keyboard problem with xdm and kdm

Hi,

I came up to a strange issue on debian lenny with xdm: when I use it, the keyboard doesn't work at all. When I boot the system when xdm is installed, when I type, nothing appears in the login textbox.

However, when I remove xdm and run startx from the console, everything works fine; I mean I can work a whole day under x with web browser, email client, video player, openoffice, and a lot of funky graphical apps without a problem.

I tried kdm, and I had a very odd effect: the keyboard got a few keystrokes (the first characters of my login), and then stopped working.

When the keyboard doesn't work in xdm or kdm, even ctrl+alt+F1 doesn't respond.

I don't see anything very interesting in /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

$ grep '(\(EE\|WW\))' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
(WW) Open ACPI failed (/var/run/acpid.socket) (No such file or directory)
(EE) RADEONHD(0): rhdAtomLvdsDDC: unknown record type: 39
(WW) RADEONHD(0): No monitor size info, assuming 96dpi.
(WW) RADEONHD(0): RHDCSInit: No CS for R600 and up yet.
(WW) Configured Mouse: No Device specified, looking for one...
(WW) Open ACPI failed (/var/run/acpid.socket) (No such file or directory)

/var/log/xdm.log isn't that funny either:

$ grep '(\(EE\|WW\))' /var/log/xdm.log
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(EE) RADEONHD(0): rhdAtomLvdsDDC: unknown record type: 3a

I think it might be related to the radeon driver, which seems quite unstable; when I work after a startx, everything works fine, as long as I don't work too much with the console. But if I switch to the console a lot and do a lot of work on the console, finally, when going back to X, my X ends up not responding to the keyboard nor to the mouse.

Any idea?

You need to post the contents of your xorg.conf file. That might give a clue about your problems. It seems you haven't got a mouse configured and your video driver is (as you say) dodgy.
cheers,
jdk

Well, I didn't do much about it, but my mouse works.

Here is xorg.conf:

$ grep -v '^#' /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "ServerFlags"
        Option          "BlankTime"     "5"
        Option          "StandByTime"   "6"
        Option          "SuspendTime"   "6"
        Option          "OffTime"       "6"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "fr"
        Option          "XkbVariant"    "latin9"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ati"
        Driver          "radeonhd"
        #Driver         "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
EndSection

You section called "Configured Mouse" doesn't seem to contain much info. For example mine looks like this:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"           
        Option          "CorePointer"     
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
        Option          "Protocol"              "imPS/2"    
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"      
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"       
EndSection

You may want to add the appropriate info to that section.
What video card are you using?
cheers,
jdk

I modified my inputdevice section for the mouse the following way:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

I didn't include the ZaxisMapping because anyway it is a laptop builtin touchpad without a wheel.

As far as I can see, it doesn't change anything.

$ grep '(\(EE\|WW\))' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
(WW) Open ACPI failed (/var/run/acpid.socket) (No such file or directory)
(EE) RADEONHD(0): rhdAtomLvdsDDC: unknown record type: 27
(WW) RADEONHD(0): No monitor size info, assuming 96dpi.
(WW) RADEONHD(0): RHDCSInit: No CS for R600 and up yet.

The video card is ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470.

Originally Posted by ouain The video card is ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470.

The errors appear to refer to the video driver rather than the mouse. You can get the proprietary driver for your card here:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...5&lang=English
There are installation instructions provided but you can post another question if you run into problems.
Cheers,
jdk

Originally Posted by jdkaye The errors appear to refer to the video driver rather than the mouse. You can get the proprietary driver for your card here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...5&lang=English There are installation instructions provided but you can post another question if you run into problems. Cheers, jdk

Great, I was looking for this driver and was unable to find it, thanks. I am glad I could finally install it. However, it doesn't solve the xdm issue, although it solves an annoying issue related to the console. Any idea about the original xdm issue?

Two thoughts:
1. If you're using a laptop is it really a 105 key keyboard?
2. Try booting with a live CD such as knoppix. Does the keyboard work? If yes, then look at the xorg.conf file that knoppix uses and use those same values for your permanent configuration.
cheers,
jdk