No mouse, can't install

When you run into problems installing MX Linux XFCE
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ribroast
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:25 pm

No mouse, can't install

#1 Post by ribroast »

Kind of a long story, in short:
The motherboard is a old mini itx with a embedded celeron processor. It has only had Linux on it, Debian stable mostly. It served as a server for 6 yrs. When I built a new server, it became a office computer with MX Linux on it, and it worked perfect. I borrowed the motherboard recently when another computer went down, and I just reassembled it with all the same parts. The HD was never removed, so it booted right up, connected to WIFI by itself, but no mouse. After failing to fix this problem, I reinstalled MX Linux, no mouse. Tried every USB port with no less than 5 mice, including a wired USB mouse, no luck. Next I pulled the HD and formatted it on a different machine, no mouse running off the live disk image. I plugged in a wireless keyboard with a touch pad, works! The wireless keyboard is a Rii, and it is very hard to get the pointer where you need it, but it does indeed move the pointer around, plus, I was able to change volume and type with this keyboard. The keyboard I intend to use works fine as well, but it is a PS2. Wish I had a PS2 mouse. I went into the BIOS and changed one setting, made no difference so I changed it back. The USB is all enabled in there anyways. Its been years since I opened the bios on this machine, so the settings should not have changed. The mice I've tried where: 3 Logitech with three different unifying receivers, all the old style ones and these all work on other Linux computers. A old Microsoft wireless mouse and a wired USB mouse. I have some bluetooth mice laying around, but I think it would be more of a hassle to try them. I've had problems with MX Linux and bluetooth in the past.
During the same time as I was fighting with this computer I installed MX Linux on a old Panasonic CF-31. I had a Logitech unifying receiver plugged in when I booted up the live disk image, and it works perfect there. In fact, I was amazed how well MX took to that machine. I tried that mouse and receiver in the problem computer, no luck.
I've built at least 20 computers in my Life, and I've put Linux on most of them at one time or another. I've had and eventually solved many problems on my Linux machines, but I'm stumped. The USB ports are working, but even the mouse with the wire on it won't do a thing. MX is currently my Linux of choice, but I'm going to try Ubuntu next and see what happens.
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ribroast
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:25 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#2 Post by ribroast »

No luck with Ubuntu either. Kind of strange, booted off a USB stick, no mouse, shut down and swap the USB ports. The 'puter will boot from multiple USB ports but no mouse will work with any. I'm seriously afraid nobody will believe this story, but it's true. This computer is not urgent for me to get going, as long as my server is working I can pay my bills from a different computer. I am stubborn though, so there is that.
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Vektor
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2021 8:00 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#3 Post by Vektor »

I keep all old hardware I can find just for your scenario. You never know when something will save your bacon.

Please post your QSI.

Vektor
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j2mcgreg
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Re: No mouse, can't install

#4 Post by j2mcgreg »

Go to your local computer shop and pick up one of these:

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product ... _id=008052
HP 15; ryzen 3 5300U APU; 500 Gb SSD; 8GB ram
HP 17; ryzen 3 3200; 500 GB SSD; 12 GB ram
Idea Center 3; 12 gen i5; 256 GB ssd;

In Linux, newer isn't always better. The best solution is the one that works.
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ribroast
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:25 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#5 Post by ribroast »

j2mcgreg wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 6:35 pm Go to your local computer shop and pick up one of these:

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product ... _id=008052
I know there are at least four of them in a box around here somewhere. I kind of live in the sticks, the closest Best Buy is 150 miles away. There is a Walmart 50 miles from me, but they don't have jack smith anymore. I'll go digging, and maybe come up with a PS2 mouse even. Otherwise, its a week's wait for me to get stuff delivered. I appreciate the input, getting a PS2 mouse connected would be the next logical step. Do you think the problem is hardware or software related? I'm thinking it has to be something in the motherboard, since both MX and Ubuntu have the same problem. The motherboard was billed as a server MB (Gigabyte) and it has the thickest slab of silicone I've seen. The caps are supposed to be high quality, I don't know, but that thing ran 24x7 for six years, maybe its shot. Funny how that happens sometimes when you pull it out of one machine, working, and it goes bad when you put it in another minutes later. The problem is not logical to me.
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ribroast
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:25 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#6 Post by ribroast »

Vektor wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 6:11 pm I keep all old hardware I can find just for your scenario. You never know when something will save your bacon.




I hear you. That wired mouse I have has saved my bacon a couple of times in the past. I've got boxes of that stuff, but it's not very well organized. It is the mystery of this problem that makes me want to figure it out. This motherboard does not owe me anything at this point.
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Mauser
Posts: 1506
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:32 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#7 Post by Mauser »

ribroast wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 10:04 pm
j2mcgreg wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 6:35 pm Go to your local computer shop and pick up one of these:

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product ... _id=008052
I know there are at least four of them in a box around here somewhere. I kind of live in the sticks, the closest Best Buy is 150 miles away. There is a Walmart 50 miles from me, but they don't have jack smith anymore. I'll go digging, and maybe come up with a PS2 mouse even. Otherwise, its a week's wait for me to get stuff delivered. I appreciate the input, getting a PS2 mouse connected would be the next logical step. Do you think the problem is hardware or software related? I'm thinking it has to be something in the motherboard, since both MX and Ubuntu have the same problem. The motherboard was billed as a server MB (Gigabyte) and it has the thickest slab of silicone I've seen. The caps are supposed to be high quality, I don't know, but that thing ran 24x7 for six years, maybe its shot. Funny how that happens sometimes when you pull it out of one machine, working, and it goes bad when you put it in another minutes later. The problem is not logical to me.
Try plugging in a keyboard in each USB port to see if the USB ports are good or not. If the keyboard works then you have narrowed it down to a configuration problem with the mouse.
I am command line illiterate. :confused: I copy & paste to the terminal. Liars, Wiseguys, Trolls, and those without manners will be added to my ignore list. :mad:
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Stuart_M
Posts: 699
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:10 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#8 Post by Stuart_M »

Something else you may want to try in troubleshooting is to monitor what happens when you connect and disconnect a USB device. Below are two suggestions for monitoring in real-time what happens. Just FYI, I am using MX-19.4 Xfce.

The first is using udevadm monitor which will monitor received events that udev sends out as well as the kernel uevent, both occur in real-time.
  1. Enter udevadm monitor in a terminal.
  2. Disconnect the mouse USB cable from the motherboard.
  3. Enter a few line-feeds in the Terminal to separate the next event to make it easier to read.
  4. Connect the mouse USB cable to the motherboard.
  5. Ctrl+C to cancel out of the monitoring mode
The below code window shows those two outputs for me. Note that "mouse0" is shown as being added 12 lines up from the last line.

Code: Select all

udevadm monitor
monitor will print the received events for:
UDEV - the event which udev sends out after rule processing
KERNEL - the kernel uevent

KERNEL[8080.218520] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/input/input25/mouse0 (input)
UDEV  [8080.220305] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/input/input25/mouse0 (input)
KERNEL[8080.240366] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/input/input25/event3 (input)
UDEV  [8080.241311] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/input/input25/event3 (input)
KERNEL[8080.260357] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/input/input25 (input)
KERNEL[8080.260408] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/hidraw/hidraw1 (hidraw)
KERNEL[8080.260446] unbind   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008 (hid)
KERNEL[8080.260487] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008 (hid)
KERNEL[8080.260525] unbind   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
KERNEL[8080.260565] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
UDEV  [8080.261480] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/input/input25 (input)
UDEV  [8080.261730] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008/hidraw/hidraw1 (hidraw)
KERNEL[8080.262222] unbind   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
KERNEL[8080.262273] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
UDEV  [8080.262896] unbind   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008 (hid)
UDEV  [8080.263460] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0008 (hid)
UDEV  [8080.264254] unbind   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
UDEV  [8080.264892] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
UDEV  [8080.265907] unbind   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
UDEV  [8080.266534] remove   /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
KERNEL[8080.934487] add      /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
KERNEL[8080.934540] bind     /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
KERNEL[8080.934564] unbind   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
KERNEL[8080.934585] remove   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8080.935105] add      /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8080.935422] bind     /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8080.935696] unbind   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8080.935898] remove   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)



-------the below is the output after connecting the mouse USB cable---------
KERNEL[8098.128553] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
KERNEL[8098.134035] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
KERNEL[8098.144233] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009 (hid)
KERNEL[8098.144398] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/input/input26 (input)
KERNEL[8098.144462] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/input/input26/mouse0 (input)
KERNEL[8098.144502] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/input/input26/event3 (input)
KERNEL[8098.144539] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/hidraw/hidraw1 (hidraw)
KERNEL[8098.144586] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009 (hid)
KERNEL[8098.144634] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
KERNEL[8098.144687] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
UDEV  [8098.662900] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
UDEV  [8098.664592] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
UDEV  [8098.665659] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009 (hid)
UDEV  [8098.667330] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/hidraw/hidraw1 (hidraw)
UDEV  [8098.667475] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/input/input26 (input)
UDEV  [8098.669592] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/input/input26/mouse0 (input)
UDEV  [8098.721796] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009/input/input26/event3 (input)
UDEV  [8098.722709] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.0009 (hid)
UDEV  [8098.723843] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0 (usb)
UDEV  [8098.728964] bind     /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8 (usb)
KERNEL[8099.204391] add      /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
KERNEL[8099.204443] bind     /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
KERNEL[8099.204473] unbind   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
KERNEL[8099.204498] remove   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8099.204893] add      /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8099.205166] bind     /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8099.205421] unbind   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)
UDEV  [8099.205617] remove   /devices/parport0/ppdev0.0 (parport)


I think the second method is easier to understand.
  1. Enter dmesg -w in a Terminal (the -w option is to wait for new messages; display in real-time).
  2. Enter sereral line-feeds to separate the next output from the prior output to make it easier to read.
  3. Disconnect the mouse USB cable from the motherboard.
  4. Again enter several line-feeds to separate the text for easier reading.
  5. Connect the mouse USB cable to the motherboard.
  6. Ctrl+C to cancel out of the monitoring mode
The below code window shows the output I got after disconnecting and connecting the mouse USB cable (I did not include the text prior to those two events):

Code: Select all

[ 8220.593832] usb 1-8: USB disconnect, device number 7
[ 8220.786463] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=fe80:0000:0000:0000:7d35:f4b0:2c72:faeb DST=ff02:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 LEN=64 TC=0 HOPLIMIT=1 FLOWLBL=218873 PROTO=UDP SPT=8612 DPT=8612 LEN=24 
[ 8220.786488] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=fe80:0000:0000:0000:7d35:f4b0:2c72:faeb DST=ff02:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 LEN=64 TC=0 HOPLIMIT=1 FLOWLBL=481662 PROTO=UDP SPT=8612 DPT=8610 LEN=24 
[ 8220.796601] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=fe80:0000:0000:0000:7d35:f4b0:2c72:faeb DST=ff02:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 LEN=64 TC=0 HOPLIMIT=1 FLOWLBL=218873 PROTO=UDP SPT=8612 DPT=8612 LEN=24 
[ 8220.796614] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=fe80:0000:0000:0000:7d35:f4b0:2c72:faeb DST=ff02:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 LEN=64 TC=0 HOPLIMIT=1 FLOWLBL=481662 PROTO=UDP SPT=8612 DPT=8610 LEN=24 


------the below is the output after connecting the mouse USB connector------
[ 8231.550380] usb 1-8: new low-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[ 8231.875266] usb 1-8: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=c077, bcdDevice=72.00
[ 8231.875269] usb 1-8: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 8231.875271] usb 1-8: Product: USB Optical Mouse
[ 8231.875273] usb 1-8: Manufacturer: Logitech
[ 8231.891336] input: Logitech USB Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.3/0000:03:00.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:046D:C077.000A/input/input27
[ 8231.891512] hid-generic 0003:046D:C077.000A: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Logitech USB Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:03:00.0-8/input0
[ 8232.427317] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=fe80:0000:0000:0000:7d35:f4b0:2c72:faeb DST=ff02:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 LEN=64 TC=0 HOPLIMIT=1 FLOWLBL=218873 PROTO=UDP SPT=8612 DPT=8612 LEN=24 
[ 8232.427333] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=fe80:0000:0000:0000:7d35:f4b0:2c72:faeb DST=ff02:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 LEN=64 TC=0 HOPLIMIT=1 FLOWLBL=481662 PROTO=UDP SPT=8612 DPT=8610 LEN=24 
[ 8232.437457] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=fe80:0000:0000:0000:7d35:f4b0:2c72:faeb DST=ff02:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 LEN=64 TC=0 HOPLIMIT=1 FLOWLBL=218873 PROTO=UDP SPT=8612 DPT=8612 LEN=24
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ribroast
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:25 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#9 Post by ribroast »

Mauser wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:42 pm
ribroast wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 10:04 pm
j2mcgreg wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 6:35 pm Go to your local computer shop and pick up one of these:

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product ... _id=008052
I know there are at least four of them in a box around here somewhere. I kind of live in the sticks, the closest Best Buy is 150 miles away. There is a Walmart 50 miles from me, but they don't have jack smith anymore. I'll go digging, and maybe come up with a PS2 mouse even. Otherwise, its a week's wait for me to get stuff delivered. I appreciate the input, getting a PS2 mouse connected would be the next logical step. Do you think the problem is hardware or software related? I'm thinking it has to be something in the motherboard, since both MX and Ubuntu have the same problem. The motherboard was billed as a server MB (Gigabyte) and it has the thickest slab of silicone I've seen. The caps are supposed to be high quality, I don't know, but that thing ran 24x7 for six years, maybe its shot. Funny how that happens sometimes when you pull it out of one machine, working, and it goes bad when you put it in another minutes later. The problem is not logical to me.
Try plugging in a keyboard in each USB port to see if the USB ports are good or not. If the keyboard works then you have narrowed it down to a configuration problem with the mouse.
Well it does boot from several ports off of a live usb stick, and a small Rii keyboard with a touch-pad works with it's receiver. The Rii touch-pad is practically useless, the pointer don't move at all, and then shoots across the screen. I honestly believe there is something funky with the board itself. In my experience, a computer either posts, or not. If it fails to post on a new build, what did I do? If it fails to post after its been working for years, that's bad. This computer boots up like normal, everything in the bios looks normal, and the usb ports on the back of the mobo work with everything but a mouse. Plus, I took it out of a working computer and literally walked over to its new home and installed it there. I put it back in the same case that it lived in for over six years. Mouse problems are supposed to be software related, driver related. But I have the same problem with both the MX live setup and Ubuntu.
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Vektor
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2021 8:00 pm

Re: No mouse, can't install

#10 Post by Vektor »

I hope I am following your steps correctly.

Can you swap the power supply with a known good one? The usb output can be off by just a little and wreak havoc.

Also maybe reseat all of the connectors on the motherboard. I live in Florida, USA and the humidity is wacko on the connectors. Any corrosion reduces contact area, and the more current needed the higher the voltage drop. Do a good visual.

Check the power supply for clogged airways.

Vektor
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