Arch Linux

liamki

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 9

Macbook keyboard problems

I managed to get Arch installed on my Macbook this morning, as well as xorg and gnome. I was following the guide, which said that if I had xorg x.x and kernel x.x then I wouldn't need extra configuration for my keyboard and trackpad to work. I followed through the guide, installed everything and gdm, added gdm, hal and fam (I think) to the startup daemons in rc.conf.

Now when I boot, I cannot use my keyboard at all, so I can't change to a virtual console to try and fix it from there. I've tried another usb keyboard as well, but no luck. Is there any way of disabling the startup daemons so I can go through the additional steps in the wiki? I'm sure it'll be something painfully obvious.

Thanks

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

Add "1" or "3" to your kernel line in grub.

liamki

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 9

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

Worked fine. Thank you!

liamki

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 9

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

Ok, I've now been fiddling with xorg.conf according to other forums etc, but still no luck getting the keyboard working. It works fine in a virtual console, but as soon as I launch GDM it won't register any keys.

As the text scrolls past saying which modules have been loaded, it says FAIL on Hardware Abstraction Layer or something like that. Is this anything to do with it?

According to the wiki, I should be home free by now

Apologies for my noobishness.

Last edited by liamki (2009-02-13 18:40:30)

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … otplugging

HAL needs to be working for it to work. Try running "hald" in console, maybe you'll see some hints.

liamki

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 9

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

If I run hald it returns as if nothing happened. Presumably it just launched fine? Hal is in my daemons list, will this have an effect?

Thanks again

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

If hal is running, "ps ax | grep hald" should return "/usr/bin/hald". Running "/etc/rc.d/hal restart" should show [DONE].

liamki

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 9

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

Here is the ouput from ps ax | grep hald:

2351 tty1   S+   0:00 grep hald

And from /etc/rc.d/hal restart:

Stopping Hardware Abstraction Layer                                              [FAIL]
Starting D-BUS system messagebus                                               [BUSY]
Failed to start message bus: Could not get UID and GID for username "dbus"
                                                                                                   [FAIL]
Starting Hardware Abstraction Layer                                               [FAIL]

I'm really lost now...

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

Hal needs dbus to work, so that's what you need to get to work. It seems the user dbus doesn't exist, perhaps try "pacman -Rd dbus; pacman -S dbus".

liamki

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 9

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

Still not working. I assume adding a user in the way I would add a standard user wouldn't work?
And, as a side note, Starting Network hangs for a long time at boot now.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

What does "grep dbus /etc/passwd" return?

Do you use dhcp or static ip configuration? What do you mean by "now" - since when does it take a long time ?

Is your system fully up-to-date?

liamki

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 9

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

Just a quick update as I haven't been able to get onto the site for a while. I now have a GUI, gnome is running fine and at the correct resolution. However, my network connection no longer works, although it did before I launched X. Also, if I attempt to launch a terminal, it will say 'loading root terminal' then disappear. I can't access any of the virtual consoles either. Sorry about pestering you with all these questions.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Macbook keyboard problems

How do you start your network connection? How is it configured? How is it set up physically?

How do you start X? How have you configured it?

Do you have your hostname in /etc/hosts?