Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

DoctorSelar · 2014-01-13 14:33:06

Hello,
I recently installed Arch on a Panasonic Toughbook. I had everything working fine. However, I updated the laptop yesterday and when I turned it on this morning I was unable to type my password into SLiM. I tried using Ctrl+Alt+Fx to switch terminals to no avail. I rebooted into an Arch USB and disabled SLiM. I restarted and ran startxfce4, where I encountered the same problem. As well, I discovered that the touchpad wasn't working either. I tried plugging in a USB mouse but it still didn't work. I looked through pacman's log, and the only packages that updated that related to X were linux and linux-firmware. I ran mkinitcpio -p linux again and it came up with no errors. What would be causing this problem?

EDIT: I downgraded linux and linux-firmware to their previous versions and everything was fixed. Does anyone know if there is a bug that would cause this? I want to know why this happened.

Last edited by DoctorSelar (2014-01-13 14:58:27)

hydn · 2014-01-15 04:36:32

Same here. I just did pacman -Syu > rebooted > now keyboard and mouse no longer work.

Also there a strange looking flash of video just when kde4 is starting up.

How were you able to downgrade?

Last edited by hydn (2014-01-15 04:37:32)

WonderWoofy · 2014-01-15 04:46:11

hydn wrote:

How were you able to downgrade?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Downgrade

hydn · 2014-01-15 05:10:39

was curious if he downgraded everything or a specific package. I should have been more clear.

Last edited by hydn (2014-01-15 05:11:14)

hydn · 2014-01-15 05:34:05

In my case I'm getting systemctl status

returns:
systemd-modules-load failed

systemctl status systemd-modules-load

returns:
"Failed to start Load Kernel Modules"

I have no network interfaces.

WonderWoofy · 2014-01-15 05:44:49

Your keyboard and mouse don't work and you don't have network interfaces. So how is it that yuo are able to use systemctl?

Do you have a separate /boot? Is the running kernel the same as the pacman installed kernel?

hydn · 2014-01-15 05:50:23

Like OP the frozen keyboard and mouse only happens in Slim (in my case both slim and Kde4)

Originally I had slim with auto login to kde4 (got tired of typing password a few months back). After pacman -Syu and reboot the mouse and keyboard didn't work as described by OP. So I disabled the auto login (used Arch Linux on USB and mounted drive to make changed). After reboot it goes to slim but slim also had no mouse or keyboard function so I used recovery and disabled slim completely so now the laptop boots to command line. This is why I am currently on that laptop and where I've been typing commands. Posting here form alternate pc.

btw. Manually, starting kde4 or slim from command line causes keyboard and mouse to stop working.

Last edited by hydn (2014-01-15 05:51:51)

hydn · 2014-01-15 06:25:38

pacman -Q

returns:
3.12.7-2

uname -a

returns:
3.12.6-1

WonderWoofy · 2014-01-15 06:51:40

There's your problem. Your bootloader is not actually booting the right kernel. Either it didn't get written to /boot or if /boot is a seperate partition, then it might not have been mounted when the update occurred.

hydn · 2014-01-15 07:12:44

Yes thanks figured that as well. What about fixing though?

can this be fixed with mkinitcpio?

DoctorSelar · 2014-01-15 13:41:08

I did downgrade to linux-3.12.6-1, which fixed my problem. When I updated to linux-3.12.7-2 (very warily), my problem was fixed. hydn, if your /boot is on a different partition, you need to mount that partition to /boot, then run mkinitcpio. For me, I have to run:

# mount /dev/sda1 /boot
# mkinitcpio -p linux
# umount /boot

every time Linux is updated. Otherwise, your bootloader will not have access to the new kernel.

Last edited by DoctorSelar (2014-01-15 13:44:36)

hydn · 2014-01-15 23:24:36

Thanks @DoctorSelar.

Lastnight using USB stick I did try:
# mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/arch
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/arch/boot

Then did:
# arch-chroot /mnt/arch
# mkinitcpio -p linux

...which failed so I hardcored the directory for mkinitcpio to 3.12.7* and it was sucessful but didn't boot, says kenel not found.

I have a project deadline so this morning I installed Manjaro (impressive). I'll be upgrading my laptop x301 to the x1 Carbon soon at which point I'll might setup arch + Kde4 or Arch + xfce on that.

Thanks for following up!

Last edited by hydn (2014-01-15 23:27:37)

DoctorSelar · 2014-01-16 01:45:46

hydn, if you're unable to get past your login manager, I would recommend just doing:

# mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/arch
# arch-chroot /mnt/arch
# systemctl disable name of display manager (ie slim or gdm)

through the USB. That way, you can update linux and run mkinitcpio through your computer, not the usb. You likely did not update linux to linux-3.12.7-2, which is why the kernel could not be found. To fix my laptop, I did:

Through USB:

# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
# arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
# systemctl disable slim
# exit
# shutdown now

Then through Arch:

# pacman -Syu
# mount /dev/sda1 /boot
# mkinitcpio -p linux

Also, I know that I'm going to disable my display manager before updating linux again, just in case something similar happens. That removes the need for the USB, at least for this problem.

hydn · 2014-01-16 01:48:20

Thats what i mentioned in previous posts above. I already disabled slim & KDE4 via chroot. I'm using Manjaro Arch for now till I have the time as I really like to customize and not just slap packages on after new intall.

thanks though!

Last edited by hydn (2014-01-20 00:07:54)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-01-13 14:33:06

Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#2 2014-01-15 04:36:32

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#3 2014-01-15 04:46:11

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#4 2014-01-15 05:10:39

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#5 2014-01-15 05:34:05

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#6 2014-01-15 05:44:49

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#7 2014-01-15 05:50:23

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#8 2014-01-15 06:25:38

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#9 2014-01-15 06:51:40

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#10 2014-01-15 07:12:44

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#11 2014-01-15 13:41:08

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#12 2014-01-15 23:24:36

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#13 2014-01-16 01:45:46

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

#14 2014-01-16 01:48:20

Re: Mouse, keyboard, and touchpad not working in X

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