RH6 Kernel 2.2.5-15 no input device after bootup
Ernst Schmidtmann
I have a strange problem with my commercial software. Suddenly the mouse
stopped working, I tried to restart gpm; no error messages and no effect.
I decided to restart the computer, but during bootup I lost my keyboard.
Until now I can access the Bios of the computer, but as soon as I arrive
at the login screen, I have no more input device.
I called the software company and they told me, they can not do
anything, because they never had this error and recommended to install a
new server. "Now we have a new database and you have to buy the new
database. And the workstations will not work with the database. However,
it doesn't make sense to install a new kernel." In cash that means 20K.
I am some sort of helpless, I don't know where to start.
Is there any log or error messages in that software, where I can see,
when the keyboard is failing? Is it possible to reinstall a new package
and which package?
Thanks so much for any help!
Best regards,
Ernst
Jean-David Beyer
> Hi!
>
> I have a strange problem with my commercial software. Suddenly the mouse
> stopped working, I tried to restart gpm; no error messages and no effect.
I do not know what you mean by RH6. Do you really mean the Red Hat Linux
distro from 10 years or more ago?
Red Hat these days calls their releases Red Hat Enterprise Linux and they
are up to release 5 of it. The current version of the kernel I am running is
2.6.18-128.1.14.el5PAE, so a kernel 2.2.5-15 must be very old. Even RHEL 4
from 5 years ago used a 2.6.9 kernel.
>
> I decided to restart the computer, but during bootup I lost my keyboard.
> Until now I can access the Bios of the computer, but as soon as I arrive
> at the login screen, I have no more input device.
>
> I called the software company and they told me, they can not do
> anything, because they never had this error and recommended to install a
> new server.
I assume you mean you called the company that wrote your commercial
software, not your OS, right?
> "Now we have a new database and you have to buy the new
> database. And the workstations will not work with the database. However,
> it doesn't make sense to install a new kernel." In cash that means 20K.
>
> I am some sort of helpless, I don't know where to start.
>
> Is there any log or error messages in that software, where I can see,
> when the keyboard is failing? Is it possible to reinstall a new package
> and which package?
You do not say what software you are talking about.
If you are talking about a Linux OS, most error messages can be found in
/var/log/messages. What the applications do is up to them.
If you mean the commercial software, only the manufacturer can tell you
that. But if you cannot even login to your machine, it implies it is not
that application.
But if, when you reboot, the keyboard disappears before you can login, there
is probably something wrong with your X Window System or your desktop
program, or the files they use.
When you get the login screen, instead of logging in, hit CTL-ALT-PF1 and
you should bypass the X Window System and get a virtual terminal screen. See
if you can login from there. Your commercial app. will probably not work
from there, but it would show that the keyboard hardware works.
If your keyboard is gone before that, so that CTL-ALT-PF1 does not work
either, you may wish to boot from your OS install disk and edit /etc/inittab
line that says:
id:5:initdefault:
to say
id:3:initdefault:
This should allow your system to come up without and of the windowing stuff.
You will be prompted to login. See if you can do that.
>
> Thanks so much for any help!
>
> Best regards,
>
> Ernst
--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A Registered Machine 241939.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 16:10:01 up 7 days, 2:59, 4 users, load average: 4.39, 4.35, 4.35
Ernst Schmidtmann
Jean-David Beyer schrieb:
> Ernst Schmidtmann wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>> I have a strange problem with my commercial software. Suddenly the
>> mouse stopped working, I tried to restart gpm; no error messages and
>> no effect.
>
> I do not know what you mean by RH6. Do you really mean the Red Hat Linux
> distro from 10 years or more ago?
Sure! In the last years I had some trouble with the company about
updating the OS. They refuse, they have to update the software, not the OS.
> Red Hat these days calls their releases Red Hat Enterprise Linux and
> they are up to release 5 of it. The current version of the kernel I am
> running is
> 2.6.18-128.1.14.el5PAE, so a kernel 2.2.5-15 must be very old. Even RHEL
> 4 from 5 years ago used a 2.6.9 kernel.
I considered to run RHEL or Fedora on my private machines. But after
some trouble with Solaris and no time to figure it out, I returned to SuSE.
>> I decided to restart the computer, but during bootup I lost my
>> keyboard. Until now I can access the Bios of the computer, but as soon
>> as I arrive at the login screen, I have no more input device.
>>
>> I called the software company and they told me, they can not do
>> anything, because they never had this error and recommended to install
>> a new server.
>
> I assume you mean you called the company that wrote your commercial
> software, not your OS, right?
Right.
>> "Now we have a new database and you have to buy the new database. And
>> the workstations will not work with the database. However, it doesn't
>> make sense to install a new kernel." In cash that means 20K.
>>
>> I am some sort of helpless, I don't know where to start.
>>
>> Is there any log or error messages in that software, where I can see,
>> when the keyboard is failing? Is it possible to reinstall a new
>> package and which package?
>
> You do not say what software you are talking about.
A database program called Visident. Probably not known outside Germany.
The problem is, that it works with insurance data, the data are
confidential and special rules apply.
> If you are talking about a Linux OS, most error messages can be found in
> /var/log/messages. What the applications do is up to them.
Well, nothing unusual there.
> If you mean the commercial software, only the manufacturer can tell you
> that. But if you cannot even login to your machine, it implies it is not
> that application.
I agree. But I can login from the network. The workstations are working
fine.
> But if, when you reboot, the keyboard disappears before you can login,
> there is probably something wrong with your X Window System or your
> desktop program, or the files they use.
If I run in single user mode, I have a keyboard and can login. In
runlevel 3 I have the same effect as in runlevel 5.
> When you get the login screen, instead of logging in, hit CTL-ALT-PF1
> and you should bypass the X Window System and get a virtual terminal
> screen. See if you can login from there. Your commercial app. will
> probably not work from there, but it would show that the keyboard
> hardware works.
Not working. In newer systems I can do that. This OS doesn't give me a
second terminal and as soon as something like X appears the keyboard is
gone.
> If your keyboard is gone before that, so that CTL-ALT-PF1 does not work
> either, you may wish to boot from your OS install disk and edit
> /etc/inittab
> line that says:
>
> id:5:initdefault:
>
> to say
>
> id:3:initdefault:
Well, the same. No keyboard.
> This should allow your system to come up without and of the windowing
> stuff.
X-font server ist still running. Is that an idea?
> You will be prompted to login. See if you can do that.
Sorry, any more ideas?
Jean-David Beyer
> Hello!
>
> Jean-David Beyer schrieb:
>> If you mean the commercial software, only the manufacturer can tell you
>> that. But if you cannot even login to your machine, it implies it is not
>> that application.
>
> I agree. But I can login from the network. The workstations are working
> fine.
One thing comes to mind: did you try a different keyboard on your system.
Keyboards can go bad, you know. Not likely, I agree, but if your network
connects OK, it is either X software, or possibly a hardware problem.
>
>> But if, when you reboot, the keyboard disappears before you can login,
>> there is probably something wrong with your X Window System or your
>> desktop program, or the files they use.
>
> If I run in single user mode, I have a keyboard and can login. In
> runlevel 3 I have the same effect as in runlevel 5.
That strongly implies the keyboard hardware is OK.
>
>> When you get the login screen, instead of logging in, hit CTL-ALT-PF1
>> and you should bypass the X Window System and get a virtual terminal
>> screen. See if you can login from there. Your commercial app. will
>> probably not work from there, but it would show that the keyboard
>> hardware works.
>
> Not working. In newer systems I can do that. This OS doesn't give me a
> second terminal and as soon as something like X appears the keyboard is
> gone.
That says your keyboard is gone once X gets turned on, or very very soon
thereafter.
>
>> If your keyboard is gone before that, so that CTL-ALT-PF1 does not work
>> either, you may wish to boot from your OS install disk and edit
>> /etc/inittab
>> line that says:
>>
>> id:5:initdefault:
>>
>> to say
>>
>> id:3:initdefault:
>
> Well, the same. No keyboard.
Very confusing. In that case, you do not start X.
>
>> This should allow your system to come up without and of the windowing
>> stuff.
>
> X-font server ist still running. Is that an idea?
Not really. Check if you have the font files, wherever they are. Could they
have disappeared or had their permissions changed? X font server should not
be running if you do not start X, and if Red Hat kernel comes up at run
level 3, X should not be started.
>
>> You will be prompted to login. See if you can do that.
>
> Sorry, any more ideas?
--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A Registered Machine 241939.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 18:25:01 up 7 days, 5:14, 3 users, load average: 4.21, 4.11, 4.03
Mark Hobley
> I decided to restart the computer, but during bootup I lost my keyboard.
> Until now I can access the Bios of the computer, but as soon as I arrive
> at the login screen, I have no more input device.
If you could access the bios before, but cannot access it now, then this sounds
like you are using a usb keyboard, and one of the bios settings relating to
the keyboard compatibility mode has been lost.
You need to plug in a conventional ps/2 keyboard, and reset the bios parameter
that causes the usb keyboard to emulate a ps/2. (I can't remember how this is
parameter is worded, but it will contain the word "keyboard").
Mark.
--
Mark Hobley
Linux User: #370818 http://markhobley.yi.org/
Sidney Lambe
> Ernst Schmidtmann wrote:
>> Hello!
>>
>> Jean-David Beyer schrieb:
>
>>> If you mean the commercial software, only the manufacturer can tell you
>>> that. But if you cannot even login to your machine, it implies it is not
>>> that application.
>>
>> I agree. But I can login from the network. The workstations are working
>> fine.
>
> One thing comes to mind: did you try a different keyboard on your system.
> Keyboards can go bad, you know. Not likely, I agree, but if your network
> connects OK, it is either X software, or possibly a hardware problem.
That's a good idea. Sometimes a ps/2 keyboard will work when a usb one
won't. Or vice-versa.
[delete]
Sid
Nico Kadel-Garcia
> Hi!
>
> I have a strange problem with my commercial software. Suddenly the mouse
> stopped working, I tried to restart gpm; no error messages and no effect.
Do you need this, for now? Can you log into it with SSH and run X
Windows remotely?
In the meantime, get a full backup, do a disk image of this thing now,
and prepare to move it into virtualization. If this system hasn't been
re-installed in the last 6 years or so, as I'd expect with RedHat 6
(which I have a great deal of experience with, only about 15,000
installations of it over my career!), then be ready to transfer to new
hardware ASAP.
And as other people counseled, try swapping in different keyboards.
Gernot Fink
Ernst Schmidtmann <doc....@ulcus.owl.de> writes:
>
> I decided to restart the computer, but during bootup I lost my keyboard.
> Until now I can access the Bios of the computer, but as soon as I arrive
> at the login screen, I have no more input device.
I think its a hardware fault. You can check teh Keybord after booting a
old install CD, a verry old LiveCD or one of the root/bootfloppys
like tomsrtbt.
Try also without mouse.
--
MFG Gernot
Matt Giwer
names.
t-online.news wrote:
....
> Kernel 2.2.5-15 RH6.
I used that at one time right after I started using linux with RH5beta
Cartman. I could not say for sure at this time what kind of keyboard I had at
that time and if it is the same as I use today.
I did have a major keyboard problem at one time and created a work around
and then after a few months of the work around I found I had the keyboard and
mouse in each other's sockets.
The worst case advice is to upgrade and see if the problem persists. Do
it on another computer for a test. Tigerdirect usually has out of lease
computers better than was available ten years ago for under $100. It is not
like a test computer is out of reach.
--
The squattertowns will continue to expand until the terrorism ceases.
The provocation will continue until the response ceases.
The snakebites will continue until morale improves.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 4149
http://www.giwersworld.org/holo3/ a12
Fri Jun 26 07:09:55 EDT 2009
--
The national mythos of ancient Greece was the Iliad.
The national mythos of the United States is WWII.
In both cases the truth is far different from the mythos.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 4152
http://www.haaretz.com What is Israel really like? http://www.jpost.com a7
Fri Jun 26 07:21:56 EDT 2009
Matt Giwer
....
> Kernel 2.2.5-15 RH6.
I used that at one time right after I started using linux with RH5beta
Cartman. I could not say for sure at this time what kind of keyboard I had at
that time and if it is the same as I use today.
I did have a major keyboard problem at one time and created a work around
and then after a few months of the work around I found I had the keyboard and
mouse in each other's sockets.
The worst case advice is to upgrade and see if the problem persists. Do
it on another computer for a test. Tigerdirect usually has out of lease
computers better than was available ten years ago for under $100. It is not
like a test computer is out of reach.
--
The squattertowns will continue to expand until the terrorism ceases.
The provocation will continue until the response ceases.
The snakebites will continue until morale improves.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 4149
http://www.giwersworld.org/holo3/ a12
Fri Jun 26 07:09:55 EDT 2009
--
Palestine has been known by that name since at least
the 5th c. BC when Herodotus reported that name.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 4156
http://www.giwersworld.org/holo2/ a11
Fri Jun 26 07:23:57 EDT 2009
Ernst Schmidtmann
checked the plugs. Everything the same.
I have to admit I was away a few days. I exported the display to another
machine running SuSE, so I can use the devices.
Unfortunately three weeks ago I bought a new Windoze laptop, a cheap
one, because my daughter wanted to play chess. I wiped the HD, so she
can not connect to the Internet and only installed a chess program.
There was a running Cygwin on it I used for accessing my private network
from far away. I used it in my days of C-programming... and felt I don't
need in any more...
Until now I didn't try Moe's diagnostic, but it seems most promising to
me. As soon as I have results I will report.
Any hints welcome. Thank you so much so far.
Ernst
Matt Giwer schrieb: