LEAP 42.2 - no laptop keyboard

Hi

I have just installed LEAP 42.2 on my HP 255 G3 laptop - completely erased previous contents so no dual boot. Everything is OK, except that the laptop keyboard does not work, but a plugged in USB keyboard does. The laptop pointing device is OK.

During setup the ‘hardware detector’ found 2 keyboards, both the laptop’s built-in PS2 keyboard and the USB keyboard.

The laptop PS2 keyboard was showing device number: major 13, minor 64. The USB keyboard was showing as 13/72.

Routing around in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d I found evdev.conf contains an entry for the ‘catchall’ keyboard pointing to a device path of /dev/input/event*

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf contains an entry for ‘system keyboard’, but no device path.

Nothing anywhere for a PS2 keyboard.

/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-0-event-kbd (which was mentioned in the hardware scan results during setup) points to …/event0

Xinput list shows:

⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ HID 04f3:0103 id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HID 04f3:0103 id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HP Webcam id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HP WMI hotkeys id=14 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HP Wireless hotkeys id=15 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HID 04f3:0103 id=16 [slave keyboard (3)]

My guess, and don’t let this send you down a blind alley, is that a specific entry is needed in a .conf file for the PS2 keyboard. But what, and where?

Any suggestions?

Many thanks

You should find that Xorg is using libinput, so evdev should no be in use ordinarily. This will confirm that

grep "Using input driver" /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Does your laptop keyboard work outside of the X-server? For example the grub boot screen and VT? Try CTRL+ALT+F2 (via USB keyboard) and then check laptop keyboard activity. If not, perhaps a kernel boot parameter is needed for a hardware quirk.

My guess, and don’t let this send you down a blind alley, is that a specific entry is needed in a .conf file for the PS2 keyboard. But what, and where?

Actually, as far as Xorg is concerned, the libinput catchall (60-libinput.conf) should be all that is required.

It might be useful to review for errors

dmesg|grep keyboard
dmesg|grep i8042

This boot parameter (added to grub boot config) might be worth trying if your keyboard does not work from boot

i8042.dumbkbd=1

Hi Deano

Thanks for your suggestions.

Confirmed that libinput is being used.

No response from grub, even with the i8042.dumbkbd=1 option

No obvious errors from:
> dmesg|grep keyboard
4.148201] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input0

> dmesg|grep i8042
0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.36-8-default root=UUID=dfaf1516-4310-4693-a022-ae987c20ff4d ro resume=/dev/sda2 splash=silent quiet showopts i8042.dumbkbd=1
0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.36-8-default root=UUID=dfaf1516-4310-4693-a022-ae987c20ff4d ro resume=/dev/sda2 splash=silent quiet showopts i8042.dumbkbd=1
4.133048] i8042: PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:KBC0,PNP0f13:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12
4.147679] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
4.147691] serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
4.148201] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input0
5.585829] input: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input2

Is /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input0 meant to be an absolute path or relative to somewhere?

Many thanks

I’m not clear on what you mean here. Is the keyboard inactive even at the grub screen?

Is /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input0 meant to be an absolute path or relative to somewhere?

It’s relative to /sys/

Hi

No keyboard input at all, even in grub.

The keyboard is responsive in the bios; arrow keys, function keys all OK - something does happen in the password fields but, of course, all I see is ***

Here’s the content of the input0 directory…
admin@linux-s2ri:/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input0> ls -la
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 0 Dec 23 12:03 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 23 12:03 …
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Dec 23 12:03 capabilities
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Dec 23 12:18 device → …/…/…/serio0
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 0 Dec 23 12:03 event0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Dec 23 12:03 id
-r–r–r-- 1 root root 4096 Dec 23 12:18 modalias
-r–r–r-- 1 root root 4096 Dec 23 12:18 name
-r–r–r-- 1 root root 4096 Dec 23 12:18 phys
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Dec 23 12:18 power
-r–r–r-- 1 root root 4096 Dec 23 12:18 properties
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Dec 23 12:03 subsystem → …/…/…/…/…/…/class/input
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 4096 Dec 23 12:18 uevent
-r–r–r-- 1 root root 4096 Dec 23 12:18 uniq

Thanks for your support

Ok, well nothing in your Linux output suggests any kernel-specific issues here IMHO

A couple of ideas…

  1. A long shot: Try shutting the laptop down, disconnect the power cable and battery and hold the power button down for ~10 seconds. Then reinstall battery, and power back up. Any difference with the laptop keyboard?

  2. Speculation: I’ve read that if USB Legacy Support enabled in the BIOS, it may interfere with PS/2 Controller initialisation, and that may result in a non-responsive PS/2 keyboard perhaps. So you might want to check this setting if it exists.

Hi

The long shot did not work.

No USB options in the BIOS. I did turn on legacy OS support but that made no difference.

I have also tried some other options, one at a time; atkbd.set=3 (PS/2), atkbd.softraw=0 and i8042.direct - but no change there

What I have noticed is that the keyboard is still active when you get the options menu right at the start, i.e.

  • openSUSE LEAP42.2
  • Advanced options for openSUSE LEAP42.2
  • Start bootloader from a read=only snapshot

…that is, arrow keys, enter and escape keys still work.

Thanks

Ok

What I have noticed is that the keyboard is still active when you get the options menu right at the start, i.e.

  • openSUSE LEAP42.2
  • Advanced options for openSUSE LEAP42.2
  • Start bootloader from a read=only snapshot

…that is, arrow keys, enter and escape keys still work.

Thanks

Well, that is the grub screen. When I asked you about that before, you said

No keyboard input at all, even in grub.

That means we could be dealing with a possible OS-related issue. If possible, try using a live USB distro (eg Linux Mint) to check the keyboard behaviour in different environment

Hi

The screen I just mentioned is immediately after start up - keyboard active.

With ctrl+alt+f2 I get

Welcome to openSUSE Leap 42.2 - Kernel 4.4.36-8-default (tty2)
Linux-s2ri login:

Keyboard inactive.

I have already tried the latest Ubuntu with the same results.

Cheers

Okay, I’m wondering if this a kernel regression perhaps. A bug report may be needed. Did you purchase your laptop with Windows or Ubuntu? The HP 255 G3 appears to be offered/certified with Ubuntu, so it must have been working with whatever kernel version was used, or maybe particular boot parameters were added…

https://certification.ubuntu.com/certification/catalog/component/dmi/1949/dmi:HP255G3NotebookPC/

FWIW, the closest bug report issues affecting mainly some LG and HP laptop models that I share just in case they’re relevant in any way…
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=969550
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=58991

I guess nothing to lose by trying this as well…

i8042.nomux=1 i8042.reset i8042.direct

Hi

Sorry about the misinformation about the Grub screen, I mixed up your Grub and TTY description. Still learning…

Of the two bug reports you quote, the first seems to more closely resemble my problem. I found a similar problem reported in Arch Linux at https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=177453

I have also installed openSUSE on an HP 15-n065sa touch screen laptop. The installer says it has detected ort the exact same keyboard, the only difference is that it works! Ho hum…

Hi

Fixed!

Just to recap. Integrated keyboard works in BIOS and GRUB, but not after the OS has started. No problem with touchpad.

Bought a new keyboard, less than GBP 20 including post and packing. Supplier sent the wrong part which took a while to rectify, hence the delay in responding.

All working. Can only conclude the keyboard has been upgraded internally.

Thanks for the update. Glad the replacement keyboard is working as expected.