I have a PS/2 keyboard (Keytronic) and a MS Optical Blue mouse. Slack installed OK and boots right to the login screen. After that keyboard doesn't work. I know that it works while it boots because I can on/off numlock leds or even type something, but when the login screen comes up the keyboard "freezes".

I've searched this forum and this seems to be an issue with many people. Especially USB folks, but my keyboard is in PS/2 so I don't know what to do.

I found someone mentioning chmod -x rc..gpm in /etc/rc but that doesn't seem to work with me.

I am open to any advice as there seems to be nothing I can do

Hi,

I'm not a Slackware expert but since nobody has replied to this yet I will offer the following suggestions.

Reboot to runlevel 1 and pick through the /var/log/XFree86.0.log for any hints.

Burn and boot a Knoppix CD, and if the keyboard works with that try saving the /etc/X11/XF86Config file and using it in Slackware. (Note that if you are using Xorg you need to at least change the keyboard driver from 'keyboard' to 'kbd' in the file.)

HTH - TIM

If you talk about the characters not displayed when you enter your root password, it is normal
if not, sorry I didn't want to offense you by any way

Did you try to switch to another console to login (ctrl + alt + F2,3,4...) ?

If the keyboard doesn't work, how did you issue any "chmod -x" command?
That can ONLY be done with a keyboard...

@avarus: In other distros I've tried the keyboard works OK.

@Cedrik: I mean the keyboard is dead. Nothing works no matter what i press. And ofcourse I can't switch to another console.

@Chinaman: I booted with Slack's CD into the "recovery console".

Can you do that again and post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file?
Just the part pertaining to

Here's my xorg.conf Core Keyboard which I retrieved with rfstool:

# **********************************************************************
# Core keyboard's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"
# For most OSs the protocol can be omitted (it defaults to "Standard").
# When using XQUEUE (only for SVR3 and SVR4, but not Solaris),
# uncomment the following line.

# Option "Protocol" "Xqueue"

# Set the keyboard auto repeat parameters. Not all platforms implement
# this.

# Option "AutoRepeat" "500 5"

# Specifiy 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 European
# keyboard, you will probably want to use one of:
#
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
#
# If you have a Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# If you have a US "windows" keyboard you will want:
#
# Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
#
# 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"


# These are the default XKB settings for X.Org
#
# Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
# Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
# Option "XkbLayout" "us"
# Option "XkbVariant" ""
# Option "XkbOptions" ""

EndSection


Note: I am using Slovenian keyboard layout.

von Vader, the problem is within X only?

Can't say because I didn't even get pass the login window. If I'm correct Slack bots up without X by default right?
I stop at the login screen where you should see a blinking cursor before you type in root/pass. Note: The cursor _is_ blinking so the system is not blocked, just the keyboard isn't working. While the system is booting I can clearly see that my keyboard works because I can scroll up/down to see the booting process.

can you try to get what is /var/log/dmesg and see if that has any clues as to what is happening during startup?

It's a very weird problem if you boot ok with the CD... are you sure you choose the same kernel that you used in the CD?
I can only think of a bad keymap, but if it also worked during installation I guess it shouldn't be the problem.

@gbonvehi: positive. I used the default kernel. About the keymap: although not listed in the log below I remember the last 2 messages before the login appears are about mouse and keyboard. I beliv ethe very last line was something like "loaded keymap slovene.xx" or something along those lines. Does this mean I could really be the keymap, because it's not loaded before in the booting process (while I _can_ use my keyboard)?

edit: I forgot to mention and I don't know if it's relevant - I'm using a frame buffer console (1024x768x32).


Linux version 2.4.26 (root@tree) (gcc version 3.3.4) #6 Mon Jun 14 19:07:27 PDT 2004
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 00000000000a0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000001fff0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000001fff0000 - 000000001fff3000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000001fff3000 - 0000000020000000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fec00000 - 00000000fec01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ffff0000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
511MB LOWMEM available.
On node 0 totalpages: 131056
zone(0): 4096 pages.
zone(1): 126960 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=Linux ro root=342
Initializing CPU#0
Detected 1923.879 MHz processor.
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 3840.40 BogoMIPS
Memory: 515328k/524224k available (1844k kernel code, 8512k reserved, 618k data, 120k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
Inode cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Mount cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 512K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: After generic, caps: 0383fbff c1c3fbff 00000000 00000000
CPU: Common caps: 0383fbff c1c3fbff 00000000 00000000
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+ stepping 00
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
mtrr: v1.40 (20010327) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
mtrr: detected mtrr type: Intel
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfb4f0, last bus=2
PCI: Using configuration type 1
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
PCI: Discovered primary peer bus ff [IRQ]
PCI: Using IRQ router default [10de/01e0] at 00:00.0
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
VFS: Disk quotas vdquot_6.5.1
Journalled Block Device driver loaded
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xd8000000, mapped to 0xe080d000, size 3072k
vesafb: mode is 1024x768x16, linelength=2048, pages=84
vesafb: protected mode interface info at c000:570c
vesafb: scrolling: redraw
vesafb: directcolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48
fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
Detected PS/2 Mouse Port.
pty: 512 Unix98 ptys configured
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with HUB-6 MANY_PORTS MULTIPORT SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10f
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 7777K size 1024 blocksize
loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00beta4-2.4
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
NFORCE2: IDE controller at PCI slot 00:09.0
NFORCE2: chipset revision 162
NFORCE2: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
NFORCE2: BIOS didn't set cable bits correctly. Enabling workaround.
NFORCE2: BIOS didn't set cable bits correctly. Enabling workaround.
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
NFORCE2: 00:09.0 (rev a2) UDMA133 controller
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xf000-0xf007, BIOS settings: hdaMA, hdbMA
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xf008-0xf00f, BIOS settings: hdcMA, hddMA
hda: ST380021A, ATA DISK drive
hdb: ST380011A, ATA DISK drive
blk: queue c03b3360, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
blk: queue c03b349c, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
hdc: Pioneer DVD-ROM ATAPIModel DVD-500M B00, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
hdd: AOPEN CD-RW CRW2440, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: attached ide-disk driver.
hda: host protected area => 1
hda: 156301488 sectors (80026 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=9729/255/63, UDMA(100)
hdb: attached ide-disk driver.
hdb: host protected area => 1
hdb: 156301488 sectors (80026 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=9729/255/63, UDMA(100)
hdc: attached ide-cdrom driver.
hdc: ATAPI 48X DVD-ROM drive, 512kB Cache, UDMA(66)
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
hdd: attached ide-cdrom driver.
hdd: ATAPI 40X CD-ROM CD-R/RW drive, 2048kB Cache, DMA
Partition check:
hda: hda1
hdb: hdb1 hdb2 hdb3
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
md: linear personality registered as nr 1
md: raid0 personality registered as nr 2
md: raid1 personality registered as nr 3
md: raid5 personality registered as nr 4
raid5: measuring checksumming speed
8regs : 2758.000 MB/sec
32regs : 1838.000 MB/sec
pIII_sse : 5225.200 MB/sec
pII_mmx : 4502.800 MB/sec
p5_mmx : 5753.200 MB/sec
raid5: using function: pIII_sse (5225.200 MB/sec)
md: md driver 0.90.0 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
LVM version 1.0.8(17/11/2003)
Initializing Cryptographic API
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
IP: routing cache hash table of 4096 buckets, 32Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 32768 bind 65536)
Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
FAT: bogus logical sector size 0
UMSDOS: msdos_read_super failed, mount aborted.
FAT: bogus logical sector size 0
FAT: bogus logical sector size 0
reiserfs: found format "3.6" with standard journal
reiserfs: checking transaction log (device ide0(3,66)) ...
for (ide0(3,66))
reiserfs: replayed 8 transactions in 4 seconds
ide0(3,66):Using r5 hash to sort names
VFS: Mounted root (reiserfs filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 120k freed
Adding Swap: 546200k swap-space (priority -1)
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 439M
agpgart: Detected NVIDIA nForce2 chipset
agpgart: AGP aperture is 128M @ 0xd0000000
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O MODULE]

Well, let's try with the keymap then. Boot with the cd and edit the file /etc/rc.d/rc.keymap, where it loads slovenian change it to us.

Hi,

I think you are using an XFree86 config file with Xorg. The driver for the keyboard has changed. You must change the line in xorg.conf which says:

Driver "Keyboard"

to

Driver "kbd"

I'll bet my boots this shows up in the Xorg log (/var/log/Xorg.0.log). You should read this file from the recovery CD boot and look for any errors - you just need to search on the string "!!".

TIM

I thought the same thing at first, but if this is a stock 10 install, then the name of the driver is still "keyboard". The driver was changed in current later on. Plus, if this WAS the case, X would fail completely with errors - he would not get to the log-in screen.

Appart from that I don't see any issue with the config file. I did notice that he said he was using a different keyboard layout but this was not specified in the xorg.conf file - where WAS this configured and could there be a conflict regarding this and xorg?

Oops, I see gbonvehi has already suggested this route. I would follow this course first.