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    Fedora Keyboard Issues

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by Lithus, Oct 22, 2010.

  1. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

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    I have an HP dv2500t (pretty popular laptop) that exhibits very weird behavior in Fedora 13. At times - and not all the time - the built-in laptop keyboard will not work in Fedora. It works in GRUB, all the way until after the operating system boots. However, once it's on the main login screen, I can't type anything, and even if I get past that, the keyboard still doesn't work.

    The weird thing is that this problem is intermittent, meaning that if the laptop sometimes will work perfectly fine, and at others, the keyboard will just not work. The keyboard works in Windows, and basically anywhere but Fedora. The problem also exists if I try to boot into a LiveUSB, so it's not just a simple driver issue. Finally, an external USB keyboard will work, even if the laptop keyboard doesn't.

    Any ideas?
     
    Lithus, Oct 22, 2010
    #1
  2. ALLurGroceries

    ALLurGroceries  Vegan Vermin Super Moderator

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    If you can use an external keyboard see if you can turn up anything in /var/log/messages, maybe something like this:
    Code: 
    grep -i input /var/log/messages
    I did a quick search and didn't turn up any model-specific bugs, weird.
     
    ALLurGroceries, Oct 22, 2010
    #2
  3. f4ding

    f4ding Laptop Owner

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    Another thing to ask, is it a Fedora, or KDE issue? Does it work on CLI?
     
    f4ding, Oct 22, 2010
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  4. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

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    I'll take a look at the messages log the next chance I get.

    This problem exists even in runlevel 1.
     
    Lithus, Oct 22, 2010
    #4
  5. helikaon

    helikaon Notebook Consultant

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    Hmh, just wanted to ask, if you checked your xorg.conf ... since it persists even in runlevel 1, X server is out of question.

    This is gonna be something lower. You said, that sometimes the keyboard work - if it works, is it detected as the usb keyboard?
    Any usb related things possible to change in bios setup? (i suppose its like the usb keyboard you got there ...)
     
    helikaon, Oct 23, 2010
    #5
  6. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

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    Does this happen in other operating systems? It is quite possible that the ribbon cable for the keyboard has come loose... you can test this possibilty with another Linux distro LiveCD or Windows (if you're dual-booting).
     
    Bog, Oct 23, 2010
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  7. 1ceBlu3

    1ceBlu3 Notebook Deity

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    he did mention in his post that it works find with windows, and basically anything but fedora

    its obviously a problem with fedora and your keyboard..:/.. you could always just try another distro or keep working on finding the problem.. i did some searching too and same result as Groceries..no bugs or anything really pertaining to the issue..

    If it works at bios and grub stage you could try to add the following line to the kernel line in grub:
    KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us
     
    1ceBlu3, Oct 23, 2010
    #7