During the most recent update I did, apt-get thought I needed a kernel upgrade to 2.6.8-2-686. Obviously, I really did NOT need it, because my mouse has now vanished.

# od /dev/mouse
od: /dev/mouse: No such device

I HATE HITTING THIS WALL because I have no idea what to do. I was a SINGLE reboot away from finishing this machine and getting it off my desk. I'm sure it's a kernel support issue, since the machine is 6 years old. But... the machine is _ONLY_ 6 years old. My car is from 1987 and it runs fine.

Any answers that don't include the phrase "just change your kernel to 2.x.x.x.x.x.... and try again" will be appreciated.

-dave

ps: I know its a kernel issue, because the mouse still works when I boot into an old 2.4 kernel.

Try /dev/psaux, or /dev/input/mouse0, or /dev/input/mice. Currently, with 2.6.19.1, I'm using /dev/input/mice.

# od /dev/psaux /dev/input/mouse0 /dev/input/mice /dev/input/*
od: /dev/psaux: No such device
od: /dev/input/mouse0: No such device
od: /dev/input/mice: No such device
od: /dev/input/event0: No such device
od: /dev/input/event1: No such device
od: /dev/input/event2: No such device
od: /dev/input/event3: No such device
od: /dev/input/js0: No such device
od: /dev/input/js1: No such device
od: /dev/input/js2: No such device
od: /dev/input/js3: No such device
od: /dev/input/mice: No such device
od: /dev/input/mouse0: No such device
od: /dev/input/mouse1: No such device
od: /dev/input/mouse2: No such device
od: /dev/input/mouse3: No such device

tried those already.

what's the output from "cat /proc/devices"? I'm kinda getting out of my depth here, but from my machine, "input" is major number 13 and "mice" is minor number 63, and I believe that comes from the "evdev" module. Does "evdev" appear in the output from "lsmod"?

# cat /proc/devices
Character devices:
1 mem
2 pty
3 ttyp
4 /dev/vc/0
4 tty
4 ttyS
5 /dev/tty
5 /dev/console
5 /dev/ptmx
6 lp
7 vcs
10 misc
13 input
29 fb
99 ppdev
128 ptm
136 pts
254 devfs

Block devices:
1 ramdisk
3 ide0
8 sd
9 md
65 sd
66 sd
67 sd
68 sd
69 sd
70 sd
71 sd
128 sd
129 sd
130 sd
131 sd
132 sd
133 sd
134 sd
135 sd
253 mdp
254 device-mapper

aw screw it. I installed a new kernel. Didn't feel like hacking anymore. The mouse works on /dev/psaux in kernel 2.6.18-3-686.

however, now X is broken for some reason. Always something else....

[88] davek@mkdir:~>startx
xauth: creating new authority file /home/davek/.serverauth.3250
X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.
xinit: Server error.
Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console

Well, "13 input" is there. You might try making minor number 63. The command would probably be "mknod /dev/input/mice c 13 63". You may need to make the directory "/dev/input" first. It's been years and years since I messed with mknod, and never for this sort of problem.

"2.6.18-3-686."

You may have to install xserver-xorg and the rest of that mess. You might try reinstalling xserver-xfree86 first, though. For that matter, you might try reinstalling 2.6.8-2-686.

fixed the X problem

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi....php?p=2554894

Glad you got it all running. Sorry I couldn't help.