Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

JPT48 · 2023-10-26 15:11:44

Hi,

I cannot login. It's as simple as that

I just installed archlinux-2023.10.14-x86_64.iso using archinstaller.
mostly standard install (btrfs, kde, non-grub)

It looks as when on GUI login or on console login the keys either do not write anything or a single key writes a garbage string.
This does not happen on screen lock.

thanks

JPT

wayland 1.22.0-1
kde versions 5.111.0-1, 5.27.9-1 not sure which is the "major" version
sddm 0.20.0-2
xorg-server 21.1.9-1
kernel 6.5.9-arch2-1

Last edited by JPT48 (2023-11-01 15:03:52)

twelveeighty · 2023-10-26 16:17:06

Please do not paraphrase error messages, provide the *exact* error you observed about systemd-logind.

Since this is a problem with the archinstaller, not with the Supported method, please click the "Report" link and ask a moderator to move your post to the Arch Guided Installer forum.

My advice would be to start over with the install using the Supported link I mentioned, it's pretty much guaranteed to work, as long as you follow those instructions carefully.

JPT48 · 2023-11-01 15:07:21

Could someone have a look into this topic again?

The problem is, that during login at GUI and at console, the (internal) keyboard behaves strange. Sometimes a key does not send anything, sometimes it sends a strange string.

The keyboard works fine when I am logged in. Even the lock screen works fine.
For login I have to insert an external USB keyboard.

How could I hunt down the problem?

thanks

seth · 2023-11-01 15:40:54

localectl

Sometimes a key does not send anything, sometimes it sends a strange string.

1280 wrote:

Please do not paraphrase error messages, provide the *exact* error you observed about systemd-logind.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

JPT48 · 2023-11-02 14:47:34

Most keys work. But some keys either give nothing or the string described below.

the U key does delivers the string "poiurew", which is more or less the qwerty row backwards.
the Z key gives {]yt upper or lower case.
the H key clears the screen, but I also hat other strings. cannot rerpoduce now.
the J key gives \;lkjfd

the keyboard layout seems to be US, which is not unexpected.

Xorg.log
https://pastebin.com/dxax3kXM

Journal
https://pastebin.com/er85EPcf

dmesg
https://pastebin.com/sTHccBMB

Tell me if you need something specific.

I just realized after logout everything is fine.
so it looks like an initialization issue?

thanks

seth · 2023-11-02 15:14:43

The symptoms sound more like a HW issue than anything else and you're running SDDM on X11 and then log into plasma on wayland (and the issue exists on the console as well) - if you don't attach an external keyboard and just wildly type around a bit, does the input normalize after a while?

JPT48 · 2023-11-06 11:11:52

seth wrote:

The symptoms sound more like a HW issue than anything else and you're running SDDM on X11 and then log into plasma on wayland (and the issue exists on the console as well) - if you don't attach an external keyboard and just wildly type around a bit, does the input normalize after a while?

This was my first thought too, but I spent a lot of time figuring out the content the keys send.
And the issue vanishes exactly on first login. Not before and not after.

Should I try another login manager? which?

seth · 2023-11-06 11:40:42

If the issue exists even w/o any DM it's rather not relevant.
Does the problem also (only) go away the first time you log into a console (from agetty)?

But a single key firing an entire sequence, let alone on the same row AND the problem being limited to a single device, is very specifically odd.

Your gui session might configure model and layout, but that's typically not per-device and certainly doesn't explain sequences of input.

Are you using some IM like fcitx?
(But that would not affect the console)

Arch Linux

#1 2023-10-26 15:11:44

Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

#2 2023-10-26 16:17:06

Re: Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

#3 2023-11-01 15:07:21

Re: Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

#4 2023-11-01 15:40:54

Re: Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

#5 2023-11-02 14:47:34

Re: Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

#6 2023-11-02 15:14:43

Re: Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

#7 2023-11-06 11:11:52

Re: Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

#8 2023-11-06 11:40:42

Re: Cannot login after install because keys deliver strange strings

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