Every warm hot cold reboot no keyboard or mouse

[CharlieDaves]

Every time I reboot my computer i have no keyboard or mouse. They are present in BIOS, but not on the login screen
I have to physically unplug and SWAP ports for them to work. A simple unplug & re-plug will NOT work

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[TWPonKubuntu]

I have this problem also, but it is intermittent, about 20% of the time when I do a cold boot up.
Unplug and replug in the same port, Sometimes works, but using a different port always works.

I'm running Linux Mint XFCE on a Dell Latitude D820 laptop, 4GB ram. This began about four kernel updates back.

I can live with it, but thought I'd let you know that you're not the only one with this happening.

[kc1di]

Hello Both of you.

First, TWPonKubuntu you should post your question about mint XFCE on the Mint forums found here: https://forums.linuxmint.com

Second, CharlieDaves - do you know which video card you are using? if you do not know please install inxi from the repository either using moun of from a terminal with this command

sudo apt install inxi

and once it's install issue this command in the terminal

inxi -Fxz

and post the results here.

[TWPonKubuntu]

kc1di;
Thank you for your suggestion, but I shall decline. The Mint forum has been, in my experience, somewhat less comfortable and welcoming than KFN... There are also some good people here whom I call friends...

CharlieDaves:
The problem which you describe is occurring across distros, I suggest that it is (maybe, perhaps) related to our common code; the Linux Kernel and the Ubuntu base.

I've posted my computer configuration in case you see some other common factors between our respective systems.

Let me add that I'm using the 32 bit build with Kernel 4.4.0-128. This problem has existed since at least Kernel 4.4.0-124 but I don't recall exactly which kernel was running when it started to occur.

[Snowhog]

Can you try a different mouse or keyboard?

[oshunluvr]

This is usually an xorg issue, since xorg drives the input devices, but it could also be a USB driver problem.

Here's some things to try for both of you - Charlie and TWPon;

Boot up, then do CRTL-ALT-F1 and see if the keyboard works in the TTY - try and log in.

If you are successful, the problem may lie with SDDM.

If not, then try your other shenanigans (unplugging and plugging back in, etc.) until it works. Then log in to the TTY and type dmesg and look at the output. See if anything there refers to the keyboard/mouse or the USB port. Also, read your /var/log/Xorg.0.log file and see if any clues are in there.

Since neither of you told us anything about your devices, it may be that you need a specific driver that's not installed but no way to tell without actual details.

[oshunluvr]

Also, I've seen reports of the synaptics driver going wild and taking all the input devices. Unless you are using a synaptics device, try removing these two packages this package:

synaptic
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

[TWPonKubuntu]

I'm using a Dell full size external keyboard (sorry, serial number is worn off) and a UPT (chinese) optical mouse, again, no serial number visible on the device. Both have been showing this failure mode.

I'll wait until this happens again and look at the logs at that time.

Ctrl-Alt-F1 works, TTY login works also.

The only thing with Synaptic in the name is the Synaptic Package Manager. I can remove that and test... Which may take some time because the problem is intermittent.

Thanks for the suggestions on testing this.

[oshunluvr]

Synaptic package manager wouldn't be the problem so that's not likely a solution for you. I included that one by mistake (corrected).

Starting to sound like a USB port issue. Dell keyboards aren't usually problematic that I've ever heard of. Usually, the input drivers are all in xserver-xorg-input-evdev but you might try installing xserver-xorg-input-libinput if it's not already.

[TWPonKubuntu]

The USB port may be the problem. I use a laptop docking station and the USB ports on it. I'll try the built-in ports on the laptop, although I avoid them because they have an inconvenient position on the laptop body.

Again, this may take time because of the intermittent nature of the problem.

[Qqmike]

They are present in BIOS, but not on the login screen

Are they really present in BIOS? (I recently had a damaged-BIOS problem where the front USB ports were killed ... until I re-flashed BIOS to fix everything.) fwiw, fyi.

[jglen490]

I was having problems with my desktop machine wherein I'd occasionally lose a USB port. It was frustrating and somewhat random. I was thinking it was a hardware problem, or possibly electrical, or possibly heat related. I, too, am running a 32 bit Kubuntu with a 4.4.0-128 kernel. Not knowing what was the root cause, I started with a new case that had the potential for much better air flow.

So I removed my hardware and reinstalled it in a new case this past weekend and made no other changes. After reinstalling the still assembled MB and drives, I did a test start of the equipment without a keyboard or mouse attached. Nothing. Thinking I had maybe messed up a ground connection, I redid the case connections and PS connections to the MB. This time, I got a start followed immediately by a stop. I reattached the power cord, and hit the start button again. Same result. Crap, the power supply went bad. So on to Best Buy for a a new PS, hooked it up, hit the power button - lo and behold it was an electrical problem in the form of a slowly dying PS.

Lesson learned, random events with hardware parts, are most likely caused by electrical issues. I don't know how old your laptop is, but maybe a good cleaning, or an auxiliary laptop cooler might help.

[TWPonKubuntu]

jglen

Thank you, I'll peel open my Dell laptop and check the air flow paths. It is an old Dell, model D820, and I'm guessing at least 7 or more years old...

What? You mean laptops die? Why, that's just... just... well Rude!

[CharlieDaves]

Hello Both of you.

First, TWPonKubuntu you should post your question about mint XFCE on the Mint forums found here: https://forums.linuxmint.com

Second, CharlieDaves - do you know which video card you are using? if you do not know please install inxi from the repository either using moun of from a terminal with this command

sudo apt install inxi

and once it's install issue this command in the terminal

inxi -Fxz

and post the results here.

I don't see what a video driver has to do with a keyboard/mouse issue, but I'll respond.
System: Host: CharlesXavier Kernel: 4.15.0-23-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.12.5 (Qt 5.9.5) Distro: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Machine: Device: desktop System: ASUS product: All Series serial: N/A
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: H81M-PLUS v: Rev X.0x serial: N/A
BIOS: American Megatrends v: 2205 date: 05/26/2015
CPU: Quad core Intel Core i5-4460 (-MCP-) arch: Haswell rev.3 cache: 6144 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 25586
clock speeds: max: 3400 MHz 1: 1198 MHz 2: 1122 MHz 3: 1082 MHz 4: 1080 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Desktop version: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio: Card Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-23-generic
Network: Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 6371.3GB (46.2% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WDS120G1G0A size: 120.0GB temp: 19C
ID-2: /dev/sdb model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 250.1GB temp: 0C
ID-3: /dev/sdc model: WDC_WD20EARS size: 2000.4GB temp: 15C
ID-4: /dev/sdd model: ST4000VN008 size: 4000.8GB temp: 14C
Partition: ID-1: / size: 110G used: 70G (67%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info: Processes: 242 Uptime: 5:18 Memory: 5548.9/14967.6MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56

[CharlieDaves]

Can you try a different mouse or keyboard?

Makes no difference. Tried that.