Apps not responding to keyboard input

Support Xfce
1

Running Manjaro xfce on Dell Inspiron 15 (HDD, Intel Core i3). Keyboard works okay on lock screen, allowing me to type password and log in. However, once I log in, apps respond to cursor and trackpad, but do not respond to keyboard. This occurred in Mozilla Firefox, XFCE Terminal, and multiple games installed with Pamac.

edit: Here’s the system info

System:
  Kernel: 6.6.16-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
    root=UUID=a13e30ac-34d4-4c8c-817d-74f3ed98b8b2 rw quiet splash apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 15-3567 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0101J9 v: A00 serial: <superuser required> part-nu: 078B
    uuid: <superuser required> UEFI-[Legacy]: Dell v: 2.9.0 date: 01/17/2019
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 38.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 38.7/41.4 Wh (93.5%)
    volts: 16.6 min: 14.8 model: LGC-LGC2.80 DELL 991XP77 type: Li-poly
    serial: <filter> status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i3-7100U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Amber/Kaby Lake
    note: check gen: core 7 level: v3 note: check built: 2017 process: Intel 14nm
    family: 6 model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 9 microcode: 0xF4
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB
    L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 500 high: 800 min/max: 400/2400 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 400 2: 400 3: 400 4: 800
    bogomips: 19204
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: conditional,
    RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports: active: eDP-1
    empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5916 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-5:2 chip-ID: 0c45:6a05
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.11 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver:
    X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915
    display-ID: :0.0 note: <missing: xdpyinfo/xrandr>
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display 0x0671 built: 2016 res: 1366x768
    dpi: 101 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64") diag: 395mm (15.5")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: 1366x768
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris
    inactive: gbm,wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 23.3.5-manjaro1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:5916 memory: 7.36 GiB unified: yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.6.16-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.3 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Dell driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:0042 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000
    bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-8:4 chip-ID: 0cf3:e009
    class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 14.9 GiB (1.6%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM035-1RK172
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> fw-rev: SDM2 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 915.81 GiB (98.31%) used: 14.9 GiB (1.6%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C pch: 33.0 C mobo: 33.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0
Repos:
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1132 libs: 351 tools: pamac pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1: https://forksystems.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    2: https://mirror.erickochen.nl/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    3: https://ftpmirror1.infania.net/mirror/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    4: https://manjaro.ynh.ovh/stable/$repo/$arch
    5: https://mirrors.xtom.ee/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    6: https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    7: https://mirror.bouwhuis.network/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    8: https://manjaro.mirror.liquidtelecom.com/stable/$repo/$arch
Info:
  Memory: total: 8 GiB note: est. available: 7.54 GiB used: 1.08 GiB (14.3%)
  Processes: 184 Power: uptime: 1d 1h 32m states: freeze,mem,disk
    suspend: deep avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown,
    reboot, suspend, test_resume image: 3 GiB
    services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager Init: systemd v: 255
    default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: clang: 16.0.6 gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.26
    running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.33
2

Hi, I had same issue (once a week or so) with my previous laptop, Never identified the cause. But discovered openning a terminal emulator and typing a key wakes up the keyboard.

3

Hullo,
Is this a new install, or a new occurrence on an existing install?

Also, please share system info;

inxi -Farzy

See also this guide on how to format code etc;

4

Seems to have gone away on its own. Good to know in case it happens again.

5

existing install, cannot run that command due to the issue. Issue went away on its own, but came back on restart of the computer

6

Could it be that keyboard work where the mouse pointer is? Try to put the mouse pointer over where you want to type something. If that makes you able to type, then your issue sounds somewhat similar to mine