Arch Linux

TheCreeL

Member

Registered: 2011-08-23

Posts: 30

[console] Backspace just adds a white rectangle

I just recently finished a fresh install, haven't got any desktop or window manger yet. Just a plain console.

The problem in short is: if i hit backspace, escape, tab or ctrl+any other key it just adds a space or a white rectangle ( depends on the font used )
Haven't tried any other combination yet, but other keys seems to work just fine.

last changes were: a sudoers change that allowed my user to use power commands ( reboot, halt, shutdown, etc ) without needing the password everytime and the PS1 of the root and my user.
The sudoers change went well, and visudo checked and updated the file flawlessly.

What is going on? I really have no clue.
I searched through the forum and bash wiki page but no luck.

I'm practically locked out of my pc. And can't edit back my files ( i use nano and once i start editing i can't save or exit, i have shutdown the hard way ).
Should i wipe everything and start over?

Last edited by TheCreeL (2015-05-11 11:24:24)

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,564

Website

Re: [console] Backspace just adds a white rectangle

Is there anything interesting about the hardware?  Specifically, is this a qwerty keyboard, or another variant, or is it a mac/macbook keyboard?  Is your locale other than a variety of en_US/en_GB where other layouts would be used?

Also, if you log in as root, do you have the same issue?

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"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: [console] Backspace just adds a white rectangle

and the PS1 of the root and my user...

I'd start with this.

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Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

TheCreeL

Member

Registered: 2011-08-23

Posts: 30

Re: [console] Backspace just adds a white rectangle

My keyboard is a qwerty, and the locale is right. All the characters match exept those i said.
Also logging in as root is useless, this problem occurs already when typing the login name.

I also noticed that as soon as the start up message comes up  ( the "Arch Linux 4.01-1-ARCH (tty1) <hostname> login: " ) the screen refreshes and it loses the font i set in vconsole.conf.
Also the message [3.164862] kvm: disabled by bios stick to the screen ( sometimes just after the column after "login".

Could this be related?

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: [console] Backspace just adds a white rectangle

and the PS1 of the root and my user...

I'd start with this.

TheCreeL,

I didn't notice you mention anything about this. Do you have a custom prompt? A malformed prompt can easily create the issues that you're having.

TheCreeL

Member

Registered: 2011-08-23

Posts: 30

Re: [console] Backspace just adds a white rectangle

Since i can't use nano or vim to edit the files ( the ctrl keybindings from nano and the escape needed for vim to exit insert mode are useless at the moment ) i tried moving the files .bashrc and /etc/bash.bashrc to a _backup copy.

After reboot the prompt went to the default bash-4.3$, but the problem still remains

EDIT: I also tried to chroot to the system via the live USB and change the files back to the original, i commented the added lines to /etc/sudoers, /etc/bash.bashrc and .bashrc but still nothing.
The strange thing is that while in live USB even if i chrooted in the system the problem was gone.

Last edited by TheCreeL (2015-05-11 10:20:32)