CentOS - May 2009 - Problem with Logitech wireless keyboard EX110

I got a Logitech EX110 wireless keyboard and mouse set about a year or
so ago, maybe more.  The number pad on the keyboard stopped working
after a while, so I complained to Logitech, and they sent me a new
keyboard (actually, the whole set).

I've had the problem on and off again a couple of times since then,
but it usually only lasts a few days before all is well again.

However, my son also has the same set (well, same model, different
pieces of hardware) on his Windows XP machine, and he has _never_ had
this problem.  Tonight, he suggested that it might be a Linux problem,
so I took our spare keyboard of this same type and switched them on my
machine.

Surprise: the new keyboard has exactly the same problem - no response
from the number pad.

Actually, that's not entirely accurate.  The num lock and the Enter
key both work, but the 5 key produces some control combination I don't
recognize (seems to behave something like ^V of a previously ^X'd
clipboard copy, unrelated to the current input), and the + key which
seems to produce something like ^V^V, or "highlight the current
terminal line" or something, but none of the other keys work at all.

In any case, it looks like this is a problem with the keyboard driver,
not the keyboard hardware.

If I replace the wireless set with a wired keyboard and mouse, without
rebooting, the mouse works, but the keyboard does not.  (Apparently,
after I tried the following, it turned out to be a bad keyboard....)

If I replace the keyboard and reboot, oh, foo, bad keyboard.  But!  If
I reboot with a good keyboard, it works, and then I can switch back to
the wireless set and everything works, _including_ the number pad:
0.123456789/*-+

Is there a way to refresh the keyboard driver without rebooting?

Anyway, thoughts, suggestions, etc. welcome.

mhr

On Thu, May 28, 2009, MHR wrote:
>I got a Logitech EX110 wireless keyboard and mouse set about a year or
>so ago, maybe more.  The number pad on the keyboard stopped working
>after a while, so I complained to Logitech, and they sent me a new
>keyboard (actually, the whole set).
>
>I've had the problem on and off again a couple of times since then,
>but it usually only lasts a few days before all is well again.
>
>However, my son also has the same set (well, same model, different
>pieces of hardware) on his Windows XP machine, and he has _never_ had
>this problem.  Tonight, he suggested that it might be a Linux problem,
>so I took our spare keyboard of this same type and switched them on my
>machine.
>
>Surprise: the new keyboard has exactly the same problem - no response
>from the number pad.
>
>Actually, that's not entirely accurate.  The num lock and the Enter
>key both work, but the 5 key produces some control combination I don't
>recognize (seems to behave something like ^V of a previously ^X'd
>clipboard copy, unrelated to the current input), and the + key which
>seems to produce something like ^V^V, or "highlight the current
>terminal line" or something, but none of the other keys work at all.
You might want to use the xev program under X11 to see what key
codes are being seen by the system.  I had to create ~/.Xmodmap
to map the numeric keypad on my Microsoft Natural keyboard to
always send numbers on Mac OS X 10.4.x otherwise python curses
applications don't do the right thing.

Bill
-- 
INTERNET:   bill at celestial.com  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
URL: http://www.celestial.com/  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
Voice:          (206) 236-1676  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820
Fax:            (206) 232-9186  Skype: jwccsllc (206) 855-5792

It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law.
This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit their tyranny.
  -- James Fenimore Cooper