Linux freezing guess: keyboard & mouse (ArchLinux and Ubuntu)

Question

Linux on my PC is freezing a few seconds after startup. I am unable to use the mouse / keyboard. Neither Ubuntu nor Arch do anything after a few seconds. Windows has been running fine for years now.

Found so far:

• When I installed ArchLinux, every time I would fire up my PC it would start filling the console with these characters: ^@6^@6^@6^@6^@6... I had to press half the keyboard for it to go away. I think this has to do with the underlying Linux not with a specific distro.

• When the PC starts and I don't touch anything It won't freeze. I let it on untill I had to relogg, I was able to log in (Keyboard worked). Mouse was moving but I couldn't click anything. Shortly after keyboard was not usable anymore.

I have:

• Unplugged the Keyboard and plugged it into different USB hubs.
• USB Keyboard & mouse (Logitech G710+, Logitech G500) both with cable.
• Asus Rampage 2 Extreme motherboard (http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/RAMPAGE_II_EXTREME/)
• Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, and ArchLinux (used gnome and K).
• Keyboardlayout: Swiss German with Sun Accent
• Tryed another usb and a PS/2 Keyboard
• No USB 3 on my Mainboard
• The Keyboard is plugged directly into the motherboard, changed to different USB ports already.
• Enabled legacy keyboard support
• Turned EHCI off

I can't test things on Linux because it will freeze shortly after start (after the GUI loaded) whatsoever I have access to the drive.

Answer 1

It sounds like you have something funky going on with you USB bus and keyboard. Here are some steps to find the culprit. You may find more than one of these addresses the problem.

1. Try a different keyboard.

2. If this system has a PS/2 port, try a non-USB keyboard.

3. Make sure you aren't using a USB3 port for your keyboard.

4. Plug the keyboard directly into the system, not through a USB hub. Those tend to introduce errors in the device detection routines on first boot.

5. Check you BIOS for the settings involving USB keyboard support: specifically toggle the one about Legacy Keyboard Support. It may be called something different in your BIOS, but try toggling anything along those lines.

6. If you have an option for it, change the USB bus mode in your BIOS. Some systems have an option to run in UHCI, EHCI or OHCI modes. Try a different mode.

Answer 2

You could try disabling evdev in X11, or try to login via ssh and look in X11's logs for suspicious things.

Answer 3

After installation add you user to the plugdev group to use Solaar as non-root user:

# gpasswd -a $USER plugdev