[ale] Strange USB mouse problem

[charriglists at bellsouth.net (Calvin Harrigan)]

On 2/24/2010 9:52 PM, JK wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I have an Ubuntu Karmic box that has no PS/2 mouse port.  I have it
> connected to a PS/2 KVM box via a USB/PS2 adapter -- both the
> keyboard and the mouse PS2 cables are multiplexed into a single
> USB port, even though the box does have a PS2 kbd port.
>
> Problem is, about 50% of the time, the mouse is not detected (or
> initialized properly, or something) at boot time.  When this occurs,
> the boot hangs for maybe 30sec while detecting HID devices, then
> proceeds to boot to the login screen. The keyboard *always* works
> fine.  But if that little hang occurs, then the mouse is totally
> incommunicado.  A power-down reboot usually -- but not always --
> fixes the problem.  A soft restart, or even a press of the reset
> button, usually does *not* fix the problem.
>
> I'm not sure it's relevant, but the kbd and mouse are both wireless.
> Can't remember the manufacturer.  So the physical setup is:
>
> mouse/kbd ~~ (IR link) ~~ [PS2 KVM]---[PS2/USB adapter]---[USB port on Karmic box]
>
> I have replaced the AAA batteries in the kbd and mouse with new
> ones, but that did not change the bad behavior.
>
> Unplugging the kbd/mouse USB connector does not help :-(  Or rather
> (just tried it again) it does help if repeated enough times.
>
> This machine has like 8 USB ports, and it doesn't matter which
> one I plug the kbd/mouse into.  I'm pretty sure there are at least
> 3 separate USB controllers on the mobo (an ASUS M3N78-PRO).
>
> Any advice? Am I looking at a hardware problem?
>
> Thanks,
>
> -- JK
>

I have a similar setup/problem on a M4A785-M.  It's a hardware problem. 
  The usb converter/ps2/emulator sometimes conflict with the ps/2 
emulator in the kvm.  I have an iogear kvm which gets so confused 
sometimes that I have to shutdown everything connected to it so it can 
completely powers down before I can get even hot-key switching to work 
again.  I've tried at least three different types of ps/2->usb 
converters all have different issues.  Could be that the kvm is the 
culprit, but it's rock solid without the converters attached.  I've 
experienced mostly mouse issues on ubuntu, gentoo, windows xp, windows 
7, knoppix.  Win 7 is especially susceptible to ps2/kvm issues, seems 
like they re-wrote the driver for the worst.  Yay...