I got a Logitech EX110 wireless keyboard and mouse set about a year or so ago, maybe more. The number pad on the keyboard stopped working after a while, so I complained to Logitech, and they sent me a new keyboard (actually, the whole set).
I've had the problem on and off again a couple of times since then, but it usually only lasts a few days before all is well again.
However, my son also has the same set (well, same model, different pieces of hardware) on his Windows XP machine, and he has _never_ had this problem. Tonight, he suggested that it might be a Linux problem, so I took our spare keyboard of this same type and switched them on my machine.
Surprise: the new keyboard has exactly the same problem - no response from the number pad.
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. The num lock and the Enter key both work, but the 5 key produces some control combination I don't recognize (seems to behave something like ^V of a previously ^X'd clipboard copy, unrelated to the current input), and the + key which seems to produce something like ^V^V, or "highlight the current terminal line" or something, but none of the other keys work at all.
In any case, it looks like this is a problem with the keyboard driver, not the keyboard hardware.
If I replace the wireless set with a wired keyboard and mouse, without rebooting, the mouse works, but the keyboard does not. (Apparently, after I tried the following, it turned out to be a bad keyboard....)
If I replace the keyboard and reboot, oh, foo, bad keyboard. But! If I reboot with a good keyboard, it works, and then I can switch back to the wireless set and everything works, _including_ the number pad: 0.123456789/*-+
Is there a way to refresh the keyboard driver without rebooting?
Anyway, thoughts, suggestions, etc. welcome.
mhr
On Thu, May 28, 2009, MHR wrote:
I got a Logitech EX110 wireless keyboard and mouse set about a year or so ago, maybe more. The number pad on the keyboard stopped working after a while, so I complained to Logitech, and they sent me a new keyboard (actually, the whole set).
I've had the problem on and off again a couple of times since then, but it usually only lasts a few days before all is well again.
However, my son also has the same set (well, same model, different pieces of hardware) on his Windows XP machine, and he has _never_ had this problem. Tonight, he suggested that it might be a Linux problem, so I took our spare keyboard of this same type and switched them on my machine.
Surprise: the new keyboard has exactly the same problem - no response from the number pad.
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. The num lock and the Enter key both work, but the 5 key produces some control combination I don't recognize (seems to behave something like ^V of a previously ^X'd clipboard copy, unrelated to the current input), and the + key which seems to produce something like ^V^V, or "highlight the current terminal line" or something, but none of the other keys work at all.
You might want to use the xev program under X11 to see what key codes are being seen by the system. I had to create ~/.Xmodmap to map the numeric keypad on my Microsoft Natural keyboard to always send numbers on Mac OS X 10.4.x otherwise python curses applications don't do the right thing.
Bill
On Thu, 2009-05-28 at 23:52 -0700, Bill Campbell wrote:
On Thu, May 28, 2009, MHR wrote:
<snip> > >Surprise: the new keyboard has exactly the same problem - no response >from the number pad. > >Actually, that's not entirely accurate. The num lock and the Enter >key both work, but the 5 key produces some control combination I don't >recognize (seems to behave something like ^V of a previously ^X'd >clipboard copy, unrelated to the current input), and the + key which >seems to produce something like ^V^V, or "highlight the current >terminal line" or something, but none of the other keys work at all.
You might want to use the xev program under X11 to see what key codes are being seen by the system. I had to create ~/.Xmodmap to map the numeric keypad on my Microsoft Natural keyboard to always send numbers on Mac OS X 10.4.x otherwise python curses applications don't do the right thing.
Not sure if this applies because I've a "MS" version. But maybe this wil yield a clue?
When I hook it up and use it, in a VT, there are some extra codes emitted that spawns a message saying the code is unrecognized and I should setkyecodes to fix it. In my case the code is 0xe001.
These same messages would appear under X in a terminal.
This fixed it for me.
# cat bin/FixKb #!/bin/bash setkeycodes 0xe001 1
My thinking is that to conserve battery, or account for a sleeping/hibernating system, this code is emitted as a "wake up".
Anyway, my suggestion is that some review of some man pages might provide the real solution.
dumpkeys loadkeys showkey getkeycodes setkeycodes
There might be a couple I forgot, but some of those, IIRC, have layouts defined. Maybe one of them fixes your issue.
Bill
HTH
On Fri, 2009-05-29 at 11:03 -0400, William L. Maltby wrote:
Not sure if this applies because I've a "MS" version. But maybe this wil yield a clue?
I had a chance to poke around for reasons unrelated to this problem, and I happened upon the keyboard configuration submenu of System->Preferences applet, and, lo and behold, mine was set for a generic 101-key keyboard. I went through the menu and found "Logitech Cordless Desktop," so I selected that. I haven't had any problems with it yet, so I'm hoping this clears it all up.
Only time will tell (one of my favorite Asia songs...).
Thanks!
mhr
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Bill Campbell -
Mark Hull-Richter -
MHR
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William L. Maltby