HELP! Cannot use mouse or keyboard any more

Sat Jun 6 17:41:48 UTC 2015

At Sat, 6 Jun 2015 11:30:05 -0400 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> At Sat, 6 Jun 2015 07:30:25 -0700 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Answering several suggestions:
> > 
> > Ctl-Alt-F1 does nothing -- keyboard not working, after all
> > Keyboard and mouse are USB.  Mobo has no PS/2
> > Keyboard and mouse are unchanged, but I have tried spares.
> > I have tried a previous kernel.  No help.
> > I don't know how to boot into another user or session -- and unless it's
> > something grub can do, I'm probably unable because of having no keyboard
> > once the kernel starts
> 
> If you can get to grub (which you say you can), you should be able to start in
> single user mode, either by selecting 'rescue mode' or directly editing the
> boot line (add 'single' to the end of the kernel command line). I don't know
> if Ubuntu has a way of starting *without* X11 -- with CentOS and many 'older'
> Linux distros, this would be runlevel 3 (as opposed to runlevel 5) --
> appending the kernel command line with '3' in grub would do that. Once in
> single user mode (or non-graphical login mode) you can then change the
> runlevel and/or disable graphical login (I don't know how to do that with
> ?Ubuntu, but someone else on this list should be able to help with that). You
> can also poke around and look at various log files, etc.

Also, in grub you can edit the kernel command line and *remove* the 'quiet' 
option.  This will result in a verbose bootup.  If something is failing, it 
will be seen (and you will have an idea as to what might be broken).  Between 
a verbose startup and a not-graphical login, almost all [linux] ills can be 
cured (or at least diagnosed).

> 
> *I* am NOT a fan of booting up to the GUI login -- all of *my* machines boot
> up to a (black) console login and I start X with xinit/startx *after* I have
> logged in, or in some cases don't start X at all (if I do not need to). Also
> all of *my* machine boot up verbosely, listing all of the start up steps, etc. 
> If there is a problem I can watch for where things are broken.
> 
> It sounds like you have something fishy going on with the X Server.  And 
> possibly other issues as well, since Apache is not starting either.
> 
> > 
> > System is on a LAN, but unavailable.  It normally serves apache, but that's
> > not working either, which has me worried.  I would have thought the server
> > would be up whether I logged in or not.
> 
> It should be.  What do you mean by 'unavailable'? Can you ping the machine (eg 
> does ping work or does ping claim the host is 'unavailable'?  If the latter, 
> it sounds like there is a problem with the network interface(s) on the 
> machine. 
> 
> > 
> > On Sat, Jun 6, 2015 at 5:32 AM, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > At Sat, 6 Jun 2015 08:17:21 +0100 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for
> > > general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > On 6 June 2015 at 04:49, Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > I'm running Xubuntu, and have done for quite a while.  Right now it's
> > > at
> > > > > 14.04.   I just hosed it somehow, and when I reboot I cannot log in
> > > because
> > > > > the keyboard and mouse are being ignored.
> > > > >
> > > > > It's not the hardware, because the grub menu works with the keyboard,
> > > and
> > > > > going to a recovery version of the kernel also works but it's console
> > > mode,
> > > > > not X.  But when I try a normal boot, the cursor stays in the middle
> > > of the
> > > > > desktop and the keyboard cannot enter my password.  I have to do a hard
> > > > > reset because 3-finger salute is also ignored.
> > > >
> > > > Does Ctrl-Alt-F1 take you to a console?
> > > >
> > > > Have you tried booting into a different user or a guest session?
> > > >
> > > > If you boot into the console and then look at /var/log/syslog for the
> > > > failed boot do you see anything that looks relevant?
> > >
> > > Some other thoughts for the OP:
> > >
> > > Are the keyboard / mouse PS/2 based or USB?
> > >
> > > Did you recently change the keyboard or mouse?
> > >
> > > Is the system on a LAN? Do you have another machine available that you can
> > > remotely connect to it with?
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Colin
> > > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
> > > Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
> > > http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
> > > heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > ubuntu-users mailing list
> > > ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> > > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
> > >
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services