Ubuntu 9.10 (64 bit), Dell Dimension E521 - A Massive Conundrum

Hello All. I used to post here regularly, but not for a while. (2002-2006 or so). I have also been out of the computer loop for that long as well outside of some linux use.

I have a problem which I have posted on the ubuntu forums. The people there do not seem to be very helpful, so I figured I would give you all a shot. Below is what I posted on their website.

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Hello,

My USB keyboard works fine throughout the session, but my USB mouse (laser) stops working completely. I have tried the

Quote:

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acpi=force irqpoll seems to work...
to add it to all of your kernel entry, open /boot/grub/menu.lst

scroll until you find defoptions=
and append

acpi=force irqpoll

save, quit and the run

sudo update-grub

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as well as reinstalled the entire operating system twice, my question is, what could be causing my mouse to stop working? I've been using linux for ten years and have never had this problem. Could it be my BIOS?

Thanks

BTW - the computer is a Dell Dimension E521 Desktop (AMD64 Athlon)

Ok,

I reset the bios completely. It did not recognize the previous ubuntu installation, saying it failed to find the filesystem.

So, I burned a copy of ubuntu9.10-amd64.iso and booted from cd to reinstall. The installation works until I get to the keyboard layout section, in which it returns the error:

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ubi-console-setup failed with exit code 135. Further information may be found in /var/log/syslog. Do you want to try running this step again before continuing? If you do not, your installation may fail entirely or may be broken.
I click continue anyway. It goes to the partition setup page. Nothing is on the screen that I can select or click or highlight, and the setup freezes (as in, I can't go forward or do anything but go back).

I have googled this problem and the error ubi-console-setup with exit code 135 in quotes does not return anything.

I have not had much luck on this forum in the past, maybe I am not providing the adequate amount of information or people don't know the answer. Either way, someone please let me know how to better help myself with this issue and to help you help me.

Thanks.

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So basically, my friend wanted Ubuntu on his computer. So, I installed it. After a successful install on his Dell Dimension E521, the mouse would freeze and stop working after 1-2 minutes despite reinstalls, updates, general attempts to fix the grub ****, and now a BIOS reset with an attempted reinstall.

Please help me stop pulling my hair out if anyone here knows what might be going on. Thanks.

(calling on Gore - Gore, Aisle 2)

update: After erasing the BIOS settings, and the failed install, I have managed to install the operating system successfully. However, the mouse problem reoccurs (this is in different USB ports, with different mice and they all do the same).

Thanks again if anyone can help.

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Originally Posted by er0k

My USB keyboard works fine throughout the session, but my USB mouse (laser) stops working completely. I have tried the

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modprobe -r ohci_hcd

modprobe ohci_hcd no_handshake=1

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I reset the bios completely. It did not recognize the previous ubuntu installation, saying it failed to find the filesystem.

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Sounds like you have multiple harddrives inside. Resetting probably caused the ordering of the drives to be set back to default. Your boot loader needs a little tweaking. Your partition is there but /grub/device.map and menu.lst needs to be adjusted. If you remembered the drive ordering this could have been an easy fix.

To find your missing partition.....Boot the live cd and then go into console. GOTO /boot/grub and type grub. Do your own homework

- research the command root, setup, find

Stop panicking...you digging the whole deeper. After you performed all of this....upgrade every package on the system by doing an update.

FATAL: Module ohci_hcd not found

No, Gore is not my beotch, just an old friend.

I have been doing my homework, I'm not a newb. I reinstalled the OS fine (I appreciate the input on how I could have fixed it, but I figured it out 9 minutes before you posted that).

I'm also not blaming the linux community for my problems, I asserted that the people at the Ubuntu forums have a history of not being very helpful with difficult problems, at least that I post.

Edit: modprobing ehci_hcd and uhci_hcd also fails. The mouse keeps dying its driving me crazy.

hey er0k long time no see. :)

anyhow i'm not much of a ubuntu person, but curious to know have you tried using a standard ps/2 mouse? Or maybe plug another usb type mouse in?

also is it a wired usb mouse or a wireless type?

my bad.. i was about to provide that - yeah it has been a long time ( I wish my account hadn't been deleted by my request in 2006)


It is a wired USB mouse. The problem that bothers me most is that the keyboard is also a wired USB device, and it works fine.

I've been struggling with this all day.

(Can't use PS/2 because the computer itself does not have connectors for PS/2, and I've tried a couple mice)

further edit: I'm about to try this - http://wiki.soslug.org/wiki/dell_bio...nux_pc_laptops - i think it just needs a BIOS update. (specifically i think it needs support for legacy devices or something similar, which as of now my bios does not).

Chipset on the motherboard probably lost it's brain. Try buying a pci USB card. You can always return it.

blergh.... RBU Bios Update not supported on this system - so I can't even update the BIOS.


I'll try the pci usb card, thanks.

Edit

I also keep getting this error (which seems significant) - "Your system encountered a serious kernel problem" your system might become unstable now and might need to be restarted.

if you can get to a console. lsusb is a reliable command.. also try 'dmesg | grep usb'

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lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0644:0200 TEAC Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 04b3:3025 IBM Corp.
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c00e Logitech, Inc. M-BJ58/M-BJ69 Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

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dmesg | grep usb
[ 0.247056] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 0.247074] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 0.247098] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 0.490117] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 0.552062] usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 0.810026] usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
[ 1.045923] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.196436] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 1.197164] usb-storage: device found at 2
[ 1.197166] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 1.510374] usb 2-7: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[ 1.749144] usb 2-7: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.757137] usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
[ 1.764329] input: Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0b.0/usb2/2-7/2-7:1.0/input/input3
[ 1.764405] generic-usb 0003:046D:C00E.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:0b.0-7/input0
[ 1.764425] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[ 1.764428] usbhid: v2.6:USB HID core driver
[ 2.090029] usb 2-8: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
[ 2.320158] usb 2-8: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 2.336402] input: LITE-ON Technology USB NetVista Full Width Keyboard. as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0b.0/usb2/2-8/2-8:1.0/input/input4
[ 2.336478] generic-usb 0003:04B3:3025.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [LITE-ON Technology USB NetVista Full Width Keyboard.] on usb-0000:00:0b.0-8/input0
[ 6.196194] usb-storage: device scan complete

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must be a chipset problem since it recognizes the mouse model and everything.

I think there must be a bunch of internal problems, what with the kernel error messages, MPlayer crashing everytime I run it, BIOS update not working, seems like it's now officially a boat anchor.

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Originally Posted by er0k

I think there must be a bunch of internal problems, what with the kernel error messages, MPlayer crashing everytime I run it, BIOS update not working, seems like it's now officially a boat anchor.

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On my rig...if I activated the screensaver to show opengl animations, the mouse cursor would disappear but the mouse is actually working. My solution there was to use regualr saver that doesn't tax the video card. You could update your video drivers which will give you the latest opengl extensions and also get the X server updated. Make sure you have gcc compiler installed.

You are right....linux sees the mouse nicely and you were able to copy&paste from a text console to your web browser.


as far as mplayer....depends on your video card drivers. It can talk to the video with different protocols.... try 'XV'

I would go clean the inside of your rig or disable onboard USB with a PCI USB 2.0 card.

hint: Put your /home directory on another partition. That way you can reinstall the Operating system as many times as you want but won't loose personal data and special application settings (Windblow registry)

You leave and finally come back and you're using Ubuntu?!?! I knew I should have tracked you down lol...

Anyway, I can't really help much with USB Mouse problems out side of "OK it's on fire now what??" but, if it helps, I've been reading here and there how for some reason, certain USB mice just seem to not want to work at all. I'm not sure if this is because if a Kernel that's running DURING INSTALL vs when it's installed, or what. I had a similar problem on a FreeBSD machine; Mouse worked fine when I got to that part of installation, but once I booted it didn't work at all yet the laser was working. Couldn't even find the thing in the Kernel though.

Weirdest part was that an earlier version picked it up fine without any configuration at all.

Do you by chance have a spare machine laying around? I'm sort of curious now if a Default install of Slackware (More basic Kernel) would pick it up to rule out a few things.

That's a little trick I use from time to time; If I have a weird behavior problem in hardware, I throw it on a Slackware install, and sometimes, it works fine there, and I know it's not the hardware, and if all else fails, I've got like 5 versions of Linux and BSD here, and if SuSE or Slackware don't pick it up, I know it's probably screwed. I had a NIC actually do that once. Worked find in Slackware but not SuSE, and then another that worked in SuSE but no Slackware.

Anyway, glad you're back!


EDIT:

I forgot a few things:

Erok, try the Debian Users list. I know that seems weird, but I'm on there, and they sometimes accept Ubuntu questions. And not only that, I've seen people on there saying they use Ubuntu but subscribe to Debian because the mailing lists are way nicer and more knowledgeable about some things, and that the Ubuntu Forums were not very good. I use Debian and Mplayer works good there. Have you tried the new Debian stuff yet?

Also - Please excuse how this post probably looks... I'm probably at the LD-50 for Caffeine right now.