Keyboard Issue on Linux OS

[krittis]

I have a small problem with my Lenovo s10-3c when running *any* Linux operating system (I have tried Fedora, Fluppy, Ubuntu, and Mandriva so far, along with multiple versions). For any of the distros, my keyboard does not respond in any way. Even when I press CAPS LOCK, the light does not appear. Booting in the command line mode also does not work as I cannot type anything.

If anyone has any information as to why my keyboard is incompatible with Linux, and if there is a way to fix it, then please let me know. However, since I haven't really been able to get Linux to work yet, please give me detailed instructions if I need to do any sort of "fancy" Linux stuff!

Thanks a lot for your assistance!

[tgb]

I am not sure if this will help or not since I am using an S10-3 and not a 3c. I assume you are installing the netbook versions of Linux and not the desktop versions? I tried installing Ubuntu 10.04 i-386 desktop version and had problems somewhat similar to yours. I removed it and installed the Ubuntu 10.04 i-386 netbook version and it has worked perfectly. I did the install from a USB flash drive with the full ISO file (not the Live CD version).

Though this is somewhat irrelevant to your particular question, but to let you know about the S10-3 compatibility with Windows and Linux: I am running the Ubuntu netbook Linux as a dual boot with Win 7 Pro 32-bit which I installed in place of the Starter edition. I also replaced the 1 GB RAM with 2 GB before upgrading the Win 7. Both of these OS are performing well on the S10-3 and I have had no problems (other than the usual MS junk).

[minahold]

I have the same problem. I have an s10-3c. I loaded puppy 5.11 and tried other puppy versions. the keyboard does not function. Help!

[lanser]

Minahold. I am running Mint 9 Debian on my S10-3. No issues apart from the brightness keys not working.
Fixed this via creating a couple of launchers on the desktop to manually set the brightness.
I expect the issue will be resolved when distros ship with 2.6.36 or later.

Lanser

[bond1977]

"noapic acpi=off" is the answer to this problem for lenovo s10-3c

1. at the GRUB Menu put your cursor on the line that will load your ubuntu OS (not the recovery mode)
2. then hit "e" to edit the line
3. look for the word quiet splash and put your cursor after the word splash
4. then type "noapic acpi=off" (without the quotes) after the word splash
5. then pres "CTRL X"
6. then cross your fingers, hehehe...

hope this will help your problem coz to me it really solve my problem.
this is an old solution (2007), i dont know why linux kernel developers were not able to solve this bug.

[zurggie]

Just install Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick on s10-3c... The solution above work but not permanent. You can only use keyboard in that session. After restart, you have to type the command again in GRUB menu. Also with "noapic acpi=off", I cannot shutdown my s10-3c properly. Have to use the power button to shutdown.

[Zaephor]

Not sure if this would work for everyone here, since I'm new to the party and only working with an S10-3.
I hadn't seen anything of people using the noapic and apci=off until this thread, but since Ubuntu 10.10 is having boot halting issues related to some apci stuff thought maybe the kernel flag I found elsewhere might help out the S10-3c users.
To get things running I've been adding "intel_idle.max_cstate=0" to everything. And to get it to stick in grub it just needs to be added in the /etc/default/grub file, then run sudo update-grub

[psychedelic]

Dear Zaephor,
the only issue with your solution is that the grub file is not editable. (/etc/default/grub).
"You are not the owner, so you cannot change these permissions." is the message displayed.
But I AM the owner. So , I don't know what to do.
Please, any help is appreciated.

[EagleClaw]

psychedelic;

You are not the owner. Root is the owner and as such you need to execute the command as superuser (root).
To do that, you type "sudo vim /etc/default/grub", assuming you use vim as your text editor. You can use any text editor you like.
When it asks for the root password, in case you didn't change it after install, type in your regular user password.
I hope it helps.

[psychedelic]

Dear EagleClaw,
Thankyou for your help.
This is what i did:
i tried "sudo gedit /etc/default/grub" and added "noapic accpi=off" after quiet splash. So, the line looks like: "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash noapic acpi=off"
Then i saved the grub file, and ran "sudo update-grub" it did come up with some lines like:
psychedelic@Lenovo-S10-3c:~$ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for psychedelic:
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic
Found GRUB 2: /boot/grub/core.img
Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

and then when it was done i restarted my system ..But again the keyboard refuses to work. So, I had to press E on my keyboard to add "noapic acpi=off" after the "splash" word for the keyboard to work.
Please, i'd appreciate it if you can correct my mistake and point me in the correct direction once more.