LMDE 4: Keyboard does not respond and display is blank after being on for many days.
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Distribution: openSUSE, Raspbian, Slackware. Previous: MacOS, Red Hat, Coherent, Consensys SVR4.2, Tru64, Solaris
Posts: 2,818
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Originally Posted by james.jadesword
The computer seems to still be running normally. When this first happened, I was running Ubuntu. I know the computer was running normally, but with keyboard/trackball disabled. I was running BOINC and the CPU fan was running full blast as usual. As with UNIX, Linux can sometimes disconnect the keyboard/trackball from the system. Neither my brother nor I know what triggers this event. Unknown is how to reconnect the keyboard/trackball to the system without another terminal online. The only recourse is to restart. Is the "abrupt power cycle" the same as pushing the restart button on the computer?
Hmm... I''m unaware of how input devices can become disconnected. Except physically, and, in my experience, they always become functional when reconnected.
Yeah... If the keyboard isn't working, Ctrl-Alt-Del or "reboot" or "shutdown" can't used to start a reboot so "pushing the restart button' or The Big Red Switch is about the only thing you can do. Often, you can ssh into it from somewhere else on the network and initiate a proper shutdown/reboot.
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Sounds like a similar problem to mine except you have a clue as to the triggering event. In my case the computer has been running for system a long time continuously and the problem occurs with the additional symptom of a blank screen (all white in my case).
Not sure I'd call what I've seen a clue; I see the effect but I really don't have much to go on in identifying the cause. And I've never encountered anything involving the video when my keyboard function is dead. Also, I've never noted any keyboard catatonia on systems with long uptimes---only following reboots.
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Seems this is a UNIX flaw that carried over when the UNIX code was enhanced with a graphical interface. Additionally, this problem is not unique to this computer. It has happened with every computer I used while running Linux. I have the habit of leaving the computer running.
I can't say I'd arrive at that conclusion. In 30 years of experiences with various UNIX flavors, I've never seen this happen, even on UNIX workstations; just on my Linux desktop system. If you think it might be graphics system-related, are you running Xorg? Or Wayland?
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Your suggestion sounds logical, but in my case, there is no evidence that either screensaver nor sleep function were activated while I was actively using the computer. When using Office, I would wait about ten minutes before pressing the reboot button so that the auto-save feature would save my work.
Well, neither of those functions would kick in while you were actually using the system. I was half hoping that the situation was that you returned from some other task away from the system to find that the screensaver had kicked in and the keyboard was now dead.
Office? Libre? Or MS via Wine?
Quote:
I hope that when this problem recurs, the log will show something useful. Perhaps you might know which logs I should monitor?
Sadly, I can't recall ever seeing log entries for the keyboard problem though, except for one recent case, it's hung at the Grub menu and Linux isn't running yet so no logging is being done. In your case, Linux is up and running so there's a chance that something might be appearing in "/var/log/messages" (if you're a syslog user) or in the output of Systemd's "journalctl" command.
Location: Sol 3 (Earth), North America, United States of America, State of Arizona, County of Navajo.
Distribution: LMDE
Posts: 47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ondoho
Code:
man journalctl
It takes a while to go through all the entries. While I have yet to find anything that may have caused the problem, I did find a lot of Navidia references. I have ATI. Do Navidia and ATI share or should I just delete all the Navidia packages? I am getting a lot of red flags from Navidia attempting to do thing of which I was unaware.
I also saw entries that demonstrated that the firewall, virus protection, and other services are running.
The journal entries I did see seem to mirror the entries from kern.log. Unfortunately, the journal entries only went back to 2021-01-06 and the problem manifested on the fourth and I would have like to have entries for a day or two earlier.
I wonder if there is an archive for earlier entries.
Location: Sol 3 (Earth), North America, United States of America, State of Arizona, County of Navajo.
Distribution: LMDE
Posts: 47
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BBCode
Quote:
Originally Posted by hazel
It's slightly off-topic but the markup code is called BB (for Bulletin Board) code. If you google that, you'll find plenty of information.
According to the website, the BBCode is converted into HTML. Since my use is simple, I use the tool bar for what I want and can look-up the code for something special. Thanks for the suggestion.
Location: Sol 3 (Earth), North America, United States of America, State of Arizona, County of Navajo.
Distribution: LMDE
Posts: 47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnturn
Hmm... I''m unaware of how input devices can become disconnected. Except physically, and, in my experience, they always become functional when reconnected.
I tried physically disconnecting then reconnecting, but that did not work. The trackball is wireless (dongle, not bluetooth), but using it did not yield any results. I even tried installing other keyboards, one USB, another bluetooth. Nothing worked. I still do not know what triggered it. Hopefully the Xorg.0.log.old will have caught a clue as the journal seems to be similar to kern.log by the types of entries seen in both.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnturn
Yeah... If the keyboard isn't working, Ctrl-Alt-Del or "reboot" or "shutdown" can't used to start a reboot so "pushing the restart button' or The Big Red Switch is about the only thing you can do. Often, you can ssh into it from somewhere else on the network and initiate a proper shutdown/reboot.
It is frustrating not having a way to input commands to the computer, but it seems as if the keyboard was no longer recognized by the interface. On the Unix mainframe, my brother would enter the command to load the keyboard as a device and attach it to his terminal, an active device. I wish my brother took the time do discover what triggered the keyboard problem.
My reboot button is a small black button recessed in the case. The power button is bigger, but still recessed. I also have a toggle switch to isolate the computer from the power source while keeping the neutral and ground connected.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnturn
Not sure I'd call what I've seen a clue; I see the effect but I really don't have much to go on in identifying the cause. And I've never encountered anything involving the video when my keyboard function is dead. Also, I've never noted any keyboard catatonia on systems with long uptimes---only following reboots.
I have recently read an article that says a power surge or power interruption can cause an SSD to adversely effect other devices on the same buss.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnturn
I can't say I'd arrive at that conclusion. In 30 years of experiences with various UNIX flavors, I've never seen this happen, even on UNIX workstations; just on my Linux desktop system. If you think it might be graphics system-related, are you running Xorg? Or Wayland?
Well, neither of those functions would kick in while you were actually using the system. I was half hoping that the situation was that you returned from some other task away from the system to find that the screensaver had kicked in and the keyboard was now dead.
My though as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnturn
Office? Libre? Or MS via Wine?
LibreOffice. Has many of the features of OpenOffice, but since OpenOffice is no longer supported, I went to LibreOffice. Other than the name difference, I did not notice any major changes. The good, bad, and ugly were all included. I am still trying to find out how to change the default settings from A4 to Letter and a bunch of other defaults that seem to have been tailored for the EU market. Perhaps you can help me with that problem as well?
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnturn
Sadly, I can't recall ever seeing log entries for the keyboard problem though, except for one recent case, it's hung at the Grub menu and Linux isn't running yet so no logging is being done. In your case, Linux is up and running so there's a chance that something might be appearing in "/var/log/messages" (if you're a syslog user) or in the output of Systemd's "journalctl" command.
No joy with /var/log/messages as it seems to be the same information found in the journal and other similar logs. Seems there is a lot of redundancy. My best hope is still Xorg.0.log.old.
I was wondering why Nvidia was running on my sytem, saw it when paging through the journal. It just occurred to me that since I naver had Nivida, yet the Nvidia drivers are running on this system, they may have also been running on all the previous computers. Could that interfer in some way? Perhaps it would be a good idea to purge the computer of all the Nvidia packages. I just wonder if some of the packages are being shared or just to delete any that mention Nvidia.
I use the Synaptic Package Manager and can use it to purge all the packages that mention Nvidia, but should I?
I am still trying to find out how to change the default settings from A4 to Letter and a bunch of other defaults that seem to have been tailored for the EU market.
Tailored for the world market; A4 is an international standard, not an EU one.
ISO 216 is used by almost every country in the world, except for a handful of under-developed nations in the Americas. :P
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Perhaps you can help me with that problem as well?
This is a separate issue so should be a separate thread. The keyword to include in your search is "templates" - if you can't find the solution with that, go ahead and start a new thread describing what you've done and what isn't working.
For your slightly older GPU ID there's high possibility, which may or may not be noticeable, for better overall behavior by using the Amdgpu DDX driver, as you can see I am. Xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu will need to be installed (which may be already), and kernel command line options in Grub similar to mine:
Code:
radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1
I'm not suggesting it is the solution for your problem, but I think there is some tiny chance.
There's another newer than Radeon DDX driver in addition to Amdgpu: Modesetting. It might not hurt to try it either. The Modesetting DDX driver is used automatically if nether xserver-xorg-video-ati nor xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu is installed. For more info, see this graphics driver primer.
Quote:
I use the Synaptic Package Manager and can use it to purge all the packages that mention Nvidia, but should I?
When using only an AMD GPU, NVidia packages are inert. Purging them will reduce disk space consumption, and reduce updates time and bandwidth, nothing more.
For you and your brother to be experiencing the same problem that no one else seems to be suffering, you must be doing something differently from everyone else. Have you spent substantial time trying to determine what that might be?
Location: Sol 3 (Earth), North America, United States of America, State of Arizona, County of Navajo.
Distribution: LMDE
Posts: 47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boughtonp
Tailored for the world market; A4 is an international standard, not an EU one.
ISO 216 is used by almost every country in the world, except for a handful of under-developed nations in the Americas. :P
This is a separate issue so should be a separate thread. The keyword to include in your search is "templates" - if you can't find the solution with that, go ahead and start a new thread describing what you've done and what isn't working.
A4 paper may be a world standard, but A4 paper is not available locally. I can order it online. Given that the letter size paper is shrinking, perhaps the A4 should be preferred. When my current supply runs low, I will purchase A4 instead of letter size paper, presuming I remember. The size difference does not seem to be that much.
A4 8.27 x 11.69 inches (ideal dimensions)
Letter 8.47 x 10.96 inches (measured)
Difference -0.20 x 0.73 inches (calculated)
I have other priorities, so I will do the search when I am done.
For your slightly older GPU ID there's high possibility, which may or may not be noticeable, for better overall behavior by using the Amdgpu DDX driver, as you can see I am. Xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu will need to be installed (which may be already), and kernel command line options in Grub similar to mine:
Code:
radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1
I'm not suggesting it is the solution for your problem, but I think there is some tiny chance.
There's another newer than Radeon DDX driver in addition to Amdgpu: Modesetting. It might not hurt to try it either. The Modesetting DDX driver is used automatically if nether xserver-xorg-video-ati nor xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu is installed. For more info, see this graphics driver primer.
When using only an AMD GPU, NVidia packages are inert. Purging them will reduce disk space consumption, and reduce updates time and bandwidth, nothing more.
For you and your brother to be experiencing the same problem that no one else seems to be suffering, you must be doing something differently from everyone else. Have you spent substantial time trying to determine what that might be?
Code:
james@lmde:~$ radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1
radeon.si_support=0: command not found
james@lmde:~$
I presume that means I need to insert this code in a file somewhere. /boot/grub/grub.cfg says do not edit and mentions a template (/etc/grub.d) and a settings file (/etc/default/grub). The settings file does not have code similar to yours. Does it go there or elsewhere?
I checked and do have xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu installed. I installed the missing dbg packages.
My brother was on the job and could not divert his attention from the task at hand. I do not have the programming experience. I have no clue as to what triggers the problem. The only theory I have at the moment is that the logs have references to Nvidia activity. Deleting the packages that mention Nvidia may be a possible solution. I have never had Nvidia, but have never purged Nvidia packages in the past. The problem is that when the Nvidia packages are purged and the problem does not recur, does that constitute proof that is the problem? One of the reasons that intermittent problems are so difficult to solve is that the only proof that a possible solution is not correct is if the problem recurs, and that may take months or years. In the mean time, purging the Nvidia packages should count as a proactive attempt at a solution.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I am going to be busy, but I will check in when I have time.
james@lmde:~$ radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1
radeon.si_support=0: command not found
james@lmde:~$
I presume that means I need to insert this code in a file somewhere. /boot/grub/grub.cfg says do not edit and mentions a template (/etc/grub.d) and a settings file (/etc/default/grub). The settings file does not have code similar to yours. Does it go there or elsewhere?
Does the settings file have a line labelled something like kernel command line options? If so, you add the string to that.
Location: Sol 3 (Earth), North America, United States of America, State of Arizona, County of Navajo.
Distribution: LMDE
Posts: 47
Original Poster
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hazel
Does the settings file have a line labelled something like kernel command line options? If so, you add the string to that.
The following is the current contents of the file. I am not a programmer. I have no idea where to put the code or if it even goes in this file. I do not understand most of the content of this file.
Code:
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
# info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"
# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
james@lmde:~$ update-grub
grub-mkconfig: You must run this as root
james@lmde:~$ sudo update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/linuxmint/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-13-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-13-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-8-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-8-amd64
Found Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa (17.3) on /dev/sda1
Found Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya (18.2) on /dev/sdb1
Found Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa (17.3) on /dev/sdd1
Found Linux Mint 18.1 Serena (18.1) on /dev/mapper/mint--vg-root
done
james@lmde:~$
Seems to have found the other implementations of Mint as well.
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