Mouse stops responding in Redhat 9

OK I've run into a rather odd bug. I have a Logitech MX Duo wireless keyboard and mouse. They are USB and have 1 USB connection comming from the RF reciever. I recently upgraded to Redhat 9, and on Redhat 8 I had absolutely NO problems with my mouse and keyboard. The mousewheel worked fine. Nothing has changed other than me upgrading. Once I upgraded, I noticed my scroll wheel wasn't working. So I tried selecting a few different mice in the mouse configuration to see if I could find one that would allow my mouse to work. Note that the scroll wheel and mouse worked fine in the Linux setup. At any rate, at some point in selecting mice the mouse stopped responding at all. I reselected 3 button USB mouse, and it still didn't work. I rebooted... it still didn't work. I tried pulling the USB connection out and reinserting it.

So, I booted off of the Redhat 9 install CD, figuring I could just have it re-upgrade. I did the keyboard and mouse setup there, and again, they worked fine(even the scrollwheel!). However, Redhat didn't find any packages to upgrade (duh) and it would seem it didn't attempt to change anything since when I booted back into linux again, it still had the same problems.

So, my question is, does anyone know what is going on? Is there a way of getting my mouse to work again? Can I get it to reprobe the mouse, as it seems to get it correct during the setup. If I can't get this to work, I suppose I'll just reinstall redhat 8, but I was hoping to use 9 since that is what my computer graphics class is using :/

One more thing, when explaining things please assume nothing. I don't have much experience with linux.

Hi. I have noticed that with my laptop, when I have the mouse configured for the built in pointer, that the external mouse doesn't work porperly, but when I have it configured for the external mouse, everything works, provided the mouse is plugged in. The minute I remove it, it goes crazy again. Are you using a laptop by any chance? Just a thought. Also, if that isn't it, you could try plugging another corded mouse and see if that works. If it doesn't, then you know its a problem with the mouse configurations in general, and not just with that mouse. Anyway, sorry I couldn't be more help.

Matthew Doak

I'll try plugging in another mouse. And no, I am not using a laptop.

OK This is really wierd. I have an old logitech MX500. I put on the PS2 adapter and booted up into Linux. The mouse still did not respond. I went to the mouse settings and choose the generic 3 button PS/2 mouse (was 3 button USB). I then hit OK. At that point my keyboard stopped responding. DOH. So, I rebooted and took off the PS/2 adapter and plugged the mx500 into the usb port. The system came up and now BOTH mice are responding, AND the keyboard. Unfortunantly niether mousewheel is working on either mouse. I can unplug the MX500 and the MX700 remains working. Hopefully it will remain this way when I reboot. I tried going to the settings and changing it back to 3 button USB (generic) but that had no effect.

So, it looks like I can get my mouse is working again, BUT, I still don't have a mousewheel! Does anyone know how to get the mousewheel working? Here is my x86Config:

# XFree86 4 configuration created by pyxf86config

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Default Layout"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name of the 
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
	RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
	FontPath     "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "fbdevhw"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "record"
	Load  "freetype"
	Load  "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
#	Option	"Xleds"		"1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
#	Option	"XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
#	Option	"XkbModel"	"pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#	Option	"XkbModel"	"microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
#	Option	"XkbLayout"	"de"
# or:
#	Option	"XkbLayout"	"de"
#	Option	"XkbVariant"	"nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
#	Option	"XkbOptions"	"ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
#	Option	"XkbOptions"	"ctrl:nocaps"
#
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "keyboard"
	Option	    "XkbRules" "xfree86"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	#Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
# this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
# also use USB mice at the same time.
	Identifier  "DevInputMice"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
	ModelName    "CPD-E540"
	DisplaySize  400	300
	HorizSync    30.0 - 110.0
	VertRefresh  48.0 - 170.0
	ModeLine     "1400x1050" 129.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
	ModeLine     "1400x1050" 151.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
	ModeLine     "1400x1050" 162.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
	ModeLine     "1400x1050" 184.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +hsync +vsync
	Option	    "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "nv"
	VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
	BoardName   "NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS (generic)"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Videocard0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	DefaultDepth     16
	SubSection "Display"
		Modes    "800x600"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     16
		Modes    "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Group        0
	Mode         0666
EndSection

AHHHHHHHH. MAN this is pissing me off. I just logged out and as soon as the screen login screen appeared again my mouse stopped responding. Unplugging and plugging back in either mouse didn't work, and rebooting didn't help either. Does anyone know WTF is going on?

OK I've found a way to really get the mouse going, and perhaps someone can help me with the rest.

I decided to try removing the mouse from my hardware config and then readding it. I read the man pages for kudzu and found out where it stores its hardware configuration information. (etc/sysconfig/hwconfig) I scrolled down and found this entry:

class: MOUSE
bus: PSAUX
detached: 0
device: psaux
driver: msintellips/2
desc: "Generic PS/2 Wheel Mouse"

I found this odd, since I don't even have anything plugged into my PS/2 ports. What's more, my mouse is a Logitech Mx700, not an MS intellimouse. So, I removed it and rebooted. Kudzoo redetected the mouse, and again detected it as an MS intellimouse. When I got back into linux, my mouse was working again! Even if I logged off and logged back on again, the mouse would work.

But the scroll wheel still doesn't work :/ I tried going into mouse settings, and if I change it to a generic 3 button USB mouse, it stops responding on logout just like it did the first time. And I have to remove it and have kudzoo reconfigure it all over again.

I think what I am "breaking" by selecting different mouse properties and what kudzoo is "fixing" is actually the X86Config. As you can see, it has changed it:

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/psaux"
	#Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
# this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
# also use USB mice at the same time.
	Identifier  "DevInputMice"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

That is what my X86Config looks like now. I think because it detected the mouse wrong, it was routing the input to /dev/psaux instead of /dev/input/mice, and so the XServer wasn't seeing any input. I'm guessing that if I go into etc/sysconfig/hwconfig and change the PS/2 entry to a USB one, and then change my X86Config to take USB input, it should work.

So... what do you guys think? If you think I got it right, could someone post what their USB mouse settings are in etc/sysconfig/hwconfig?

You could try putting the PS/2 adapter on the wireless mouse and see if that helps. My mouse is a corded MS optical mouse with a usb connector and a PS/2 adapter. It works fine as either PS/2 or USB, although I usually use it as a PS/2 since I need the USB port. My hwconf file is identical to your's for the mouse part. Also, my XF86Config file looks the same as yours. If I were you, I'd probably just get sick of the whole thing, and format the hard drive and reinstall linux in hopes of getting it to work that way. I hope you don't have to resort to that though.

Matthew

Well, I don't think a reinstall would fix this. I did upgrade from redhat 8, but that installation was just about untouched. I think this is a bug in kudzu's mouse detection, and it seems to be one that has just now cropped in with Redhat 9 (as everything worked in Redhat 8). It detects it as PS/2, so if you try to make it work as a USB mouse it won't work. I really think all I need is the proper USB mouse settings in the hwconfig and I'll be good. Even if I were stuck like this, I can live without a mousewheel, it's just annoying. I could probably get my MX500 PS/2 mouse working now that I know what is going on, but I'd rather try getting my MX700 mouse working than go back to my nasty old MX500.

If someone could post that information for me I would really appriciate it.

Hi,

I had a lot of problems like the ones you describe (wireless mouse being identified as psaux, but not working). I then tried the 2.6.3 kernel (Mandrake 10.0) and the problem was magically solved. For the record, here is my /etc/sysconfig/mouse file:

MOUSETYPE=ps/2
XMOUSETYPE=ExplorerPS/2
FULLNAME="Universal|Any PS/2 & USB mice"
XEMU3=no
WHEEL=yes
device=input/mice

and the relevant portion of XF86Config-4

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
EndSection
...
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection

Both files were automatically generated by Mandrake, I didn't do anything clever here.

Matthew