[Solved][Sort of..]Laptop keyboard not working

[stuarte]

Good morning,

For the last week I have been having trouble with the laptop keyboard not working properly. I did a fresh install during which all partitions except(!) /home were formatted. The problem has persisted. I am now thinking that there must be corruptions within files located in /home.

Yesterday, while I was trying to solve this, two things occurred. Firstly, a keyboard icon has now appeared in the system tray. Right-clicking on this and then selecting "Continue" from the pop-up menu that then appears causes a KDialog box to appear that displays the following text.

You're currently running KDE, but KCModule for fcitx couldn't be found, the package name of this KCModule is usually kcm-fcitx or kde-config-fcitx. Now it will open config file with default text editor.

However when this dialog box's OK button is clicked, all that happens is that the dialog box disappears. Neither the default text editor nor the config file appear on screen. There is a Tux icon for Fcitx displayed in Program Launcher/System. When this is clicked nothing happens, meaning nothing appears on screen.

I should state that the login password can(!) be successfully entered using either the laptop keyboard or the external usb keyboard. Also, the external keyboard does respond normally after the system is first booted up but at some point thereafter it stops responding. This leaves the mouse as the only responding input device.

I also tried the fix discussed at

updates - Ubuntu 20.04 - keyboard not working - Ask Ubuntu

but this did not(!) work. Also, if the usb keyboard is disconnected very early in the reboot process, when the screen is black, and then reconnected after the desktop appears, the usb keyboard no longer responds.

I am at a loss as to what to try next.

Stuart

[Schwarzer Kater]

[…]
I did a fresh install during which all partitions except(!) /home were formatted. The problem has persisted. I am now thinking that there must be corruptions within files located in /home.
[…]

Good morning to you , too.

You can verify your assumption by:

• booting Kubuntu from a live USB
• creating a new user and logging into this new user account

If in both cases your keyboard does work, then you are very probably right and the culprit would be within your original user's /home (you should verify this first).

[stuarte]

Good afternoon,

@Schwarzer Kater: Thank you for such a swift reply.

Booting Kubuntu from a live USB

First, I tried this with the external usb keyboard. The keyboard up/down arrow keys worked ok. I was able to open Kate and type "this is a test" using this keyboard.

Second, I tried this using the laptop keyboard. The keyboard up/down arrow keys did not(!) work. So, as the try/install kubuntu entry was highlighted, I let this "time out". I was able to open Kate and type "this is a test" using this keyboard.


Creating a new user and logging into this new user account.

First, using the external usb keyboard. I was able to set up a new user. I was then able to login as new user, open Kate and type "this is a test". The system was then shut down, the external keyboard disconnected, and the system then booted up.

Second, using the laptop keyboard. I was able to successfully enter new user login password. However when I opened Kate and pressed "t", Kate's Tools menu opened. I was able to type "qw" into Kate but, when I tried to type "e" Kate's Edit menu opened. The pattern is clear. When I try to type a letter that starts the name of one of Kate's top level menus, that menu opens up. I verified this by typing first "p" (the Projects menu opened) and then "b" (the Bookmarks menu opened).


These would seem to indicate that the problem is not just limited to my own account.

BTW, in the process of setting up the new user account (a Standard account) I rediscovered that my account type was Administrator. Should I change my account type to Standard ?

Stuart

[Schwarzer Kater]

No, Administrator is fine - main differences between Administrator and Standard are that you can e.g. update your system, install programs or change certain settings with Administrator and you will need to do that from time to time.
Otherwise the Administrator account works like a Standard account in day-to-day tasks.

Are you sure the laptop keyboard is mechanically and electronically in order? Just asking…

It is also possible that you would have to change the keyboard layout in System Settings to use the laptop keyboard's layout. This is not always necessary, but a possibility. For me this would not quite explain the behavior you described above, though…

[stuarte]

Good afternoon,

@Schwarzer Kater: Thank you for your recent reply, I will leave my account as Administrator.

Are you sure the laptop keyboard is mechanically and electronically in order? Just asking…

A very fair question, given the situation. I am(!) able to successfully enter my login password using the laptop keyboard. To me, this indicates that the keyboard is fine. It is only after the system has fully booted that the problems start.

Since my last posting, my ongoing web search has uncovered the following advice.

• Install the drivers: sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-all
• If already installed, reinstall it: sudo apt-get --purge autoremove xserver-xorg-input-all sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-all
• Reboot and try again if everything is working.

I implemented the second and third steps listed above but the problem still persists. The web search continues.

Stuart

[Snowhog]

When you installed Kubuntu, what keyboard layout did you choose, and, was the external keyboard plugged in when you installed?

[stuarte]

Good afernoon,

@Snowhog: My most recent install of 22.04.2 was carried out using the laptop keyboard. The external usb keyboard was physically disconnected.

UPDATE: I have now implemented a cop-out. I have re-installed 22.04.1 using an ISO that I had kept on the hdd. I then implemented

sudo apt update

followed by

sudo apt-get full-upgrade

. This has meant the system is reverted back to kernels 5.15.0-43-generic and 5.15.0-76-generic. This seems to have "cured(?)" the keyboard not working problem as I had no problems implementing the aforementioned two sudo commands using the laptop keyboard with the external usb keyboard physically disconnected.

I am now wondering if there is a way to upgrade 22.04.1 to 22.04.2 (so that I can access the 5.19 series kernels) without using the ISO for the latter as I recently tried to use the latter to cure this problem which persisted after that attempt.

I've just "had the call" to close down this library computer so I have to go. I hope to be back online tomorrow.

Thanks to all for your help so far.

Stuart

[claydoh]

if you update normally, you will actually be ahead of 22.04.2. The iso is just a fresh image rolling in previous updates. For installs from the earlier .0 and .1 image, you may not get the updated "HWE" kernels, though you are supposed to.
If you don't, it is very easy to add it:

sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-22.04

This is included in the .2 and later images.

Doing it this way will keep some 5.15 kernels along with the 5.19, so if this is a kernel related issue, you can easily boot to a previous one from your Grub menu

On the flip side, if you want to install the 5.15 kernel line on the .2 and later isos, you can just install a different meta-package

sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic​

You will have the same choices in your grub menu.

You're currently running KDE, but KCModule for fcitx couldn't be found, the package name of this KCModule is usually kcm-fcitx or kde-config-fcitx. Now it will open config file with default text editor.

Do you need Japanese or other similar keyboard language support? fcitx provides this and there are KDE modules for it as well, but is not normally installed, can't recall if this is pulled in when clicking the language support prompt in the system tray. I wonder if this is the cause of the original issue.
If so, I'd suggest skipping any nags to install language support if you don't need them.

[stuarte]

Good morning,

@Snowhog: When installing Kubuntu from the ISO, I chose the English(UK) keyboard.

@claydoh: Thanks for the code regarding installing an hwe kernel. I started to do this but the system reported that (something like) 750 MB of storage space would be used. (Does this mean that an hwe kernel is noticeably larger that a standard generic kernel ?)

Given that the total space of my /boot partition is currently 500MB, this will mean using a partition manager to resize and move partitions. (Aside: I think I will grow /boot to 2GB, that should be enough to allow for the presence of two hwe kernels.) Fortunately I have a usb drive with me that contains GParted Live. So, I guess for the next hour or so I will be a bit busy (not to mention nervous ) doing just that. If/when that is completed, I will use the code you have provided to install the hwe kernel.

Stuart

[Schwarzer Kater]

Generally make a /boot partition with at least 2 GB nowadays.
For a seperate /boot/efi partition 320 MB is sufficient.

[claydoh]

(Does this mean that an hwe kernel is noticeably larger that a standard generic kernel ?

No, or not much. But headers and libraries etc do take up space. However, they aren't stored on the boot partition.

if by 'boot' partition, you mean your EFI partition, 500mb is more than enough. The installer does not create a separate /boot on its own, iirc unless you do so manually, or if you use disk encryption options (mine looks to be 1.7Gb, and with 2 kernels, it is using less than 300mb).

[stuarte]

Good morning,

@Schwarzer Kater: I have now set the /boot partition to 3 GB so that should allow for at least a couple of hwe kernels, as per the 750 MB storage needs that I mentioned in post nr. 9 above.

@claydoh: No, I'm not using EFI. I have the laptop BIOS set to boot in legacy CSM(?) mode. I am now installing an hwe kernel using the code you supplied in posting nr. 8 above. However, this has thrown up several errors. Please see attached file named hwe_errors.txt. This was attempted using the laptop connected to my local library, publically accessible internet connection.

Stuart

[Schwarzer Kater]

In the attached file one can see that APT was not able to fetch those packages you wanted with sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-22.04 ("File has unexpected size" -> mirror sync / connection error / …).

Just try again later and/or from another internet connection and see if it works then.

[jlittle]

Err:7 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 linux-headers-generic-hwe-22.04 amd64 5.19.0.46.47~22.04.21

I occasionally, once or twice a year, get errors like this from the "server for New Zealand". I can work around them by going to software sources and changing the server to "Main Server". (On this 23.04 install the "Software Sources" button in Discover doesn't work, nothing happens; one can get to it from a konsole with sudo software-properties-qt.) Or, as Schwarzer Kater suggests, you could wait a while; sometimes that doesn't work and somebody has to get a message to restart some server.

"gb" is funky, though. I thought ".gb" was retired.

[Schwarzer Kater]

It is .com in the file the OP posted, gb.archive.ubuntu.com - not the top level-domain .gb

But if jlittle meant the gb subdomain of Ubuntu with "funky" and "retired" or if the problems with fetching the packages still occur (like he said sometimes had happened to him in NZ), then it might indeed be a good idea to follow his suggestion, sudo software-properties-kde in Konsole and change to "Main Server" in the first tab before trying again!