Hi,
the X server on RHEL 6 can go without xorg.conf while creating needed 
parameters for itself 'on the fly' when starts.
But you can still control you X server via custom 'xorg.conf'

e.g. my laptop:

[root@orionis ~]# ls -al /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/xorg.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1748 Jul 30 08:43 /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/xorg.conf

e.g. my xorg.conf :


# Xorg configuration

Section "ServerLayout"
     Identifier     "Default Layout"
     Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
     InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
     InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
     # generated from default
     Identifier     "Mouse0"
     Driver         "mouse"
     Option         "Protocol" "auto"
     Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
     Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
     Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
     Identifier     "Keyboard0"
     Driver         "kbd"
     Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
     Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
     Identifier     "Monitor0"
     VendorName     "Unknown"
     ModelName      "Unknown"
     HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
     VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
     Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
     Identifier     "Videocard0"
     Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
     Identifier     "Screen0"
     Device         "Videocard0"
     Monitor        "Monitor0"
     DefaultDepth    24
     SubSection     "Display"
         Viewport    0 0
         Depth       24
     EndSubSection
EndSection




also, you can use 'xinput --list' to list input devices



On 09/17/2014 01:40 PM, MAH Maccallum wrote:
> 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!
>>
>