My USB keyboard / mouse doesn't seem to work anymore

[David Fox]

This just happened on a brand new box I bought last month.

I'm running Ubuntu Intrepid (but the same thing has happened on
Sabayon) x86-64 on it and it has been running smoothly until last
night. Suddenly the PC locked up and now I can't boot into the system.
I've tried both normal and recovery modes repeatedly to no avail.

What happens is that the system will usually spit out messages during
the bootup saying that the USB device is not accepting reads, and when
it finally boots up, I have no keyboard or mouse, and the only thing
to do at that point is hard power off the machine.

I've tried repeatedly to unplug and plug in the keyboard (it's a
Logitech cordless desktop EX 110, purchased at the same time I bought
the computer).

Oddly enough, the BIOS recognizes the USB keyboard at least, and also
the mouse, since I can see the info about that during the bios output
before I get the grub menu. And, I can navigate through the grub menu,
so at least the keyboard still works.

I am now trying a Ubuntu Jaunty Alpha 3 CD which boots fine, lets me
use the keyboard and mouse, so obviously something is wonked with
respect to the current installation of Ubuntu Intrepid on my box. I
tried both 2.6.27-9 and 2.6.27-11 kernels, and both normal and
recovery mode (the latter spits garbage over the menu, making it look
like it might be misinterpreting the keyboard).

Do I have any recourse but to reinstall at this point?



-- 
thanks for letting me change the magnetic patterns on your hard disk.