Barely any keyboard input registers on gdm3 login screen, keyboard works fine in BIOS and tty3

xnobodyx · May 6, 2026, 7:16pm

Ubuntu Version:
24.04.4 LTS

Desktop Environment (if applicable):
Gnome

Problem Description:
We have a set of Dell OptiPlex 7070 desktops with near identical configuration. A single machine recently stopped accepting almost all keyboard input on the gdm3 login screen. The same keyboard works without an issue on other machines. Swapping in a different, known-working, keyboard also shows the same issue.

Mouse input and the Screen Keyboard (opened from the accessibility menu) work on the login screen as expected. Keyboard input works without an issue in BIOS/UEFI configuration screens, in GRUB, and in tty3.

Pressing keys rapidly on the login screen after 5-20 seconds a character may appear, but there doesn’t appear to be any pattern to when this happens. If you mash Ctrl+Alt+F3eventually tty3 will appear (after a similar 5-20 second period).

Running evtest in an ssh session show all keypresses registering as expected on the login screen, without delay.

We have been unable to reproduce the behavior on other machines.

Relevant System Information:

Kernel versions tested so far: 6.17.0-23-generic and 6.17.0-22-generic.

dmesg shows the keyboard as:

[    1.372180] usb 1-12: Product: USB Keyboard
[    1.420870] input: LITEON Technology USB Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-12/1-12:1.0/0003:045E:07B9.0002/input/input4
[    1.472524] hid-generic 0003:045E:07B9.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [LITEON Technology USB Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:14.0-12/input0

The only customization we have made to the default gdm3 configuration is settingdisable-user-list=true in /etc/gdm3/greeter.dconf-defaults. The same issue continues after commenting this entry out and running systemctl restart gdm3.

Screenshots or Error Messages:
We haven’t seen any discrepancies comparing dmesg, journalctl, and running processes on the working machines and the non-working machine.

All machines occasionally show usb errors associated with their monitors, but no logs that appear to be related to the keyboard issue?

$ sudo dmesg | grep "usb"
[    0.302846] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    0.302846] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    0.302846] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    0.517679] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002, bcdDevice= 6.17
[    0.517682] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.517684] usb usb1: Product: xHCI Host Controller
[    0.517686] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 6.17.0-23-generic xhci-hcd
[    0.517687] usb usb1: SerialNumber: 0000:00:14.0
[    0.521969] usb usb2: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0003, bcdDevice= 6.17
[    0.521974] usb usb2: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.521977] usb usb2: Product: xHCI Host Controller
[    0.521978] usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 6.17.0-23-generic xhci-hcd
[    0.521980] usb usb2: SerialNumber: 0000:00:14.0
[    0.754906] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[    0.881552] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=0424, idProduct=2734, bcdDevice= 1.28
[    0.881557] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    0.881558] usb 1-5: Product: USB2734
[    0.881560] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: Microchip Tech
[    0.997000] usb 1-8: new low-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[    1.124799] usb 1-8: New USB device found, idVendor=045e, idProduct=0797, bcdDevice= 2.00
[    1.124814] usb 1-8: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    1.124821] usb 1-8: Product: USB Optical Mouse
[    1.240879] usb 1-12: new low-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[    1.372158] usb 1-12: New USB device found, idVendor=045e, idProduct=07b9, bcdDevice= 1.14
[    1.372173] usb 1-12: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    1.372180] usb 1-12: Product: USB Keyboard
[    1.372186] usb 1-12: Manufacturer: LITEON Technology
[    1.412471] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[    1.412479] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[    1.419930] input: USB Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-8/1-8:1.0/0003:045E:0797.0001/input/input3
[    1.420358] hid-generic 0003:045E:0797.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [USB Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:14.0-8/input0
[    1.420870] input: LITEON Technology USB Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-12/1-12:1.0/0003:045E:07B9.0002/input/input4
[    1.472524] hid-generic 0003:045E:07B9.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [LITEON Technology USB Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:14.0-12/input0
[    1.596933] usb 1-5.3: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[    1.684187] usb 1-5.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0424, idProduct=2514, bcdDevice= 0.00
[    1.684192] usb 1-5.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[    1.759915] usb 1-5.4: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd
[    1.847708] usb 1-5.4: New USB device found, idVendor=0424, idProduct=274c, bcdDevice= 2.00
[    1.847718] usb 1-5.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    1.847722] usb 1-5.4: Product: Hub Controller
[    1.847726] usb 1-5.4: Manufacturer: Microchip Tech
[    1.853639] hid-generic 0003:0424:274C.0003: hiddev0,hidraw2: USB HID v1.10 Device [Microchip Tech Hub Controller] on usb-0000:00:14.0-5.4/input0
[    1.971986] usb 1-5.3.3: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[    2.102760] usb 1-5.3.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=58fc, bcdDevice=77.18
[    2.102766] usb 1-5.3.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
[    2.102769] usb 1-5.3.3: Product: Dell_Monitor_IR_Webcam
[    2.102772] usb 1-5.3.3: Manufacturer: F17GAWCM031LON92K6LM
[    2.102774] usb 1-5.3.3: SerialNumber: 200901010001
[    2.180912] usb 1-5.3.4: new full-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[    2.463603] usb 1-5.3.4: New USB device found, idVendor=0572, idProduct=1807, bcdDevice= 0.03
[    2.463608] usb 1-5.3.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    2.463610] usb 1-5.3.4: Product: P2418HZm
[    2.463611] usb 1-5.3.4: Manufacturer: Dell
[    2.463612] usb 1-5.3.4: SerialNumber: 000000000000
[    2.599939] input: Dell P2418HZm Consumer Control as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5/1-5.3/1-5.3.4/1-5.3.4:1.3/0003:0572:1807.0004/input/input5
[    2.652472] input: Dell P2418HZm as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5/1-5.3/1-5.3.4/1-5.3.4:1.3/0003:0572:1807.0004/input/input6
[    2.655271] hid-generic 0003:0572:1807.0004: input,hiddev1,hidraw3: USB HID v1.11 Device [Dell P2418HZm] on usb-0000:00:14.0-5.3.4/input3
[    3.320108] usb 1-5.3.4: 1:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x81
[    3.324443] usb 1-5.3.4: 2:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x1
[    3.344769] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
[    3.435269] usb 1-5.3.3: Found UVC 1.00 device Dell_Monitor_IR_Webcam (0bda:58fc)
[    3.448894] usb 1-5.3.3: Found UVC 1.00 device Dell_Monitor_IR_Webcam (0bda:58fc)
[    3.452755] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[    9.403798] usb 1-5.3.4: 1:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x81

What We’ve Tried:

Swapping out the keyboard, disconnecting all other devices from the desktop, restarting with keyboard both connected and disconnected.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3 and uninstalling and reinstalling gdm3.
Using Xorg for the login screen by setting WaylandEnable=false in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf and systemctl restart gdm3 with the same issue occurring.

any thoughts are much appreciated, thank you.

tea-for-one · May 6, 2026, 10:42pm

Welcome to discourse.ubuntu.com
Have a pleasant stay

No revolutionary thoughts spring to mind, but give this a go:-

Power on
Allow grub to appear
First menu option highlighted, press e (to temporarily edit grub)
Find the line beginning linux
Press spacebar then 3 at the end (similar to below)

linux   /boot/vmlinuz-6.14.0-37-generic root=UUID=13a1f220-a4c5-4d7a-b455-718180ab846a ro quiet splash $vt_handoff 3

F10 or Ctrl x to boot

This should boot into a text session (bypassing the gdm3 login GUI)

Log in to the text session (user name then password)
Start a wayland session

dbus-run-session -- gnome-shell --display-server --wayland

Alternatively, start an X11 (xorg) session

startx

Not really a permanent solution, but it may help to keep the PC operational in the meantime.

xnobodyx · May 7, 2026, 3:22am

thanks for the welcome and suggestions.

also thanks for the reminder, i forgot to say that we were able to start gnome-shell with dbus-run-session, similarly to what you suggested above, once we had access to tty3. keyboard input worked fine in the session.

luckily this one desktop isn’t urgently needed, so we currently have it set aside for testing.

i’m slightly concerned about what might be causing this issue, so hoping to figure it out rather than just formatting and reinstalling. i’m also curious if there might be something obvious (or not so obvious) we are overlooking before going ahead and opening a bug for gdm3 on launchpad.

many thanks again!

g-schick · May 7, 2026, 5:31am

Perhaps I missed it, but have you tried a different display manager (for example, LightDM) to narrow down the problem?

Another thought: is the firmware up to date (e.g. UEFI)?

peterwhite23 · May 7, 2026, 12:00pm

Could this be a conflict between some getty@ instance and gdm3 trying to access the same TTY?

systemctl status 'getty@*'

xnobodyx · May 7, 2026, 7:09pm

thanks for the suggestions, won’t be able to take a look again until monday. will report back!

Actionparsnip · May 10, 2026, 9:51pm

Have you tried the keyboard in a different usb port?

xnobodyx · May 11, 2026, 5:41pm

thanks, i hadn’t tried another display manager. lightdm works without an issue.

sudo apt install lightdm -y
sudo systemctl stop gdm3
sudo systemctl start lightdm

after testing i removed lightdm and restored gdm3 as the default dm with sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3.

All of the other working desktops are on the same firmware version. There was a firmware update available and i installed it with fwupdmgr get-updates && fwupdmgr update however the same problem continues to show up.

over ssh sudo systemctl status ‘getty@*’ returns no output. once I start a local tty login one getty instance then shows up.

yes, we tried multiple usb ports, as well as a different keyboard on multiple ports as well, with no change.

g-schick · May 11, 2026, 6:31pm

Just a guess: I read something about “slow keys” in gdm3 (accessibility feature, you have to keep a key pressed for a few 100 ms). If activated this setting ‘survives’ restart (just tested this on my Noble). To me that sounds a bit like your description.

xnobodyx · May 11, 2026, 6:55pm

thank you, i missed this completely somehow. sticky keys, slow keys and bounce keys had all been turned on in the gdm3 accessibility menu. turning them off was all it took to return to the expected input.

Turn on bounce keys — Ignore quickly-repeated key presses of the same key.
Turn on slow keys — Have a delay between a key being pressed and that letter appearing on the screen.
Turn on sticky keys — Type keyboard shortcuts one key at a time rather than having to hold down all of the keys at once.

system · May 12, 2026, 12:56pm

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