Today a strange thing cropped up on my laptop.
When I get to the login screen, I can't type my password. I have the password field set to echo an *, but nothing happens, until I press enter. Then the field fills with asterisks. The same happens if I set the cursor in the username field.

I can log in if I choose to login via console, and then run startx, but I can't figure out why I can't type a password.

I saw some threads about incorrect keyboard drivers, but if that were the case, I'm guessing a console login wouldn't work and it does. It just seems that the username/password fields aren't working right at all.

Any thoughts?

Just out of curosity; are you using a wireless keyboard which is powered by batteries? Try replacing/recharging the batteries.

It's actually my laptop. An IBM thinkpad r40. I tried changing keyboard drivers, but that didn't help.

It seems to me like there is just something wrong with the login screen, since I can type fine if I switch over to console login. Is there any way to clear/cleanup that login?

What happens if you change it to auto login


all the best

Autologin won't work. As soon as it gets to the login screen it stops. I still have to manually change over to the console login and go in from there.

What did you use kde3 kde4 or gnome I realize that I can not log in when using kde4

all the best