the mouse froze. Only recovery was power cycle.

Checked that hal was running and it was, so I decided to disable hot plugging "AutoAddDevices" "False" in xorg.conf, still no luck. Tried adding Load "evdev" to xorg.conf still no luck.

Attempted to throw Ubuntu 8.10 on, same situation tried the same fixes nothing worked.

Went back to an old Ubuntu 7.04 live cd and all was well while in the live cd. Proceed with install = freeze.

Some have suggested trying gpm and removing buggy mouse entries from /dev/input/.

How do I trouble shoot this?

Also unplug/replug mouse nor switching with another cures it.

Is is possible to login through OpenSSH? If so, try terminate X Window System and reload it.

Did you try testing in bash if the mouse cursor freezes? If it does not, it is possible that the power supply is going or something else is affecting the stability of the computer during heavy use.

Did you try disable Cool 'n Quiet?

If your card reader uses USB too, temporarily disconnect it. If your mouse still freezes, you may have to buy an active USB hub. IMHO, any computer that does not have at least one PS/2 connector should be avoided.

I can ssh into that box but I can't kill X from the term, cant even reboot only power cycle. When this happens I can still use usb keyboard, just key navigate thru everything.

I'm positive its not a hardware issue since as a test I thru XP on and it has been running normally.

So my question is at this point, if in /dev/input/ there is:

/dev/input/mouse0
/dev/input/mouse1
/dev/input/mice

can I test these for the prob. child?? X gets its info from mice if I'm not mistaken, but if hal and evdev are running the show it could be one of the others yes?

Saying that your computer does not have any problems in Windows. Then using Linux it has problems is not saying much. Windows does not use system resources efficiently. Linux uses system resources more efficiently and finishes in less time, so problems that does not come to surface in Windows will come to surface in Linux. You either have a hardware issue or a software issue. You said that you can not terminate X Window System is not good. When X Window System on my setups is not responsive, I can terminate it just fine through OpenSSH, but it has not give me any problems for years.

Since you did not do anything such as only boot to BASH, did not disable Cool 'n Quiet, or update any drivers. I assume you did not check the logs and temperature. It hard for me to suggest anything else since you think the problem is just the mouse.

I am pretty sure I have fixed the issue. As a quick check I reinstalled Ubuntu 8.10. Once the install was finished I went in and looked at all available updates and ignored the upgrade to kernel 2.6.28 and latest X.

Have had no issues (yet). Did some digging around and seems there are some kernel 2.6.28 issues with certain intel MOBO. Didn't research to hard, but I don know that it is an intel MOBO in that Dell.