Keyboard Lost!

[cgalli]

Hello

I have Suse 10.0 with Gnome running on a PC. All worked fine, but suddenly the keyboard stopped working under the graphical interface. The mouse is ok, but the keyboard is dead. It works under windows (at this moment) and also when choosing the OS in Grub. As soon as the GUI is on, the computer does not respond to it anymore! The only thing that works it CTRL-C, then the char based scrren is quickly shown and I can type. But it disappears after a few secs.

The stupid thing is that I am closed out of my Linux, because I cannot input my password to restart it after it ent to sleep.

Any idea what could have happened? And how to correct it?

Thanks for the help

[DavidMD]

Greetings, cgalli.Hello

I have Suse 10.0 with Gnome running on a PC. All worked fine, but suddenly the keyboard stopped working under the graphical interface. The mouse is ok, but the keyboard is dead. It works under windows (at this moment) and also when choosing the OS in Grub. As soon as the GUI is on, the computer does not respond to it anymore! The only thing that works it CTRL-C, then the char based scrren is quickly shown and I can type. But it disappears after a few secs.

The stupid thing is that I am closed out of my Linux, because I cannot input my password to restart it after it ent to sleep.

Any idea what could have happened? And how to correct it?

Thanks for the helpI do not know where you are located or what type of keyboard you are using (the language and whether it is USB or PS/2), but if you have a keyboard with a standard number of keys and have access to a very similar one, or the exact same model of keyboard, you could try another keyboard, just to make sure that you do not have a defective keyboard. Of course, if the keyboards are dissimilar in any way, you will just have more problems.

From what you say, however, I doubt that you have a hardware problem -- i.e., a bad keyboard. :confused:

Given the fact that the same keyboard works with Windows and has worked with SuSE Linux, I am not sure what to tell you, unless an X configuration file has become corrupted or accidentally changed.

I am probably overly cautious, but I always use a PS/2 keyboard with Linux. I can still remember the days when Linux had sporadic support for USB mice and keyboards, depending on the distribution.

I realize that I am not being of any help, cgalli, but I would be curious to know if you have a USB keyboard or not.

In addition, does the keyboard have any multimedia keys that you have gotten to work or that do not work with Linux, but do with Windows?

I am sure that someone else will be able to offer you some real help, cgalli. All I can say is that I am sorry that you are in such a frustrating situation.

Finally, when I was running SuSE Linux Professional 8.3, I had a similar problem with my mouse. As soon as the cursor got near the fields so that I could type in my log-in information, the cursor would "jump" to some other part of the screen. I had a three-button PS/2 mouse at the time and it had been working flawlessly with SuSE Linux for months.

I finally decided that something, somehow, had gotten corrupted, and I never was able to resolve the problem. I wish you, however, a successful solution! :)

Cordially,

David

[cgalli]

Hi David

Thanks a lot for the advice.
I have a wireless ps/2 keyboard. And I live in Switzerland.

The problem was really weird, and you are totally locked down without a keyboard.

After posting, I have finally downloaded 10.1. DVD-ISO and then updated my system. No change. So I chose the only solution available apart from replacing every config file one by one.....10.1 is now freshly installed from scratch, and the keyboard works (as I am typing this under Linux).

It was a pretty new install, so the damage is close to nothing.

Thanks again
Christophe

[DavidMD]

Hello, Christophe! :) Hi David

Thanks a lot for the advice.
I have a wireless ps/2 keyboard. And I live in Switzerland.

The problem was really weird, and you are totally locked down without a keyboard.

After posting, I have finally downloaded 10.1. DVD-ISO and then updated my system. No change. So I chose the only solution available apart from replacing every config file one by one.....10.1 is now freshly installed from scratch, and the keyboard works (as I am typing this under Linux).

It was a pretty new install, so the damage is close to nothing.

Thanks again
ChristopheI am glad that you got your keyboard working again, even if you did have to reinstall Linux!

I had a similar problem with the second version of SuSE Linux Professional that I installed several years ago. I cannot recall the precise problem, but I followed everyone's advice here in JustLinux.

Finally, I just did a "clean install" of SuSE Pro and never saw a repetition or hint of the problem.

Apparently, one or more files had gotten corrupted and -- as you point out -- replacing every configuration file, one by one, is just not practical. :rolleyes:

Congratulations, Christophe! I am glad that you are "up and running," again? I am sorry that I could not offer you any real help, but I did want to reply, because I have been in that type of frustrating situation before -- and it feels very lonely and, sometimes, hopeless.

Cordially,

David