No PS2 Mouse on Knoppix 3.8.1

[roadrash]

For some reason my PS2 mouse won't work in Knoppix 3.8.1 yet it does work on everything else like mepis, ubuntu & the previous knoppix V3.7

I Tried booting with the comand: knoppix pci=irqmask=0x0e98 and even flashed my motherboard with the latest bios.

My motherboard is a Asus A7V333
Processor AMD XP1700+
256mb Ram
Geforce 4


Can anyone tell how to get it working?

[roadrash]

isn't there anyone that has a solution to this.

I was looking forward to trying the latest Knoppix 3.8.1.

There must be a way to get it working after all it worked alright in v 3.7

[Harry Kuhman]

I really have no idea, as both PS2 mice and USB mice have worked fine for me, and as you pointed out it worked in 3.7. But just on a hunch, you might want to look on the belly of that mouse and see if there is a switch marked somethig like Microsoft/Mouse System (actually, any switch). If so, try booting Knoppix with the switch in the other position. I don't have any confidence that this will help, but it's all I can think of. Have you tried other mice? It would be nice to know if it's a MB issue or a rodent issue. Mice are plentiful, I have many in my house, and a good number of them are the computer kind.

[roadrash]

I'll try another mouse tomorrow.

But just for your information, My mouse is a microsoft ps2 intellimouse (2 button, wheel mouse).

[Harry Kuhman]

I'll try another mouse tomorrow.
But just for your information, My mouse is a microsoft ps2 intellimouse (2 button, wheel mouse).
Well then I don't expect that there is a switch on the mouse and I rather doubt that the problem will turn out to be the mouse. I have a basic Microsoft Optical Mouse that I can use (although I've used it as a USB mouse recently, since I've found it handy to plug another keyboard into the notebook and it only has one PS2 port. I'm out of ideas on what you can look for when switching mice doesn't work.

[Paul_E]

Hi All:

I am almost embarrassed to admit that I tried this, but
booting with the option

acpi=off

seems to solve the problem (on older computers
with suspect ACPI support).

Enjoy!

Paul Eggermont

[Harry Kuhman]

Hi All:
I am almost embarrassed to admit that I tried this, but
booting with the option
acpi=off
seems to solve the problem....
I'm confused by your post in this thread Paul. You almost seem to be saying that you were posting the above problem but now you have it resolved. However, you do not seem to be the same person as roadrash, you're not even in the same country. Did you mean to post this in a different thread perhaps?

[Paul_E]

Harry:

It should have mentioned explicitly that it relates
to PS/2 mouse problems!

But the acpi=off business does resolve the
problem with PS/2 mice on two of my old computers
(an old HP pc, about the same as roadrash's setup, and
also on a Gateway PIII (500Mhz) system). Without it, the
PS/2 mice get ``detected'' as USB mice, with the
above boot option, it gets detected and configured the
correct way.

Hope this clears it up

Paul

[Kristallprinz]

Hi there,

I have exactly the same problem as ROADRASH: My PS/2 mouse does not work on Knoppix v3.8.1

First a little hardware data:

ASUS A7S333
Athlon XP 2400+
512 MB RAM
GeForce 4

I tried everything to solve my problem: The "pci=irqmask=0x0e98" cheat, flashing the newest BIOS, the "acpi=off" hint
from PAUL_E....... nothing worked. On the other hand, the KNOPPIX seems to detect my mouse right.


I usually work with a Wndows 2000 Pro, no problems there...
I first thought about the unusualy chipset my MB has (SIS 745), but after checking I found that ROADRASH's board has a VIA chipset, so this seems to be not the cause. Anyway, maybe the ASUS xxx333 series has another flaw (some sort of), which makes it problematic for the newest KNOPPIX.....


PLEASE HELP!

[atrick-pay]

mite give this boot cheat a try: psmouse.proto=imps

[Kristallprinz]

@ atrick-pay:
Thanks for the cheat, but it does not work either :(



Anybody other suggestions?
Or any thoughts WHY this happens? I just dont get it.....

[Kristallprinz]

I now have found some evidence:

My system works fine with KNOPPIX v3.7, but has already problems with the experimental
2.6.9 Kernel on the v3.7.

Now that v3.8.1 has only Kernel v2.6.11, it seems that in this Kernel some bug exists which
prevents us from using our mice....


Maybe anybody know a Workaround?

I will post this to the BUGS.......

[Oswald Glinkmeyer]

In 3.7, the mouse works fine. In 3.8.1 mouse doesn't work. And to top it off, the ethernet adaptor on my USB is also not detected. Both pieces of hardware work fine under 3.7.

Hadn't considered it to be related to the Kernel, but I am having similar problems in MiniSlack 0.4, so will take a peek at whatever kernel it is using, and maybe I can roll that back to something else.

glink

[tilleyrw]

As per the title, when booting Knoppix from CD by pressing ENTER at the "boot:" prompt gives me a functioning Linux box.

If I enter any combination of strings, i.e. "knoppix" "install", etc. as boot strings -- my PS2 mouse is not installed.

How can I tell Knoppix to install a copy of the CD to the hard disk and nothing else? Would "knoppix tohd=/dev/hda1" accomplish this?

Thanks, Bob

[John Emerson]

Just downloaded Knoppix last night. Found the PS2 mouse problem right away, of course. Tried cheats found here and elsewhere, nothing worked. Tried CTRL-ALT-F1, unplugged the mini-DIN from the back of my Kensington Expert Mouse, plugged it back, CTRL-ALT-F5, mouse now works. This works every time for my system. I also tried it with an old Microsoft mouse in the PS2 port, and that worked as well. Hope this helps somone.

[Oswald Glinkmeyer]

...Tried CTRL-ALT-F1, unplugged the mini-DIN from the back of my Kensington Expert Mouse, plugged it back, CTRL-ALT-F5, mouse now works. This works every time for my system. ...

Neat trick. I'd tried unplugging and re-plugging. I hadn't tried it while at an alternative terminal.

Still, it would be nice if the mouse just worked the way it did under 3.7 :?

glink

[lylewinton]

Regarding "no PS2 Mouse on Knoppix 3.8.1". I'm having this problem with 3.9 also.
A quick look at the XF86Config-4 setup and it seems that the config was the problem.
The device /dev/input/mice should have the following protocol set...


Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"

An explanation: In kernel 2.6 ALL mice (including PS/2 mice) are exported by
the kernel as ExplorerPS/2 mice via the input subsystem /dev/input/mice .
And in fact, this should be the only mouse device in XF86Config-4 otherwise
you can get double events (eg. accidental double clicks).

How to fix it: Press ctrl-alt-F2 to get a terminal. Then type "vi /etc/X11/XF86Config-4"
(or maybe "pico /etc/X11/XF86Config-4" for those who don't know VI). Then
modify the "Protocol" line of the "/dev/input/mice" Device section. Save. Then press
ctrl-alt-F5 to get back to X or the GUI. Then press ctrl-alt-backspace to restart X.
Unfortunately this change isn't permanent on a live-CD. Duh... ;)

Being relatively new to Knoppix, who do I contact to submit this as a bug fix?

Cheers,
Lyle.