Why isn't the computer accepting input?

lunchtime · June 25, 2007, 1:15pm

I'm using Red Hat Linux 3, and the computer has stopped taking input from mouse, keyboard, etc. What are possible causes? How can I fix?
-Worried Linux User

Neo · June 25, 2007, 1:17pm

Are they USB or serial devices?

lunchtime · June 25, 2007, 1:25pm

They are serial ports, the green and purple plugs. They're plugged into the right holes, too.
I tried unplugging and re-plugging, only after they stopped working. Then I learned this messes it up. I've turned off the monitor cause I don't want to hard boot.

porter · June 25, 2007, 5:14pm

Can you still ping the machine on the network?

Can you still ssh/telnet into the machine?

Do you have getty enabled on any serial ports?

porter · June 25, 2007, 5:15pm

Really? Not PS/2?

Neo · June 26, 2007, 7:35am

Dear Porter,

PS/2 ports use serial communications.

Please turn on your PM so mods can PM you.

Neo

lunchtime · June 26, 2007, 10:38am

I can ping and ssh in from another computer, but I'm not sure how to find out if getty is enabled. I tried to attach my dmesg, but the attacher told me the file was invalid.

-Thanks

porter · June 26, 2007, 1:39pm

Indeed they do but serial normally refers to RS232 ports in these contexts.

Neo · June 26, 2007, 1:39pm

BTW, can you get a USB keyboard and mouse to work?

Neo · June 26, 2007, 1:41pm

Normally, I refer to all serial communications as serial communications.

If you want more context, please provide it. Your short replies without context are not the norm here at unix.com.

In other words, normal is relative

Thanks.

Neo

porter · June 26, 2007, 1:44pm

If you press the numlock/scrolllock/capslock do the lights change?
Are you using X? If so can you use any keyboard combination to flip the screen to a terminal with a login prompt?
If you can log in using ssh can you kill the local X server?

eg, one possiblity is the X server is locked/grabbed/hung.

lunchtime · June 26, 2007, 2:15pm

I tried doing things through ssh and it ended up working out!

Using ssh, I tried shutting down. It didn't shut the machine down, but it brought up a black screen with a command line. I used the command 'exit' and the computer restarted, bringing me back the GUI and normal login.

While the machine was restarting, it told me a mouse had been removed. So, I switched my mouse with another, and told the computer to 'do nothing.' After that, mouse and keyboard both worked.

Thank you both so much for helping me!

-lunchtime