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-   -   Cursor & keyboard frozen at login screen (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/cursor-and-keyboard-frozen-at-login-screen-4175527909/)

hilltownboy 12-10-2014 12:32 PM

Cursor & keyboard frozen at login screen
 
Stuck using Debian 7 (wheezy) on login with the cursor and keyboard frozen. Can't enter password. Can only switch off power. Have used Debian happily for years and nothing like this has ever happened.

Can boot in fallback mode but I don't know how to find a command that will fix the problem.

I tried startx and a screen came up but still stuck, so maybe X is not the problem. Am writing with pclinux on the same machine, so it does not seem to be a hardware problem.

How to proceed?

JeremyBoden 12-11-2014 05:11 AM

You could try booting Debian from a live DVD (or USB) to see if the problem remains...

Can you look at your Debian logs from pclinux?

jdkaye 12-11-2014 05:23 AM

You can boot into the fallback mode and check the various logs in the /var/log folder. The dmesg file is a good place to start.
jdk

hilltownboy 12-11-2014 10:23 AM

Thanks, both of you. I have screened through virtually all the logs, thousands of lines that I am not competent to understand fully, but they don't seem unusual except for in user.log, a lot of lines with "debian ......... tests: debug:........" and "debian .........debug: parsing:......." which seem to have to do with checking or locating disk partition devices rather than anything to do with the screen freezing.

I have not booted with a DVD but booting with Debian 6 "squeeze" which is also on the box, the cursor moves normally. Therefor the problem is only in "wheezy" and specifically
in corruption of a setting affecting the cursor and display.

My hope is to find out how to locate and correct that.

jdkaye 12-11-2014 11:53 AM

Wheezy might not be the best choice in this moment in time. It's been frozen pending the release of Jessie (the next version which I believe is Debian 8). In any event you might want to try a Debian Live Install CD and see if the problem persists.
jdk

hilltownboy 12-11-2014 04:56 PM

Thank you jdk for taking an interest in my freeze-up problem.
I don't see what is to be gained by running a live CD, inasmuch as Debian 6 functions on the same machine without freezing and Debian 7 "wheezy" has always also, until this current glitch.

As to Debian 8 "jessie", I plan to upgrade to it when stable (as in essence it probably is now), as I have done in the past from "etch", "lenny", and "squeeze". But I want to use my "wheezy" until then because it is configured as needed for my regular work.

Do you think running apt-get upgrade from failback might replace whatever element is misbehaving with a properly functioning one?

hilltownboy 12-11-2014 05:17 PM

Thanks jdk for your advice. Why try with a live CD (which I don't have for wheezy) when it is clear that other OS's including squeeze are not frozen.

Do you think running apt-get upgrade would replace whatever element is freezing the login? Or better, if one knew the name of the element or its package, apt-get reinstall?

I've taken pains to get wheezy configured for my purposes so would like to restore it .

jdkaye 12-12-2014 12:47 AM

Quote:

Do you think running apt-get upgrade from failback might replace whatever element is misbehaving with a properly functioning one?
It is certainly worth a try. Is there any particular reason why you use Debian Stable rather than Testing or Unstable?
jdk

hilltownboy 12-12-2014 08:46 AM

jdk, with business and personal programs, and records both current and going back many years, Debian stable seems to be the choice for reliability and dependability. I use Arch for learning linux and for using the latest packages of interest, and PCLinux as a fallback and sometimes for cues on how to set somethings up. Right now my Arch is broken by a mistake I made and the Debian stable is blocked by the freeze at the login screen. I really need it back.

jdkaye 12-12-2014 12:05 PM

Quote:

with business and personal programs, and records both current and going back many years,
Describes my own system to a "T". I back up regularly and have been using Testing for many many years. Never had a problem and I prefer running a system that's reasonably up to date. My mental image of Debian Stable is a server for an office filled with 367 machines all running accounting software. For home use as you have described it, I'd suggest Testing (and I'm considered conservative by Sid users). But chacun à son goût.
jdk


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