Hmm! I don't appear to have an xorg.conf file anywhere (not even in backups from before the problems). I do have xorg.conf.d directories but they seem to be empty both in the current system and in the backups

Yum group list showed I did not have the Desktop Platform or KDE groups. I tried group install but each failed, the Desktop one with clashes on libxml and the KDE with a package with wrong signature. I cannot cut and paste the errors from this iPad so I will forward them separately

Thanks for help, Malcolm

Sent from my iPad

> On 16 Sep 2014, at 21:58, "Karel Lang AFD" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> to solve this, id suggest:
> 1. have a look what is stated in your xorg.conf file - you should have there something like
> 
> 
> Section "InputDevice"
>   # generated from data in "/etc/sysconfig/keyboard"
>   Identifier     "Keyboard0"
>   Driver         "keyboard"
>   Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
>   Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
> EndSection
> 
> 
> 2. log in as root at runlevel 3 and 'startx'
> then switch back to console via ctrl+alt+f1 and have a look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log
> 
> and look for any error message
> switch back to gui via ctrl-alt-f7 to try to type
> 
> 3. check if you have all X server related packages installed - if you run below command you should get those groups installed (except kde if you dont use it) ... as a matter of a fact, you can try to install it and see if you can run keyboard in kde ... ( to install grp run 'yum groupinstall "name of grp"
> 
> yum grouplist
> 
> Desktop
> Desktop Platform
> General Purpose Desktop
> KDE Desktop
> X Window System
> 
> 
> cheers,
> 
> 
>> On 09/16/2014 04:34 PM, MAH Maccallum wrote:
>> I recently had a glitch (my own fault) and had to restore/rebuild. I also upgraded from SL 6.1 to 6,5. After several days struggle I can now boot  up
>> and login using run level 3 but gnome does not seem to accept any keyboard
>> input, either in the password dialog box if I start at run level 5 or in any window or dialog box started after a startx from the run level 3 console.
>> I have found reports of similar problems on the web but none of the solutions suggested (or the exact symptoms) seem to match my problem. Our system
>> guru is on vacation and I have a deadline to meet so I desperately want help to get my
>> GUI back! My best guess is that some file leftover from the old installation is interacting badly with the new: but what? All help gratefully received!
>