Richard Pearce
New Member
After updating my ubuntu 20.04 on my acer aspire E 15 w/8GB DDR3,pentiumN3530(quad core) 250 SSD my keyboard stop working,any hints???
Newbee needs help!!
- Thread starter Richard Pearce
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Old Tom Bombadil
Active Member
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
neither of these solutions worked. any other solutions?
G'day @Richard Pearce 
You haven't specified what did not work, can you elaborate?
For example with Old Tom's 1st link, did you get as far as Case 3 or Case which.
Did you get to make the change to Grub Menu?
And more, please.
Cheers
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
BTW, what is the status of the mouse and trackpad, and are you able to launch a virtual keyboard?
You haven't specified what did not work, can you elaborate?
For example with Old Tom's 1st link, did you get as far as Case 3 or Case which.
Did you get to make the change to Grub Menu?
And more, please.
Cheers
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
BTW, what is the status of the mouse and trackpad, and are you able to launch a virtual keyboard?
Old Tom Bombadil
Active Member
A few more possible solutions are here:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/585681/ubuntu-20-04-upgrades-breaks-keyboard-mouse
But we really are flying in the dark if you don't provide more information and feedback.
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
i tried case 1&2 but that didn't help. My touch pad & keyboard don't work but the mouse does. Tried case 3 but none of the keys work. Please help.G'day @Richard Pearce
You haven't specified what did not work, can you elaborate?
For example with Old Tom's 1st link, did you get as far as Case 3 or Case which.
Did you get to make the change to Grub Menu?
And more, please.
Cheers
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
BTW, what is the status of the mouse and trackpad, and are you able to launch a virtual keyboard?
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
Because neither touchpad & keyboard work, I'm unable to get into Grub Menu @ start up,please help.G'day @Richard Pearce
You haven't specified what did not work, can you elaborate?
For example with Old Tom's 1st link, did you get as far as Case 3 or Case which.
Did you get to make the change to Grub Menu?
And more, please.
Cheers
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
BTW, what is the status of the mouse and trackpad, and are you able to launch a virtual keyboard?
Richard, are you dualbooting with Windows, or are you just running Ubuntu?
What are you using currently to log in to this site and send us messages.
It is better to tell us too much, than not enough
Wizard
What are you using currently to log in to this site and send us messages.
It is better to tell us too much, than not enough
Wizard
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
I'm using Ubuntu20.04 only. The on screen keyboard to log in.
I'm using Ubuntu 20.04 only & the on screen keyboard to log in.Richard, are you dualbooting with Windows, or are you just running Ubuntu?
What are you using currently to log in to this site and send us messages.
It is better to tell us too much, than not enough
Wizard
OK that's good you've given us that.
So I'll list a few things and you correct me if I am mistaken, significantly, in any of them, won't you?
1. You have an Acer Aspire E15, a fairly moden laptop, and its specs will look something like this:
That will be UEFI-based, rather than BIOS-MBR. May have had Windows 10 on it originally.
2. Being that you have only Ubuntu on it, you likely do not have a Grub Menu at startup. Have you seen a Grub Menu before? It will likely look something like this
...
SCREENSHOT 1 - BASIC UBUNTU GRUB MENU
By default that will be invisible to you, but at an appropriate time we may want to access that.
Referring to the first of the links Old Tom provided above, which was
https://techtips.easycloudsolutions...fix-keyboard-not-working-after-ubuntu-update/
... it said, in part
That is not entirely correct.
You use the Shift key with BIOS-MBR based computers.
With a UEFI computer, try the Esc (Escape) key.
3. You have said you can use the onboard screen keyboard, both at login and on the desktop. We can make use of that to have you type in a couple of commands at Terminal and provide us the output.
Your trackpad, also, does not work (did it before?) but you have a working mouse.
The updates you performed likely included an update to the Linux kernel, and we can verify that if need be.
We want to either eliminate or include the possibility that the newer kernel has dropped support for your keyboard, although if the laptop is fairly modern, that is unlikely. If the kernel change is not responsible, then we have to look at the possibility of other software update/s having caused the problem, and take appropriate action.
What I would like you to do for your next Post is to issue the following command from Terminal and provide us the output. Any comments I make between commands will be prefaced with a hash.
Mine, on Ubuntu 20.04 look like this
So, again from that 1st link Old Tom posted, at step 5 is a similar position I need you to be in to perform this task - unlike the picture, you can just modify your Terminal window to make it totally visible above the keyboard.
SHOT 2 - Terminal in view, and virtual keyboard, to provide output
If you have your Browser (Firefox or other) open and logged in at the time to here, you can use your mouse and drag it over the text to highlight, then right-click and choose Copy, and then paste it into your linux.org reply pane.
If you can do that, we can go on with more steps.
Cheers
Wizard
So I'll list a few things and you correct me if I am mistaken, significantly, in any of them, won't you?
1. You have an Acer Aspire E15, a fairly moden laptop, and its specs will look something like this:
That will be UEFI-based, rather than BIOS-MBR. May have had Windows 10 on it originally.
2. Being that you have only Ubuntu on it, you likely do not have a Grub Menu at startup. Have you seen a Grub Menu before? It will likely look something like this
...
SCREENSHOT 1 - BASIC UBUNTU GRUB MENU
By default that will be invisible to you, but at an appropriate time we may want to access that.
Referring to the first of the links Old Tom provided above, which was
https://techtips.easycloudsolutions...fix-keyboard-not-working-after-ubuntu-update/
... it said, in part
That is not entirely correct.
You use the Shift key with BIOS-MBR based computers.
With a UEFI computer, try the Esc (Escape) key.
3. You have said you can use the onboard screen keyboard, both at login and on the desktop. We can make use of that to have you type in a couple of commands at Terminal and provide us the output.
Your trackpad, also, does not work (did it before?) but you have a working mouse.
The updates you performed likely included an update to the Linux kernel, and we can verify that if need be.
We want to either eliminate or include the possibility that the newer kernel has dropped support for your keyboard, although if the laptop is fairly modern, that is unlikely. If the kernel change is not responsible, then we have to look at the possibility of other software update/s having caused the problem, and take appropriate action.
What I would like you to do for your next Post is to issue the following command from Terminal and provide us the output. Any comments I make between commands will be prefaced with a hash.
Code:
uname -mrs
# and then followed with
ls /boot
# that's a lowercase L, ls is like "list the contents of"Mine, on Ubuntu 20.04 look like this
Code:
chris@FocalGNOME-SSD:~$ uname -mrs
Linux 5.4.0-45-generic x86_64
# and
chris@FocalGNOME-SSD:~$ ls /boot
config-5.4.0-42-generic memtest86+.elf
config-5.4.0-45-generic memtest86+_multiboot.bin
efi System.map-5.4.0-42-generic
grub System.map-5.4.0-45-generic
initrd.img vmlinuz
initrd.img-5.4.0-42-generic vmlinuz-5.4.0-42-generic
initrd.img-5.4.0-45-generic vmlinuz-5.4.0-45-generic
initrd.img.old vmlinuz.old
memtest86+.binSo, again from that 1st link Old Tom posted, at step 5 is a similar position I need you to be in to perform this task - unlike the picture, you can just modify your Terminal window to make it totally visible above the keyboard.
SHOT 2 - Terminal in view, and virtual keyboard, to provide output
If you have your Browser (Firefox or other) open and logged in at the time to here, you can use your mouse and drag it over the text to highlight, then right-click and choose Copy, and then paste it into your linux.org reply pane.
If you can do that, we can go on with more steps.
Cheers
Wizard
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
as per the 1st. post /8GB DDR3,pentiumN3530(quad core) @ 2.16GHz,251 GB SSD Ubuntu 20.04.The laptop is 8 - 10 yrs. old had originally Windows 8.1. In terminal I tried step 5 & entered the install xserver etc. to no avail. I use the keyboard from my desktop entered esc key & got into GRUB menu for case 5 to add /bin/bash & again to no avail. What next?
Last edited:
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
Any more suggestions in solving my keyboard problem?
Have you tried to revert back to a kernel which did work before the update?
Do you have a few old kernels lying around not doing much?
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
Don't know how to revert back to the previous kernel. Can you help?
This is the screen shot after Old Tom's case 2. This still doesn't cure my keyboard issue. Any more suggestions or fixes?
file:
Last edited:
Richard
1. Are you able to access your BIOS setup at startup (usually pressing F2 or F12 etc.) and does the keyboard work within that environment? And does it allow for a mouse to be operated within it?
2. Do you still have the USB stick or DVD you used to install Ubuntu, and if not, can you generate one on another computer?
3. Do you have a lot of personal data, in particular, irreplaceable data, in your Home folder or Partition?
If you can answer those 3 questions to the fullest extent, that would be useful.
I am thinking the best option might be for a reinstall, then install Timeshift and take a snapshot, and then work through those updates to identify any culprit.
Cheers
Wizard
1. Are you able to access your BIOS setup at startup (usually pressing F2 or F12 etc.) and does the keyboard work within that environment? And does it allow for a mouse to be operated within it?
2. Do you still have the USB stick or DVD you used to install Ubuntu, and if not, can you generate one on another computer?
3. Do you have a lot of personal data, in particular, irreplaceable data, in your Home folder or Partition?
If you can answer those 3 questions to the fullest extent, that would be useful.
I am thinking the best option might be for a reinstall, then install Timeshift and take a snapshot, and then work through those updates to identify any culprit.
Cheers
Wizard
Without a working keyboard at boot the problem becomes a little more involved.
Usually one would use the 'down' arrow key at the Grub boot menu to select a previous kernel but with no working keyboard that is not an option.
Therefore, if you have a working 'onscreen' keyboard after booting up then I think the solution will be to edit the Grub configuration. There are a number of tutorials outlining how to do this so I will forego repeating it here. Following are some links to check out and read.
One option which 'may' work would be to uninstall the newest kernel utilizing the Synaptic Package Manager and then running update-grub. I have not tried this myself and cannot confirm if it would be successful.
Another option which may be easier than manually configuring the Grub config is to install "Grub Customizer". Some people frown on the use of it but it may be the easiest solution to roll back to an earlier kernel. https://launchpad.net/grub-customizer
Be aware that editing the Grub config incorrectly can result in a failure to boot!
Here are some links which may be helpful:
How do I roll-back to a previous Ubuntu kernel? (running Ubuntu 16.04)
I have a VPS server with a hosting company that I have ssh/root access. I recently tried to upgrade the kernel to the latest (4.18.5-041805-generic). I was running 4.4.0-169 and thought it was time...
unix.stackexchange.com
How to roll back the kernel version on Ubuntu
Sometimes after updating the kernel of the system, some important services start to work incorrectly and in order not to look for a problem on the combat server, and to do it for example later on t…
ixnfo.com
How do I change the GRUB boot order?
I have both Windows 7 and Ubuntu installed on a shared machine. Because a lot of the non-developers use Windows, I'd like to change the boot order to make it easier for them. Currently the boot or...
askubuntu.com
How can I boot with an older kernel version?
The latest kernel is causing problems with my sound, which worked fine with an older version. As I have only Ubuntu installed, Grub is not getting displayed while booting. How can I manually choose...
askubuntu.com
P.S. Make sure you have backups of your data!
P.P.S. If you boot from your installation USB or disc which should be utilizing an older kernel does the keyboard work?
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
The answer to question 1 is the keyboard but not the mouse work in BIOS environment, I do have a USB stick with ubunto 18.04 ( upgraded from that to 20.04 ) & any important files are on a flash drive.
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
I looked at reverting back to previous kernel but that is way to much for a newbie like me with limited computer skills.Without a working keyboard at boot the problem becomes a little more involved.
Usually one would use the 'down' arrow key at the Grub boot menu to select a previous kernel but with no working keyboard that is not an option.
Therefore, if you have a working 'onscreen' keyboard after booting up then I think the solution will be to edit the Grub configuration. There are a number of tutorials outlining how to do this so I will forego repeating it here. Following are some links to check out and read.
One option which 'may' work would be to uninstall the newest kernel utilizing the Synaptic Package Manager and then running update-grub. I have not tried this myself and cannot confirm if it would be successful.
Another option which may be easier than manually configuring the Grub config is to install "Grub Customizer". Some people frown on the use of it but it may be the easiest solution to roll back to an earlier kernel. https://launchpad.net/grub-customizer
Be aware that editing the Grub config incorrectly can result in a failure to boot!
Here are some links which may be helpful:
How do I roll-back to a previous Ubuntu kernel? (running Ubuntu 16.04)
I have a VPS server with a hosting company that I have ssh/root access. I recently tried to upgrade the kernel to the latest (4.18.5-041805-generic). I was running 4.4.0-169 and thought it was time...How to roll back the kernel version on Ubuntu
Sometimes after updating the kernel of the system, some important services start to work incorrectly and in order not to look for a problem on the combat server, and to do it for example later on t…How do I change the GRUB boot order?
I have both Windows 7 and Ubuntu installed on a shared machine. Because a lot of the non-developers use Windows, I'd like to change the boot order to make it easier for them. Currently the boot or...How can I boot with an older kernel version?
The latest kernel is causing problems with my sound, which worked fine with an older version. As I have only Ubuntu installed, Grub is not getting displayed while booting. How can I manually choose...
P.S. Make sure you have backups of your data!
P.P.S. If you boot from your installation USB or disc which should be utilizing an older kernel does the keyboard work?
In your original post you say "After updating my ubuntu 20.04" - does that mean you had Ubuntu 20.04 installed and running fine, everything worked, and then after an update the keyboard stopped working?
I ask because sometimes people confuse "upgrading" with "updating".
Well, if the keyboard worked during the Grub menu screen it would have been 'easy-peasy'
I think perhaps the easiest solution may therefore be to re-install Ubuntu.
Do you know if the Ubuntu 20.04 on that stick works well for you?
OP
Richard Pearce
New Member
I upgraded for 18.04 to 20.04 6 mos. ago & had many updates since but the last update caused my keyboard & touch pad to stop working.In your original post you say "After updating my ubuntu 20.04" - does that mean you had Ubuntu 20.04 installed and running fine, everything worked, and then after an update the keyboard stopped working?
I ask because sometimes people confuse "upgrading" with "updating".
Well, if the keyboard worked during the Grub menu screen it would have been 'easy-peasy'
I think perhaps the easiest solution may therefore be to re-install Ubuntu.
Do you know if the Ubuntu 20.04 on that stick works well for you?
