PS/2 Keyboards Not Responding

Bug #106289 reported by Daynah
14
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux-source-2.6.20 (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

While answering posts on UF, it was noticed that thereare numerous unresolved complaints about PS/2 keyboards. It seems to be that when users boot up a live cd, they lose control of their PS/2 keyboard, which works on other operating systems. Also, using a USB keyboard fixes their computer problems.

The current work around appears to be typing while booting.

Since this is a basic function, and I could not find a bug report, I reported it, though I can't replicate it on my computer (I don't have a PS/2 keyboard).

Some examples of complains on the forums include:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=345627 (Edgy)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2447338 (UNK)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=400005&highlight=ps%2F2+keyboard (UNK)

A similar bug (except with a PS/2 mous) was previously filed in bugzilla here: http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5703 and reportedly fixed. The complains I've found have all been newer than this bugzilla report, so the patch doesn't seem to be helping the users.

Tags: keyboard ps2
Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote :

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Do you know if there are any reports of this issue with Feisty Fawn? Thanks in advance.

Revision history for this message
Daynah (daynah) wrote :

The majority of the posts I found didn't say what distro because the posters were new. Due to being new to linux, I doubt they would have tried a beta, so I'm going to take an educated guess and say no, no one has reported this in feisty.

On the other hand, this has happened in more than one version (edgy and dapper being the only distros I found reported), and I think the related PS/2 mouse bug report goes back further, since it's on bugzilla. Because it's been recurring, I would also guess that it's not going to magically disappear in Feisty.

Thank you for the speedy attention! I'm sure it will be well appreciated!

Revision history for this message
Steffen Schloenvoigt (smilecat) wrote :

I can confirm this for Feisty.
Until yesterday everything went fine with 6.10.
But then I made an dist-upgrade to Feisty (7.04) with the graphical installer.
It seems that everything went fine except from the thing with the ps/2 keyboard.
When I plug in my USB-Keyboard (even at runtime) there is no problem to use it but the ps/2 keyboard remains dead.
This seems not to be related to the x-server because the keyboard dies at boottime when the kernel is loaded.
From this point on I can't even switch num lock on.
No problem to get in the bios before, so it is not a hardware issue.
Tried another PS/2 Keyboard, which lights its leds shortly and is then dead shortly afterwards.
Any workarround for this problem besides the USB-Keyboard?

cu Steffen

Revision history for this message
moose (kluks) wrote :

The same thing happened to me after upgrade (via update-manager) from Edgy to Feisty on AMD64. The keyboard works OK in GRUB menu, but as soon as Ununtu starts booting num lock light turns on and the keyboard stops responding. Typing during boot doesn't help. I can ssh into the machine so please tell me how can I help with solving this bug (logs?, tests?).

Revision history for this message
moose (kluks) wrote :

More info: keyboard works OK under 2.6.17-11-generic from Ubuntu 6.10 so it looks like kernel configuration problem. I noticed the following:

$uname -a
Linux vilya 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 06:17:24 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$cat /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0017 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="Macintosh mouse button emulation"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input0
H: Handlers=mouse0 ts0 event0
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c012 Version=0110
N: Name="Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:02.0-10/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input1
H: Handlers=mouse1 ts1 event1
B: EV=7
B: KEY=f0000 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103

I: Bus=0010 Vendor=001f Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="PC Speaker"
P: Phys=isa0061/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input2
H: Handlers=kbd event2
B: EV=40001
B: SND=6

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0002 Version=0000
N: Name="Power Button (FF)"
P: Phys=ACPI_FPB/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input3
H: Handlers=kbd event3
B: EV=3
B: KEY=10000000000000 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0001 Version=0000
N: Name="Power Button (CM)"
P: Phys=PNP0C0C/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input4
H: Handlers=kbd event4
B: EV=3
B: KEY=10000000000000 0

=============================================

$uname -a
Linux vilya 2.6.17-11-generic #2 SMP Tue Mar 13 22:06:20 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$cat /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input0
H: Handlers=kbd event0
B: EV=120013
B: KEY=402000000 3802078f840d001 f2ffffdfffefffff fffffffffffffffe
B: MSC=10
B: LED=7

I: Bus=0010 Vendor=001f Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="PC Speaker"
P: Phys=isa0061/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input1
H: Handlers=kbd event1
B: EV=40001
B: SND=6

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c012 Version=1300
N: Name="Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:02.0-10/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input2
H: Handlers=mouse0 event2
B: EV=7
B: KEY=f0000 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103

So it looks like Feisty's kernel detects my keyboard as Macintosh mouse, whatever that is.

Revision history for this message
Steffen Schloenvoigt (smilecat) wrote :

Same for me here, my keyboard is also recognized as Macintosh Mouse:

cat /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0017 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="Macintosh mouse button emulation"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input0
H: Handlers=mouse0 event0 ts0
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

Hope that helps.

Revision history for this message
b (ben-ekran) wrote :

I can confirm this also. I upgraded from edgy to feisty yesterday, and the ps/2 keyboard is dead.
The machine is an AMD Duron 800 machine.

It would be great to get this resolved, as I onlt have ps/2 keyboards!!

I verify the keyboard is working fine, as I'm using now on another machine through the KVM.

My proc output is a little different where I get the phantom apple mouse on input0:

I: Bus=0017 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="Macintosh mouse button emulation"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input0
H: Handlers=mouse0 event0 ts0
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

But the kernel also sees some AT keyboard, but it seems to be on the wrong device (input1)

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input1
H: Handlers=kbd event1
B: EV=120013
B: KEY=4 2000000 3802078 f840d001 feffffdf ffefffff ffffffff fffffffe
B: MSC=10
B: LED=7

I figure the Phys and sysfs should at least match the same input#.

I thought it would be safe to upgrade that ol machine, maybe 6 months is too frequent. ;)

Let me know if there is any more info I could provide.

Revision history for this message
wna (me-jansteffan) wrote :

Booting the kernel with parameter acpi=off resolved the problem for me.

I had exactly the same problem as described above: Keyboard worked fine with Edgy. After an upgrade to Feisty the keyboard worked in Grub, but neither on the console nor in X.

I noticed that in /proc/bus/input/devices veraious power and sleep buttons are listed with the kbd driver as handler. Maybe I should add, that my motherboard is rather old and doesn't support ACPI properly.

This workaround may resolve similar problems with PS/2 mice, too (e.g. bug 108382).

Revision history for this message
wna (me-jansteffan) wrote :

BTW: I don't think this bug is related to "Macintosh mouse button emulation" as suggested some posts above. Googling for this phrase brings up lots of dmesg output indicating that thsi device is detected frequently with recent kernels. Hower, no keyboard problems are reported in the same context.

On my machine "Macintosh mouse button emulation" still shows up, but the keyboard now works with "acpi=off".

Revision history for this message
b (ben-ekran) wrote :

Thanks, where do I add the kernel paramter?

In /boot/grub/menu.lst:

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=9f952ca3-ffa6-4adb-903a-5399619f1630 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
savedefault

like so?

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=9f952ca3-ffa6-4adb-903a-5399619f1630 ro quiet splash acpi=off
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
savedefault

Revision history for this message
bucket (fscdm) wrote :

Happened to me with ff workstation version on boot, AMD 64 single processor.

In bios, disabled USB keyboard/mouse support. That did it for me.

Revision history for this message
moose (kluks) wrote :

For me nothing seems to help. Neither disabling USB keyboard in BIOS nor passing acpi=off to the kernel. More info on my hardware: Gigabyte K8-NMF motherboard (nForce4) and Logitech PS/2 Internet Keyboard.

Revision history for this message
moose (kluks) wrote :

OK, so it seems that my previous comment was posted too fast. Disabling USB mouse in BIOS *does* help. I have two separate options "USB mouse support" and "USB keyboard support". Disabling both of them gives me working keyboard (PS/2) and mouse (USB).

Revision history for this message
Robert Entner (robertentner) wrote :

The same problem on an Athlon 1600+ with KT-133A chipset. Specifying acpi=off solved the issue.

Revision history for this message
cnawan (cnawan) wrote :

I thought my fiances new keyboard had the same problem as it wouldn't work in grub but was fine when it booted into ubuntu feisty. However, it turned out it was plugged into the ps2 mouse port :P
Let that be a lesson to you, remember the OSI Model and check the Physical Layer first. :)

Revision history for this message
Bill.Costa (bill-costa-unh) wrote :

Same problem with Dell Precision 380. I have an old, expensive ergonomic keyboard that uses PS/2. The system's own setup menus and GRUB loader have no problem seeing this keyboard, but as soon as Feisty Fawn starts up, nada. I tried the "acpi=off" trick even though the keyboard doesn't have any power management buttons; I didn't expect it to work and it didn't. I don't know how to disable USB keyboard support in the BIOS so didn't try that. Of course no problem using a USB keyboard.

I tested a PS/2 to USB adapter and it seems to work OK, so I have ordered one for myself. But it does seem like a pretty serious omission not to support PS/2. The joy of distros like Ubuntu is having them run nicely on older hardware, extending their useful life considerably.

Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote :

Bill.Costa - Could you please submit a new bug report and assign it to me brian-murray. Then we can work on gathering the proper information and getting that resolved. Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Bill.Costa (bill-costa-unh) wrote : Re: [Bug 106289] Re: PS/2 Keyboards Not Responding

Brian,

      You recently wrote to me, in part...

> Could you please submit a new bug report and assign it to
> me brian-murray.

      Done and done.

         #122466

      Let me know what you want me to do at my end to help track
      this down. I'm not afraid of the command line or being
      logged in as root, so just let me know what you need.

                                                     ...BC

--
+-------------------------[ <email address hidden> ]---+
| Bill Costa | No good
| 1 Leavitt Lane Voice: | deed...
| CIS/Telecom -- 2nd Floor +1-603-862-3056 |
| University of New Hampshire | Goes
| Durham, NH 03824 USA | unpunished.
+---------------[ http://pubpages.unh.edu/~wfc/ ]--+

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote : Kernel team bugs

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.