Still having problems with Kernel update
I've posted about this before... but didn't get any useful answers... so I'm trying again. I'm using SUSE 10.1 (KDE 3.5.4) on an AMD X2 3800+ CPU, keyboard is a Cherry Linux keyboard. My current kernel is 2.6.16.13-4-smp (according to uname -r). Everything works fine. The Software Updater tells me that there is a new 2.6.16.21 smp kernel that I should update to. If I update to this latest 2.6.16.21 smp kernel (the only change being applied is the Kernel, the source, and kmp), my computer becomes unusable. Basically after upgrading to this new kernel, my keyboard is in hyper-repeat mode. I cannot type anything because I get dozens of each letter I press. This only happens in KDE, and seems to be independant of KDE version - I have the same exact problem when I have the stock SUSE 10.1 KDE installed. If I manage to switch to a different terminal I can log in and work as normal from the CLI. I do not have Gnome installed so I cannot test to see if the same keyboard repeat happens there. If I roll back the kernel, source, and kmp to 2.6.16.13-4-smp... everything returns to normal and I can use my system without any high speed repeat on the keypresses. If I check the logs there is absolutely nothing out of place. I can live without updating my kernel, but.... it is very annoying that one build of the smp kernel works perfectly, and the next is totally unusable. Last time I posted I got a lot of "works for me" replies. Great.. nice... but it doesn't work for me.... and I don't know how to diagnose the problem... ir even what to say if I raise it as a bug. Does anyone have any ideas or clues as to what is going wrong here? Or what I can do to maybe try to pinpoint the problem so I can raise it as a bug.. or fix the problem (if it's a problem on my system and not a bug)?? Is there any extra info I can provide to help diagnose the problem? C.
On Friday 01 September 2006 22:14, Clayton wrote:
Does anyone have any ideas or clues as to what is going wrong here? Or what I can do to maybe try to pinpoint the problem so I can raise it as a bug.. or fix the problem (if it's a problem on my system and not a bug)?? Is there any extra info I can provide to help diagnose the problem?
More info might help... Have you tried other keyboards? (I know it sucks to go give up what you are used to). Is that a ps2 keyboard or a USB? If you ssh into the machine from another station does it behave ok? How old is the Bios? In my machine, I had to force it to use acpi because the bios was just before the 2000 cut-off date. I needed to use "acpi=force" on the boot prompt in order to get all of the features of this machine to work. In the past, I've had problems with usb performance when acpi was not invoked, which is why I asked if the kb was usb. Oh, and Yes, It works for me.... I know that doesn't help, but I have no problem with the SMP kernel, and I've used the SMP versions since SuSE 7.3. Sorry, had to mention it. -- _____________________________________ John Andersen
More info might help...
Have you tried other keyboards? (I know it sucks to go give up what you are used to). Is that a ps2 keyboard or a USB? If you ssh into the machine from another station does it behave ok?
I've tried a really old Acer keyboard (PS/2) and got the exact same results. My (new-ish) Cherry Linux Keybaord is USB, but plugging it into the PS/2 socket (with an adapter) makes no difference. I seriously doubt it's actually the keyboard itself that's the problem. As I mentioned, if I switch out of KDE to a text terminal and log in there... the CLI works fine... which is how I manage to roll back the kernel to the previous version (stock kernel from the SUSE 10.1 DVD). At CLI, I have no problems with the new kernel and any keyboard (PS/2 or USB).
How old is the Bios?
Brand new.... this is a new AMD X2 in a new ASRock motherboard.... I have the latest BIOS that is available for my motherboard. Checked that :-)
In the past, I've had problems with usb performance when acpi was not invoked, which is why I asked if the kb was usb.
USB works perfect as far as I can tell. All other USB devices (including mouse) work fine. C.
On Friday 01 September 2006 23:43, Clayton wrote:
More info might help...
Have you tried other keyboards? (I know it sucks to go give up what you are used to). Is that a ps2 keyboard or a USB? If you ssh into the machine from another station does it behave ok?
I've tried a really old Acer keyboard (PS/2) and got the exact same results. My (new-ish) Cherry Linux Keybaord is USB, but plugging it into the PS/2 socket (with an adapter) makes no difference.
I seriously doubt it's actually the keyboard itself that's the problem. As I mentioned, if I switch out of KDE to a text terminal and log in there... the CLI works fine... which is how I manage to roll back the kernel to the previous version (stock kernel from the SUSE 10.1 DVD). At CLI, I have no problems with the new kernel and any keyboard (PS/2 or USB).
How old is the Bios?
Brand new.... this is a new AMD X2 in a new ASRock motherboard.... I have the latest BIOS that is available for my motherboard. Checked that :-)
In the past, I've had problems with usb performance when acpi was not invoked, which is why I asked if the kb was usb.
USB works perfect as far as I can tell. All other USB devices (including mouse) work fine.
C.
Ok, so its only under kde, right? Two possible things to try: In text mode, create a new user with yast and log in as that user and see if it works ok. If so, copy that users ~/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc to your account (adjusting ownership as necessary) and then try to log into your misbehaving account. Or Just edit the ~/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc in text mode and make it have reasonable values. The critical part in there is something like this: [Keyboard] ClickVolume=9 KeyboardRepeating=true NumLock=0 RepeatDelay=660 RepeatRate=24.3 -- _____________________________________ John Andersen
Ok, so its only under kde, right?
Correct... I cannot test it under Gnome since I don't have Gnome installed. Or any other WM for that matter.
Two possible things to try: In text mode, create a new user with yast and log in as that user and see if it works ok.
Ok, did that (after updating to the new kernel again), and new user has the exact same issues... works fine from CLI, but in KDE, I cannot type anything due to the keyboard repeat.
Just edit the ~/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc in text mode and make it have reasonable values. The critical part in there is something like this:
[Keyboard] ClickVolume=9 KeyboardRepeating=true NumLock=0 RepeatDelay=660 RepeatRate=24.3
My kcminputrc is virtually the same: [Keyboard] ClickVolume=0 KeyboardRepeating=true NumLock=0 RepeatDelay=500 RepeatRate=25 If I turn OFF keyboard repeat in KDE (Control Center), then the keyboard repeats is toned down to something manageable... but even with keyboard repeat turned off, I still get repeated letters... in any user.. new, old... Instead of dozens of each letter I get 5 or 6... and I can backspace enough to actually type things... It might be worth noting that this happens on a clean install as well - as in format and reinstall... and do the updates including the new SMP kernel.. and the keybaord repeat goes out of control. And as always, if I roll back to the kernel on the DVD, the keyboard repeat problem goes away. There has to be something in that kernel that is not playing well with my computer... I haven't tried the kernels from "suser-jengelh" yet.... I prefer to use the stock kernels. C.
On Saturday 02 September 2006 01:05, Clayton wrote:
It might be worth noting that this happens on a clean install as well - as in format and reinstall... and do the updates including the new SMP kernel.. and the keybaord repeat goes out of control. And as always, if I roll back to the kernel on the DVD, the keyboard repeat problem goes away.
There has to be something in that kernel that is not playing well with my computer... I haven't tried the kernels from "suser-jengelh" yet.... I prefer to use the stock kernels.
You might look into "man kbdrate" to see if there is any help there. This seems to be a known bug, and there is some chatter about it here: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-linux-help/66976-keyboard-repeat-rate.... and here: (suggesting 10.2 kernel): http://forums.suselinuxsupport.de/index.php?showtopic=41661&pid=185490&st=0&#entry185490 By the way, I'm using 2.6.16.21-0.13-smp. -- _____________________________________ John Andersen
On Saturday 02 September 2006 01:05, Clayton wrote:
Ok, so its only under kde, right?
Correct... I cannot test it under Gnome since I don't have Gnome installed. Or any other WM for that matter.
You might manually add this option under the keyboard section of your x configuration: Section "InputDevice" Driver "kbd" Identifier "Keyboard[0]" Option "AutoRepeat" "27 250" ... The configuration file is now called /etc/X11/xorg.conf. -- _____________________________________ John Andersen
* Clayton <smaug42@gmail.com> [09-02-06 05:06]:
My kcminputrc is virtually the same:
[Keyboard] ClickVolume=0 KeyboardRepeating=true NumLock=0 RepeatDelay=500 RepeatRate=25
Try changing the RepeatDely=500 to 700 or so. I noticed touchiness with the repeat rate on my x86_64 X2 4200+ also and this solved my problems. -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org HOG # US1244711 Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2
You have some very good high quality responses here in my view. I am using the same kernel (the latest) and a Dual 64-bit AMD 2.4-GHZ AMD Opteron and see no problems. However, if I had problem like this I would remotely access my machine with "ssh -X node" where node is the IP of the machine in question and use the other keyboard to see if a behavior difference was observed. It appears though that your keyboard is not well supported by this kernel from what I am reading here.
participants (4)
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Clayton -
John Andersen -
Patrick Shanahan -
Robert Lewis