On 28-Sep-09 13:15:28, Barry Samuels wrote:
I have just run an update for Debian Testing, the first update for 5 days, and when I start X I have no keyboard and no mouse.
The mouse pointer is displayed but won't move and using the keyboard has no effect including the alt-sysrq combinations and I can't get to a terminal using alt-F(n).
I can run and close an X application remotely using ssh and I can kill the unresponsive X server remotely using ssh. I can also kill individual X applications remotely. It doesn't look as though the system is locked in any way as the clock on the bottom bar (xfce) updates and the cpu load meter also appears to be updating.
I haven't the remotest idea where to start looking for this problem. Could someone please help?
-- Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain
It could be that the upgrade has over-written the /etc/xorg.conf file with one which has keyboard and mouse entries (in the "Input Devices" section) which don't match your hardware -- or even a corrupt file which has no entries for keyboard and mouse.
Or it might be that it has installed a new kernel which does not recognise your hardware.
The fact that it's both keyboard and mouse suggests that it is more probably an X problem than a basic system problem.
Can you use the keyboard in "console" mode? If your system starts X automatically without an explicit command (as is usually the case these days), you can get it into console mode at boot by waiting for the GRUB listing to appear during the boot process, and choosing a "single-user mode" boot option. Then you will eventually get an "enter root password" request, after which you would be in plain console mode (if the boot succeeded).
If that didn't succeed, then it's presumably not reading the password from your keyboard, and if that is the cases then the problem is at kernel level (or even at the BIOS level), since X has not been initiated.
If you are OK in console mode, then it is really likely to be an X problem. If it is coming from xorg.conf, then you should also find "xorg.conf.bak.*" files with previous versions of xorg.conf. Copy your current xorg.conf to something like "xorg.conf.original", and replace it with the most recent xorg.conf.bak file, and see how you get on.
Hoping this helps, and wishing you luck! This one looks tricky. Ted.
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