MX Linux AHS - Keyboard Not Responding

Atheist

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Almost out of the woods. After the changes are made, I went back to /etc/default/grub and reinstated the "quiet splash", removing the temporary fix of "noacpi nomodeset". and rebooted.
The good news is that the screen blanking on and off when I move the cursor is fixed! The only remnant of a problem is that the keyboard is non-responsive. The touchpad works. But no keys. I had to jump on a different PC to type this msg. A
postscript: I bring up the keyboard settings panel. There is an area to "test" settings. Input there works, and when I shut it down, now the keyboard works in the terminal.
Reboot. Same thing; no keyboard in terminal. Open keyboard settings panel. Test a few keys. close panel. Input to terminal good. It's like the settings panel wakes up the keyboard.
 
Last edited:


Try -
Code:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
 
Hard to do without a keyboard??

Gotta get more coffee and then tell @Atheist how to call up a virtual keyboard.

Wiz
 
Hard to do without a keyboard??

Gotta get more coffee and then tell @Atheist how to call up a virtual keyboard.

Wiz
Thanks. I can do a virtual keyboard. But I find that fooling around with keyboard system settings, sooner or later it works. Thanks and enjoy the cuppa joe. (Do you grind your own beans? Or are you not that picky? :) )
 
Try -
Code:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
No joy in Mudville. :-(
(As you no doubt know, I didn't) that command brings up the opportunity to choose different keyboard layouts. I tried several but the problem actually got worse. Still looking for a solution.
Thanks very much for trying.
A
 
I wonder if I should go back to either or both "noacpi nomodeset" in place of "quiet splash" in the grub?
 
You may need to put 'noacpi' back in there until software catches up with hardware, as per the thread that prompted this one.
 
@Atheist Mate when you get time, some more output would be good. Try David G.'s (@KGIII 's) advice first. Remember to update-grub before reboot.

The commands are


Code:
xinput

# alternatively (provides same)

xinput list

# and

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf

# and

xinput list-props 'keyboard description'

# where, inside the quotes, you will have the description of your keyboard
# you got with xinput list. In my case it would be
# xinput list-props 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'

Depending on what you get, we may be able to assign your keyboard to what is known as a different "xid"

Cheers

Wiz
 
BTW 1 - better is noquiet nosplash - this will give you an opportunity to see what is happening at startup and get a headstart on troubleshooting problems, so it would be

noacpi noquiet nosplash

BTW 2 - if your updating problems are now under control, we should probably have these last few Posts in a separate Thread. On my tomorrow, I can carve those off and give you a new Thread with a suitable title.

Cheers

Wiz
 
BTW 1 - better is noquiet nosplash - this will give you an opportunity to see what is happening at startup and get a headstart on troubleshooting problems, so it would be

noacpi noquiet nosplash

BTW 2 - if your updating problems are now under control, we should probably have these last few Posts in a separate Thread. On my tomorrow, I can carve those off and give you a new Thread with a suitable title.

Cheers

Wiz
Thanks very very much to both of you. I'll switch to the other thread when advised.
A
 
One last thought, if there is some advantage to switching, I would happily install a different distro. Just sayin'
A
 
@Atheist Mate when you get time, some more output would be good. Try David G.'s (@KGIII 's) advice first. Remember to update-grub before reboot.

The commands are


Code:
xinput

# alternatively (provides same)

xinput list

# and

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf

# and

xinput list-props 'keyboard description'

# where, inside the quotes, you will have the description of your keyboard
# you got with xinput list. In my case it would be
# xinput list-props 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'

Depending on what you get, we may be able to assign your keyboard to what is known as a different "xid"

Cheers

Wiz
In case these data help:
___________________________________
$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech Optical USB Mouse id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ ELAN901C:00 04F3:2E8B id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ MSFT0001:00 06CB:CE44 Mouse id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ MSFT0001:00 06CB:CE44 Touchpad id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Integrated Camera: Integrated C id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Integrated Camera: Integrated I id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Ideapad extra buttons id=15 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Intel HID events id=16 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Intel HID 5 button array id=17 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ ACPI Virtual Keyboard Device id=18 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=19 [slave keyboard (3)]
apm@Linguist:~
_______________________________________________________________

cat: /etc/x11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf: No such file or directory
apm@Linguist:~
$ locate 10-evdev.conf
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf
apm@Linguist:~
$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf
#
# Catch-all evdev loader for udev-based systems
# We don't simply match on any device since that also adds accelerometers
# and other devices that we don't really want to use. The list below
# matches everything but joysticks.

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "evdev pointer catchall"
MatchIsPointer "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "evdev"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
MatchIsKeyboard "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "evdev"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "evdev touchpad catchall"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "evdev"
EndSection

#Section "InputClass"
# Identifier "evdev tablet catchall"
# MatchIsTablet "on"
# MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
# Driver "evdev"
#EndSection

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "evdev touchscreen catchall"
MatchIsTouchscreen "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "evdev"
EndSection

________________________________________________
$ xinput list-props 'evdev keyboard catchall'
unable to find device evdev keyboard catchall
 
FYI I had to add nomodeset or the screen flickers upon cursor movement,, so it now reads:
"noacpi noquiet nosplash nomodeset"
A
 
With the list-props command, try

xinput list-props 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'

Mate, tell us whether the touchscreen is a deal-breaker, at least, with this Distro.

Why I ask is that about 6 - 7 years ago, I had a problem with a Toshiba Satellite lappie which we had bought thinking it new, only to find it was refurbished. Right from the beginning, even under Windows 8 (which I blew away in short time), it had a mouse cursor which would jump around like a whirling dervish. I established that it was actually the touchscreen that was the problem, not the mouse, and that's where I learned about xinput.

I'll write up some more and then publish.

Wizard
 
Thank you -- I hope you know how much I appreciate your continued patience with my problem. Nothing is a deal breaker. This laptop is a xmas gift for my wife (APM). She doesn't like touchscreens. I am trying to wean her off Windows. We are not stuck on mx linux, if there is a better distro. I have tried many. I use Ubuntu on my desktop and Zorin on my own laptop. Here is the result of the xinput cmd.
A

$ xinput list-props 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'
Device 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard':
Device Enabled (116): 1
Coordinate Transformation Matrix (118): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
Device Product ID (258): 1, 1
Device Node (259): "/dev/input/event15"
apm@Linguist:~

P.S. My laptop is also a Toshiba Satellite, 17-inch. Weighs a ton! Must be 15 yrs old,
 
"noacpi noquiet nosplash nomodeset"
When you added noacpi to your grub I think that maybe the issue since your Xinput list shows - ACPI Virtual Keyboard Device id=18 - disabling ACPI kills a lot of laptop keyboards and TPads see if it will boot without the noacpi option again and retest the keyboard
 
Also if you have an NVIDIA GPU make sure those drivers are installed
 
When you added noacpi to your grub I think that maybe the issue since your Xinput list shows - ACPI Virtual Keyboard Device id=18 - disabling ACPI kills a lot of laptop keyboards and TPads see if it will boot without the noacpi option again and retest the keyboard

As memory serves, it's a holdover from the previous thread where something wasn't working and noacpi was the solution. It's worth repeating (for the OP's sake) that it should only be used as a temporary measure.
 


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