[SWLUG] Keyboard failure Mandrake 8.2

[Dave Cridland [Home]]

On Sun, 2003-03-09 at 15:50, STEPHEN CONSTANTINOU wrote:
> 1)  The problem does not occur in Windows

Keyboard likely to be physically fine, then.

> 2)  I boot straight into KDE and when I log out I remain in
> a GUI type environment, so I do not know how to test for
> keyboard failure at the commmand line.  I would like to do 
> this but how do I get out of KDE and start KDE again from the
> command line.

See (4)

> 3)  Not sure what "Coke incompatibility event" means, sorry.

Keyboards are generally incompatible with Coke, Pepsi, and other
liquids. :-)

Since it works in Windows, this is unlikely to be the problem.

> 4)  "Does it still stop working if you don't start X/KDE at
> all? Something like adding a '3' to the LILO or GRUB boot 
> command line will probably manage this."  I like this 
> suggestion, but yes you guesed it I have no idea how to 
> implement it.

Well, the alternative is possibly easier:

When the machine has finished booting, you'll get a KDE login dialogue.

Press CTRL-ALT-F1, and, with any luck, you'll get a text login - KDE and
all are still running.

Login as root, and edit /etc/inittab - you'll probably find details of
which "runlevels" (A bunch of numbers, 0-6) do what in that file.

Generally, level 5 is X11 on boot, and level 3 is without X11.

Somewhere you'll have a line "id:5:initdefault:" (Assuming 5 is your X11
boot). Change the "5" to a "3", and save the file.

Finally, type the command "shutdown -r now" to reboot immediately. Your
computer will now never start X11 unless you actually ask it to, by
logging in and typing the command "startx".

You can simply change the file back (Or even restore the backup you made
before editing - you did make one, right?)

Dave.