I have an Asus G2 series laptop with core 2 Duo processor and have been using Linux for 2 days now. I have a very annoying problem that seems to come and go at random. I get pauses from the keyboard where it will stop typing, then I get multiple repeated keystrokes at other times. To show what I mean, I will leave the following sentence unedited:

"The quick brown fox jumps oveeeeer the lazy sleeping dogggg"

I have to continuously edit for readability. Sometimes it is so bad that I just walk away for a minute to wait for it co calm back down. I found two threads that sound like others have been having similar problems here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...nux/+bug/99356

and here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...=acpi+thinkpad

and it seems that there might be a solution I could try if I understood what it meant. I want to try this:
"From the above link: add "ec_intr=0" to your boot line to fix this."

First, I don't know what this option does, so doing it, although it might work, isn't teaching me anything. Second, I don't know what my "boot line" is or where to find it.

Heeeelpppp!

If you're using the lilo bootloader (the default), then you should edit your '/etc/lilo.conf' and add an 'append=' line, something like:
Then you must run '/sbin/lilo' to update the config. See 'man lilo.conf' for more info.

I don't know what "ec_intr=0" is for, but the answer may be somewhere in the kernel documentation.

Thank you for the reply.

Ok, my lilo.conf has a section like this:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/sda3
label = Slackware
read-only # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends

So can I add the switch somewhere in this section, or can it go anywhere in the file? I modified the file to read like this:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/sda3
label = Slackware
read-only # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
append="ec_intr=0" # ACPI Workaround - to potentially fix keyboard reeppppppppeats
# Linux bootable partition config ends

I don't want to try this until sommeone tells me it is ok. I am afaid of messing up lilo and losing access to the ability to fix it. Thanks.

++++++++++++

As for the ec_intr option, I found from here:

http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/2/14/446

this about it:

+ ec_intr= [HW,ACPI] ACPI Embedded Controller interrupt mode
+ Format: <int>
+ 0: polling mode
+ non-0: interrupt mode (default)

Apparently there are some recent issues with some ACPI (power management) options, and putting the switch to '0' turns off interrupt mode, and really just hides some bugs in the interrupt mode for some hardware (or hides bugs in the hardware, if you prefer). It appears that this is not viewed as a long term solution, but can suffice for now. (Just in case anyone wanted to know)

You can try it once, without modifying your /etc/lilo.conf
Just boot your machine, and when the LILO menu comes up, type in the prompt
Linux ec_intr=0
and hit Enter.

Your modifications to /etc/lilo.conf sees correct if you want to go ahead with it.

Oh! That's nice to know.

Since when I configured lilo I changed my label from "Linux" to "Slackware", I assume that for my machine I would type:
Slackware ec_intr=0
instead?

Yes, the label is what goes there, in your case you're good to try it. Don't be scared, nothing bad is gonna happen

... and even if it does, you can fix it pretty easy.