Keyboard works in BIOS but not anywhere else

[wpcarro]

Describe the bug
My keyboard recently stopped working. I tried rolling back to previous versions when my keyboard did work, but it appears the issue persists.

My keyboard fully works in BIOS but nowhere else.

I've tried asking for troubleshooting advice elsewhere, but I'm starting to think that this may be an issue with the Linux kernel. If anyone's interested, here's the thread.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Restart the computer. Press F2 to enter BIOS, type there and notice that the keyboard works.
2. Exit BIOS and continue the boot process.
3. Move the cursor with the trackpad. Notice that it works.
4. Try to type something. Notice that nothing happens.
5. Now try and move the cursor. Notice that now it also doesn't work.
6. Plug in a USB keyboard. Notice that the USB keyboard works.

Expected behavior
I expect to be able to use my laptop keyboard. I believe this is a drivers issues. Unfortunately, I'm unsure how to troubleshoot Linux keyboard drivers in general and on NixOS specifically; otherwise, I'd begin that process. Any pointers much appreciated.

Additional context
Tools I've used to attempt to debug:

• xev - nothing happens
• sudo evtest <event> - Tried this for all 21 /dev/input/event* options. Nothing observable except that the BrightnessUp and BrightnessDown key events are recognized. I ran this in X and outside of X to eliminate a variable.
• sudo hexdump <event> - Tried this too for all 21 /dev/input/event*. Nothing of note. This was maybe an unnecessary test.
• xinput list - Just to get a human readable list of inputs. In case anyone's interested, here's that output:

⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech USB Receiver Mouse             	id=10	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech USB Receiver Consumer Control  	id=11	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ HID 04d9:a088 Mouse                     	id=15	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad                	id=18	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   	id=3	[master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             	id=5	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                               	id=6	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                            	id=8	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech USB Receiver                   	id=9	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech USB Receiver System Control    	id=12	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HID 04d9:a088                           	id=13	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HID 04d9:a088 Consumer Control          	id=14	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HID 04d9:a088 System Control            	id=16	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ VGA WebCam: VGA WebCam                  	id=17	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Acer WMI hotkeys                        	id=19	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech USB Receiver Consumer Control  	id=20	[slave  keyboard (3)]

Metadata

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 4.19.60, NixOS, 19.03.173182.96151a48dd6 (Koi)
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Nix) 2.2.2
• nixpkgs: /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos

I'm using an Acer Aspire a315 in case that makes a difference. I've also read non-Linux-related forums about this issue and some Windows10 users recommend upgrading the keyboard drivers. Does anyone know how to do this in NixOS? This is a foreign concept to me.

Again: any pointers are graciously welcome!

[wpcarro]

Update: I'm still having trouble with this. To reiterate my keyboard and trackpad once worked both in the live OS from the USB and after the installation. Something changed after a few nixos-rebuild switch calls, and I haven't been able to revert the changes.

If anyone has any pointers for troubleshooting, I'm eager to hear them.

[pacien]

I'm observing a very similar issue on my Thinkpad s230u. The keyboard, touchpad and trackpoint cease to work after using either the touchpad or the trackpoint. Those devices disappear from the list returned by xinput.

The symptoms only appear roughly 80% of the time. Using an external USB keyboard and mouse works fine.

The same thing happens with a fresh Debian live with kernel 4.20 and NixOS with kernel 4.19.
This problem appeared somewhat recently, one or three months ago on NixOS.

[stale]

Thank you for your contributions.
This has been automatically marked as stale because it has had no activity for 180 days.
If this is still important to you, we ask that you leave a comment below. Your comment can be as simple as "still important to me". This lets people see that at least one person still cares about this. Someone will have to do this at most twice a year if there is no other activity.
Here are suggestions that might help resolve this more quickly:

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   related code and @ mention them in a comment.
2. Ask on the NixOS Discourse. 3. Ask on the #nixos channel on
   irc.freenode.net.

[pacien]

I'm still observing this issue on NixOS 20.03 with kernel 5.4.43.
Disconnecting the touchpad and trackpoint on my Thinkpad seems to allow the keyboard to work.

nix-info:

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 5.4.43, NixOS, 20.03.2059.05a32d8e771 (Markhor)
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Nix) 2.3.5
• channels(kea): ""
• channels(root): "home-manager-20.03, nixos-20.03.2059.05a32d8e771, nixos-19.09-19.09.2510.2f9bafaca90, nixos-unstable-20.09pre228204.467ce5a9f45"
• nixpkgs: /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos

[albakham]

I have a very similar issue on nixpkgs-unstable, it's been a month that all my nixos-rebuild switch gives me a generation on which my laptop keyboard and touchpad are not working, however the touchscreen and any external devices (mouse, keyboard) are working.

I can still boot on the older generations to have a working keyboard though.

[stale]

I marked this as stale due to inactivity. → More info

[jceb]

I'm experiencing the same issue on iLo4 on a HP Proliant Microserver Gen8. By setting intremap=nosid and intel_iommu=off I was able to use the keyboard again as outlined here: https://serverfault.com/questions/1077297/ilo4-and-almalinux-centos8-do-not-work-properly