USB mouse not activated when plugged afterwards

[Hervé Cauwelier (bug tracking)]

For a long time I run breezy with ubuntu-desktop and ubuntu-base kept installed.
For probably a few months, my USB mouse is not activated if I plug it after the
kernel and X have started. I didn't noticed it until recently because I have the
habit to plug the mouse immediately. Restarting hotplug, discover, etc. won't help.

This is a Dell Latitude X300 and the USB port I use is direct, not on a media
bay or something.

Here is the diff of `lsmod` without the mouse and with:

--- lsmod-avant.txt 2005-09-01 09:45:45.000000000 +0200
+++ lsmod-apres.txt 2005-09-01 09:50:08.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 Module Size Used by
-usbhid 35168 0
 binfmt_misc 11496 1
 rfcomm 38460 0
 l2cap 24740 5 rfcomm
@@ -24,6 +23,8 @@
 battery 9348 0
 container 4384 0
 ac 4708 0
+mousedev 11616 1
+tsdev 7776 0
 evdev 9664 1
 psmouse 29924 0
 rtc 12344 0
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@
 fan 4484 0
 ide_disk 18464 5
 ide_generic 1376 0
+usbhid 35168 0
 tg3 96772 0
 piix 10372 1
 ide_core 138772 3 ide_disk,ide_generic,piix

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Could you attach the following files:

 /etc/modules
 /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Thanks.

[Hervé Cauwelier (bug tracking) (debian-oursours)]

Created an attachment (id=3487)
/etc/modules

[Hervé Cauwelier (bug tracking) (debian-oursours)]

Created an attachment (id=3488)
Personnal xorg.conf used in prior to /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

How did you install this box?

It looks like you've removed "mousedev" from /etc/modules, which is placed there
by the installer.

Put the following two lines into /etc/modules and see if you can plug/unplug
after a reboot:

  mousedev
  psmouse

[Hervé Cauwelier (bug tracking) (debian-oursours)]

This is probably the case, some "let's clean the box" action. But I'm surprised
device detection won't work for a USB mouse.

I add the lines, I'll report when I switch on the computer tonight, without the
mouse.

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

It looks like, from your lsmod output, that the driver is being detected and
automatically loaded (it's in the after list) but probably a bit too late for
the happy plug/unplug stuff to work. We load it early to make sure it's there
for X, which is still a bit 70s and doesn't do hotplug well.

[Hervé Cauwelier (bug tracking) (debian-oursours)]

It does the trick but here is another report.

I first added those two modules on top of the current ones and restarted
(well... it ran out of battery). I powered the laptop with the mouse still
plugged and it was not moving at all. I noticed /dev/input/mice was not created.
Then I moved those modules after the ones I was using and now I can plug the
mouse whenever I want.

You may want to take this into account when generating /etc/modules at Ubuntu
installation. Feel free to resolve/fix the bug or I'll do it in a few days.

Anyway, you rock!

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Not really sure why the driver order makes a difference, unless you suffered
from #12915 which we just fixed (first few modules listed in /etc/modules didn't
actually get plugged properly).

Amusingly, the reason you got this odd behaviour from X is because your core
input device is the synaptics touchpad -- so as long as that's there, X will
start. The fact that /dev/input/mice is missing just means it decides not to
bother with it. This is why we load the module early, so it exists by the time
X starts and we can be absolutely sure that any plugged or unplugged mice just
work because X doesn't know about it.

Anyway, sounds like you're all fixed up, so I'll close this.