USB Keyboard on Suse 9.2
 

My Kinesis Advantage MPC USB keyboard is not working under Suse 9.2. It worked fine under Suse 9.1.

My mobo is a Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939. My Processor is a AMD 64FX.

I am also using a USB Logitech Wheel Mouse and a USB Epson Perfection 640U scanner, which work fine under Suse 9.2. So, I am baffled as to why the keyboard is not working.

The following is what I get when I type "dmesg | more" :

ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
usb usb3: Product: OHCI Host Controller
usb usb3: Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.8-24.5-default ohci_hcd
usb usb3: SerialNumber: 0000:00:02.1
hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 3-0:1.0: 4 ports detected
usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using address 2
usb 2-1: Product: Perfection640
usb 2-1: Manufacturer: EPSON
usb 2-3: new full speed USB device using address 3
usb 2-3: Product: Kinesis Keyboard Hub
usb 2-3: Manufacturer: PI Engineering
hub 2-3:1.0: USB hub found
hub 2-3:1.0: 4 ports detected
usb 3-4: new low speed USB device using address 2
usb 3-4: Product: USB Mouse
usb 3-4: Manufacturer: Logitech

hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: Cannot enable port 2. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot disable port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: Cannot enable port 2. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot disable port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-3:1.0: cannot disable port 2 (err = -110)
hub 2-0:1.0: port 3 disabled by hub (EMI?), re-enabling...
usb 2-3: USB disconnect, address 3
usb 2-3: new full speed USB device using address 6
usb 2-3: Product: Kinesis Keyboard Hub
usb 2-3: Manufacturer: PI Engineering

Sometimes, if I reboot with a PS2 keyboard plugged in at the same time, the Kinesis keyboard will work. Somebody please help me... I love my Kinesis keyboard!

Can you put in on a usb/ps2 adapter and use it that way? Or does it have special features.

I tried using a USB-to-PS2 adapter with no luck.

I suspect that the Kinesis Advantage programmable keyboards sport parameters that will not allow you to use adapters.

With the popularity of USB keyboards as it is, you would think SuSe would have an RPM to resolve this issue :mad: Especially when there was no issues with SuSe 9.1!

Whoops, no issues with 9.1?
Uh oh, then that's a different problem, don't blame suse, blame linux.

I have a laptop which worked perfectly well with Suse 8.1...
Suse 8.2 came out, the kernel had been updated in a lot of areas, all sorts of new kernel based features. and...

Worked like crap, not a single damn thing I could do about it...
Suse 9.0 came out.
Even more kernel features and a few bugfixes...
Worked perfectly again.
Suse 9.1 came out. Oh yeah, kernel 2.6. Speedy, wonderful, yipee...
Suse 9.2 came out... Kernel 2.6 now has new features, more support, and extra support for certain hardware...
Gee, whatya ya know, not only does it work like shit again, it wont even boot the standard kernel!
I tried gentoo as well. With the new "improved"and bugfixed releases of anything above kernel 2.6.4, I cant boot my laptop unless I specifically make sure that I've only got the items checked that the kernel is actually going to find..

I found information that says the reason why USB keyboards fail to work on kernel 2.6.3 is that the usb controller name has been changed.

Instructions were given on how to correct the error -
add the following three lines to the /etc/modprobe.conf file:

alias usb-controller1 uhci-hcd
alias usb-controller2 ohci-hcd
alias usb-controller3 ehci-hcd

...then find and comment out the following lines in the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file:

action $"Initializing USB keybord" ----
action $ "Initializing USB mouse" ----

I found the modprobe.conf file, but could not find the rc.sysinit file.

Where (or what is it called) rc.sysinit is under SuSe 9.2?

Anybody tried this fix and got his or her USB keyboard to work?

cheesy workaround
 

I had the same problem on Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS release 4 (Nahant Update 5).

Ever since I updated my kernel, my Kinesis Advantage MPC USB/QD would only work after I booted to KDE. If I plugged it in too early, in /var/log/messages I would get the following repeating endlessly.
Dec 18 10:10:17 phantom kernel: hub 3-1:1.0: Cannot enable port 2. Maybe the USB cable is bad?
Dec 18 10:10:17 phantom kernel: hub 3-1:1.0: cannot disable port 2 (err = -110)
Dec 18 10:10:17 phantom kernel: hub 3-1:1.0: cannot reset port 2 (err = -110)

Then this past weekend it never worked, no matter when I plugged it in.

I tried the configs mentioned above to no avail.

Then I wondered if it would work with any hub (my USB keyboard is a hub as well). So I plugged a HUB/card reader in. Worked.

Then, on a long shot I plugged my keyboard into that hub.

Worked!

So there's a cheesy workaround for this problem if it is happening to anybody else out there.

Could it be that the increased power draw of having the extra hub in the mix makes it work?