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My laptop keyboard suddenly stops working after showing a notification sign, then starts working after I press the Super key. The attached image shows the notification that I'm seeing:

The Interrupt Sign

How can I resolve this?

and my system's chassis type i.e. cat /sys/class/dmi/id/chassis_type is 10

Sachin Naik
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  • Did you try to reboot? What key did you press before showing the sign? – Emoji May 24 '21 at 04:56
  • Can you update your question to include the output of cat /sys/class/dmi/id/chassis_type? Depending on what kind of chassis you have, there's a possibility that Ubuntu thinks your notebook is a tablet, then disables the keyboard to prevent "accidental keypresses". – matigo May 24 '21 at 05:06
  • @Emoji i have tried rebooting, and i have not pressed any perticular key before this sign. – Sachin Naik May 24 '21 at 05:19
  • As I answered here, maybe you are in Hotkey mode. Depending on your keyboard, Super+Esc may exit it. – ILS Feb 27 '24 at 10:51

2 Answers2

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This is something I've seen at work for people using Acer, Toshiba, and HP notebooks. There's a bug in some of the recent 5.x kernels that makes Ubuntu think you're using your notebook in tablet mode, which then disables the keyboard. Pressing Super or one of the F# keys can sometimes restore the ability to type, but it's neither permanent nor something anyone wants to deal with.

Fortunately, you can work around the issue by blocking intel_vbtn from being loaded. Here's how:

  1. Open Terminal (if it's not already open)
  2. Create a new .conf file in /etc/modprobe.d/: 
    sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/block-intel_vbtn.conf
    Note: Feel free to use a different editor of your choosing.
  3. Add this to the file: 
    # This module interferes with the keyboard in 5.x kernels. Do not load.
blacklist intel_vbtn
  4. Save the file
  5. Reboot

If a later kernel resolves the issue, you can delete the file and everything will carry on just as it should.

matigo
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2

Another solution that worked for me :

During boot I am presented with the following screen -

enter image description here

By pressing down key I move the highlighted bar to Advanced options for Ubuntu -

enter image description here

I press Enter and I am presented with the following screen -

enter image description here

By pressing down key I move the highlighted bar to Ubuntu, with Linux 5.11.0-36-generic -

enter image description here

Then, I press Enter and let the system boot as usual. After the system boots and I login I am no longer bugged with the problem.

Payel Senapati
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