[SOLVED] No keyboard on old LG LW40 laptop

archlenovo · 2014-05-11 08:35:40

I have an old LG LW40 laptop which was running just fine with an older kernel version (Debian). However, if I try to install other distros (Arch, Ubuntu, etc.) with more recent kernels (say, 3.13 or 3.14), I can't get the keyboard to work.

I'm aware that support for PS/2 keyboards is now modular (https://www.archlinux.org/news/linux-31 … w-modular/). When booting with the Arch CD (2014.05.01) the modules i8042 and atkbd are loaded, so that does not seem to be the problem.

Here is the output of lsmod right after booting with the Arch CD (and with an external USB keyboard plugged in, so I can actually run lsmod)

Module                  Size  Used by
6lowpan_iphc            9728  1 bluetooth
ac                      2646  0 
acpi_cpufreq            8618  0 
agpgart                22043  3 drm,intel_agp,intel_gtt
ahci                   20527  0 
ata_generic             2402  0 
ata_piix               21019  1 
atkbd                  14582  0 
battery                 6197  0 
bluetooth             302791  2 btusb
btusb                  17284  0 
button                  3525  1 i915
cdrom                  29868  1 sr_mod
cfg80211              364657  2 libipw,ipw2200
crc16                   1091  2 ext4,bluetooth
crc_ccitt               1095  1 irda
crc_itu_t               1095  1 firewire_core
crc_t10dif               719  1 sd_mod
crct10dif_common        1104  1 crc_t10dif
dm_bufio               12327  1 dm_snapshot
dm_mod                 73031  4 dm_bufio,dm_snapshot
dm_snapshot            27128  2 
drm                   192290  2 i915,drm_kms_helper
drm_kms_helper         31572  1 i915
ehci_hcd               56939  1 ehci_pci
ehci_pci                3212  0 
evdev                   8560  5 
ext4                  434862  2 
fan                     2133  0 
firewire_core          44720  1 firewire_ohci
firewire_ohci          27494  0 
fscache                42837  1 nfs
hid                    72366  2 hid_generic,usbhid
hid_generic              749  0 
i2c_algo_bit            4583  1 i915
i2c_core               21986  5 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit
i2c_i801                9905  0 
i8042                  11078  1 libps2
i915                  662776  1 
intel_agp               8620  0 
intel_gtt              10076  3 i915,intel_agp
ipw2200               127597  0 
irda                   88855  0 
isofs                  28352  1 
iTCO_vendor_support     1545  1 iTCO_wdt
iTCO_wdt                4471  0 
jbd2                   70413  1 ext4
joydev                  7339  0 
led_class               2667  1 sdhci
lib80211                3037  2 libipw,ipw2200
libahci                18192  1 ahci
libata                149667  5 ahci,pata_acpi,libahci,ata_generic,ata_piix
libipw                 22298  1 ipw2200
libps2                  3423  2 atkbd,psmouse
lockd                  66056  1 nfs
loop                   15179  6 
lpc_ich                11652  0 
mac_hid                 2529  0 
mbcache                 4458  1 ext4
microcode              11817  0 
mmc_core               86802  3 sdhci,tifm_sd,sdhci_pci
mousedev                8588  0 
nfs                   166009  0 
parport                25369  2 ppdev,parport_pc
parport_pc             16547  0 
pata_acpi               2367  0 
pcmcia                 40285  0 
pcmcia_core            11924  3 pcmcia,pcmcia_rsrc,yenta_socket
pcmcia_rsrc             9064  1 yenta_socket
pcspkr                  1487  0 
ppdev                   6030  0 
processor              21577  2 acpi_cpufreq
psmouse                89001  0 
rfkill                 12675  2 cfg80211,bluetooth
rng_core                2824  0 
scsi_mod              113687  4 usb_storage,libata,sd_mod,sr_mod
sdhci                  25576  1 sdhci_pci
sdhci_pci              10071  0 
sd_mod                 33502  2 
serio                   8285  9 serio_raw,atkbd,i8042,psmouse
serio_raw               3937  0 
shpchp                 22037  0 
sky2                   43569  0 
snd                    44583  8 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec          85688  4 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec_generic    46167  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_codec_realtek    40409  1 
snd_hda_codec_si3054     2898  1 
snd_hda_intel          32055  0 
snd_hwdep               4778  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                65796  3 snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              15006  1 snd_pcm
soundcore               4354  1 snd
squashfs               35235  1 
sr_mod                 13087  1 
sunrpc                200155  2 nfs,lockd
thermal                 7080  0 
tifm_7xx1               4189  0 
tifm_core               3897  2 tifm_7xx1,tifm_sd
tifm_sd                 8996  0 
uhci_hcd               29968  0 
usb_common              1600  1 usbcore
usbcore               156218  6 btusb,uhci_hcd,usb_storage,ehci_hcd,ehci_pci,usbhid
usbhid                 35824  0 
usb_storage            38071  1 
video                  10300  1 i915
wmi                     7067  0 
yenta_socket           30044  0

Everything seems to be there: atkbd, ehci_pci, ehci_hcd, hid, hid_generic, i8042, uhci_hcd.

Even if I try to load (i.e. modprobe) some additional stuff -- such as ohci_pci, ohci_hcd -- the keyboard is still dead (but it works on the boot menu, just before the kernel kicks in)

What am I missing here?

Last edited by archlenovo (2014-05-19 21:34:23)

Xaero252 · 2014-05-11 09:15:11

If you hold down the Fn key are you able to type with it?

archlenovo · 2014-05-11 11:00:04

Just tried using the Fn key as well as several other key combinations with Ctrl, Alt, Super, function keys, etc., but nothing works.

karol · 2014-05-11 11:06:23

archlenovo, please edit your post.
When posting configs, code or command output, please use [ code ] tags https://bbs.archlinux.org/help.php#bbcode

like this

It makes the code more readable and - in case of longer listings - more convenient to scroll through.

archlenovo · 2014-05-11 11:20:44

Done. Sorry for that.

I'm still looking forward to solve this keyboard issue...

Last edited by archlenovo (2014-05-11 12:45:16)

archlenovo · 2014-05-19 21:32:32

Eventually, after googling for hours I was able to find the solution in these other threads:

Basically, the following parameters need to be added to the kernel:

i8042.nopnp=1 i8042.dumbkbd=1

(For more info, see Kernel parameters)

In my case, I was trying to do a fresh install of Arch, so in the Arch boot menu I pressed [Tab] (for options), and appended the parameters to the kernel boot line. To my surprise, the keyboard is finally working!

Last edited by archlenovo (2014-05-19 21:47:58)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-05-11 08:35:40

[SOLVED] No keyboard on old LG LW40 laptop

#2 2014-05-11 09:15:11

Re: [SOLVED] No keyboard on old LG LW40 laptop

#3 2014-05-11 11:00:04

Re: [SOLVED] No keyboard on old LG LW40 laptop

#4 2014-05-11 11:06:23

Re: [SOLVED] No keyboard on old LG LW40 laptop

#5 2014-05-11 11:20:44

Re: [SOLVED] No keyboard on old LG LW40 laptop

#6 2014-05-19 21:32:32

Re: [SOLVED] No keyboard on old LG LW40 laptop

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