Mouse and keyboard stopped working after restarting the VM

[ceciliaclopez]

Hello, I'm new to VMs. Here is my problem.

I was setting up my Linux guest (in a Windows XP host), openSUSE 11.2, KDE interface.
I wanted to change the keyboard layout. I tried installing some packages (all through the yasp manager) that seemed to involve keyboard configuration but nothing worked.
I found some keyboard map setting in the system tab (etc/config/) and I changed the keyboardmap (from us.map.gz to us.acentos.map.gz). It didn't work, so I tried restarting the VM. After doing that, the keyboard and the mouse didn't work anymore.

I can get to the kernel menu with both keyboard and mouse working (and chose between normal and safe mode), but after that I goes directly to my last KDE session with the whole thing frozen.
* If I click on the screen, I get the "capture warning" - that is all the mouse can do.
* Host+F1 gives me the Help menu; any other key combination does nothing.
* I can completely access the VM menus, that is how I have rebooted it a couple of times, and it is always all the same.

Before the problem I had only installed and configured an email client (Evolution) and Acrobat reader, all through the yasp manager, so I don't think I screwed anything up then. All was working fine till before re-starting the VM (except my attempts to change the keyboard layout).

I'm not sure if this is a VM problem or an openSUSE problem. I have read some post related "keyboard and mouse stopping" but they all seem to be after "new guest additions" that were somehow reverted... I really would like to know how they managed to do anything without a keyboard or mouse!

Thanks,
Cecilia

[Sasquatch]

This sounds like an OpenSuSE issue rather than a VB one. If you get as far as the log in screen where the keyboard and mouse still function, you can change the session to default KDE or simply switch to a TTY there using Host+F1 (or use another Fx key up to F6) and clear your .cache/sessions folder. If that fails, please head to the OpenSuSE forums. They are more specialised for this and it's outside the scope of this forum.

[ceciliaclopez]

After I choose Normal/Failsafe mode, it takes me directly to my last session (it does not show the session menu) already with mouse and keyboard not working.
I tried all sort of key combinations at the Normal/Failsafe menu, but nothing happens (except help, language and keyboard menues for Virtualbox), so I cannot get the TTY mode.

Thanks a lot anyway for your answer.

[ceciliaclopez]

Hello, I solved my problem. I'm posting it here in case it is useful for someone.
It was totally an Opensuse problem, not VM.

I was able to login in console/TTY mode by typing "3" (without quotes) in the GRUB/Normal-or-failsafe menu. The keyboard was working then, and the keyboard layout (KL) was actually changed according to what I had done last.
To solve the mouse/keyboard problem, I run at the prompt "zypper update", which took all the package installations that I have done trying to change the KL back to factory setting.

Then after rebooting it was all working fine. All that I have done previously to the attempts to change the KL was there, so apparently the problem was with the various packages I tried for the KL - although they were all standard (not developer) packages already offered by the Opensuse setup.

Sorry to have bothered the VM community with my -now obviously- Opensuse newbie problem ... feel free to delete this thread if appropiate.