Numlock is on...but it's not [Solved]

[MintHawk]

Hey, everyone.
Customizing the KDE edition on my desktop and I can't manage to have the NumLock key on when booting although I've ticked the appropriate box in Settings.
Any ideas?

PS The same applies to the XFCE edition on my laptop.

[Eadwine Rose]

According to the forum rules (please read): Please provide full Quick System Info from the menu, use copy for forum button, no edits.

LiveUSB version is OK if needed.

[Germ]

When you set the numlock on at startup. It's on but the numlock key does not show as on. At least, that has been my experience.

[MintHawk]

According to the forum rules (please read): Please provide full Quick System Info from the menu, use copy for forum button, no edits.

LiveUSB version is OK if needed.

Will do.

When you set the numlock on at startup. It's on but the numlock key does not show as on. At least, that has been my experience.

So, does that mean that it doesn't function? I don't understand.

[Germ]

It should work. It's always worked for me but the numlock light doesn't come on, the light doesn't function. But numlock is actually on.

Have you tested if numlock is on or do you think it is not because the indicator light is off?

[MintHawk]

I know it's not on not because of any light that might be off but because I try to log in and the key doesn't work.
I have to press it and then it works.
So, long story short, this setting doesn't seem to work either in XFCE or KDE.

[DukeComposed]

I know it's not on not because of any light that might be off but because I try to log in and the key doesn't work.
I have to press it and then it works.

Have you checked if you have the NumLock setting in your BIOS enabled? A lot of PCs allow you to turn this key on or off at boot time.

[MXLinuxKDE]

Hey, everyone.
Customizing the KDE edition on my desktop and I can't manage to have the NumLock key on when booting although I've ticked the appropriate box in Settings.
Any ideas?

PS The same applies to the XFCE edition on my laptop.

I just solved it this way for the past few minutes

Check and edit the /etc/sddm.conf file
Open the file with root privileges:

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/sddm.conf

Make sure it contains at least these lines in the [General] section:

Code: Select all

[General]
Numlock=on

if not, like my file, add this and save, and Numlock is active on boot.

The GUI method on the box System>Keyboard> "Numlock Activate on boot "

It did not work for me, despite the option activated.

[MintHawk]

Hey, everyone.
Customizing the KDE edition on my desktop and I can't manage to have the NumLock key on when booting although I've ticked the appropriate box in Settings.
Any ideas?

PS The same applies to the XFCE edition on my laptop.

I just solved it this way for the past few minutes

Check and edit the /etc/sddm.conf file
Open the file with root privileges:

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/sddm.conf

Make sure it contains at least these lines in the [General] section:

Code: Select all

[General]
Numlock=on

if not, like my file, add this and save, and Numlock is active on boot.

The GUI method on the box System>Keyboard> "Numlock Activate on boot "

It did not work for me, despite the option activated.

Thanks. I will try that.

[MintHawk]

@MXLinuxKDE:
Many thanks, it worked!

BTW, here is my Quick System Info just for reference:

Code: Select all

[CODE]System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-37-amd64 [6.1.140-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-37-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.5 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 7 dm: SDDM Distro: MX-23.6.1_KDE_x64 Libretto
    May 18 2025 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: B450M-A PRO MAX (MS-7C52) v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 3.G0 date: 07/23/2022
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3 gen: 4
    level: v3 note: check built: 2021-22 process: TSMC n7 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x50 (80)
    stepping: 0 microcode: 0xA50000D
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache: L1: 384 KiB
    desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB L3: 16 MiB desc: 1x16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1428 high: 1700 min/max: 1400/3900 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 1700 2: 1400 3: 1400 4: 1414 5: 1400 6: 1400
    7: 1400 8: 1413 9: 1400 10: 1400 11: 1414 12: 1400 bogomips: 93431
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: safe RET, no microcode
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW; STIBP: always-on; RSB
    filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Cezanne [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Mobile Series] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
    arch: GCN-5 code: Vega process: GF 14nm built: 2017-20 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DVI-D-1,HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 30:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:1638 class-ID: 0300 temp: 36.0 C
  Device-2: Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 5-1:2
    chip-ID: 041e:409f class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
    loaded: amdgpu unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22") s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-A-0 model: HDMI serial: <filter> built: 2018 res: 1920x1080
    hz: 60 dpi: 102 gamma: 1.2 size: 477x268mm (18.78x10.55") diag: 600mm (23.6") ratio: 16:9, 15:9
    modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 24.2.8-1mx23ahs renderer: AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi renoir LLVM
    15.0.6 DRM 3.49 6.1.0-37-amd64) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Renoir Radeon High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel
    bus-ID: 5-1:2 v: kernel chip-ID: 041e:409f pcie: class-ID: 0102 gen: 3 serial: <filter>
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 30:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 30:00.6
    chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-37-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000
    bus-ID: 25:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.35 TiB used: 85.34 GiB (6.2%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 model: SATA SSD size: 447.13 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0A0 scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q
    scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Western Digital model: WD5000AUDX-63WNHY0 size: 465.76 GiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 1A01
    scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 465.51 GiB size: 457.13 GiB (98.20%) used: 85.34 GiB (18.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb2 maj-min: 8:18
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 275 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.1 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 37.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2546 libs: 1354 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala pm: rpm pkgs: 0
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/mx/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
    2: deb http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/mx/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
Info:
  Processes: 311 Uptime: 3m wakeups: 1 Memory: 13.54 GiB used: 1.99 GiB (14.7%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

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