[FONT="Arial"]I am a Linux Newbie for all intents an purposes, I just built a dual boot system with WinXP Pro on one HD and FC-4 on the second - using the GRUB loader. I am using a Belkin SOHO KVM switch to move between my systems. I have a Logitech trackball mouse attached to the KVM switch. Every time I move away from the Linux system I completely loose control of the mouse. Any suggestions?FONT]

Seen many post here on the subject. Use the search feature here to check those out. Most of the things to try is Hit Alt-Ctrl-F1 before switching. This brings you to terminal number 1. When you return hit Alt-Ctrl-F7 to get back to the gui session.

Brian1

I've had the same problem. Although the commands alt-ctrl-F1 and alt-ctrl-F7 do switch between terminal #1 and the gui, I still had the same problem. Thus far unplugging and plugging the mouse back in is the only thing that has worked.

Why not just use VNC? No more switch to worry about, drop back to one monitor (if you want).

I'm using one of the cheaper belkin kvm switches and I haven't had too many problems so far. The mouse did go nuts on once occasion, though. I'm a bit of an impatient guy so I didn't wait for it to happen again and I got myself a second mouse. Now each pc has its own. I guess doing the same may be the best option. I've heard so many of these complaints but there doesn't appear to exist a (fireproof) workaround.

Edit: I just read your first post again and I'm getting all confused? Why would you be using a kvm switch to handle one pc?? I guess in this case using a second mouse is out of the question.

jay73: I'm not quite sure how you got the idea that there is only 1 pc. In my case, I have a 4 port Balkan kvm switch and I switch between at least 2 pc's at a time and frequently it has been between 3. Once in a while I have 4. Anyway, my mouse is a logitech usb optical mouse and it plugs into a ps2 adapter which plugs into my kvm switch. I've see a couple of other suggestions on editing some files and I'll need to reply to those for more information as the suggestions are not specific enough for me to try them out. It might be worth getting an optical mouse which has the ps2 connection unless one of these other fixes works.

lazlow:

Thanks for your suggestion. I use vnc at work as my interface to our linux servers. I need to think about how I might use your suggestion and get more details on how to go about it. What you're suggesting might be just fine but I'm not clear on how to go about that yet.

I've got an old IOGEAR MiniView 2-port KVM on my two machines. I was noticing occasional mouse lockup on Etch kernel 2.6.18. But, I believe it must have gone away on 2.6.19, because I can't remember the last time it happened. You know how it goes: it's annoying as hell when it happens, but when it stops, you don't even notice when it stopped happening. Whether it was the kernel upgrade or something else I did that fixed it, I just don't know. Now, watch, it'll lockup on me when I switch the next time.

Try passing "resync_time=5" to psmouse module when using KVMs. Also, if using Logitech mouse with KVM and kernel identifies it as "Logitech PS2++" mouse try using "proto=exps" to force Intellimouse Explorer protocol.