Mouse and keyboard not working after "apt-get install udev"...

[scuzzy]

Ubuntu Version: 10.10
Intel 32-bit processor

I was reading about udev. And being a newbie I am, I executed the following command rather foolishly:

#apt-get install udev

Little did I know that this will render my mouse and keyboard not working next time I boot into Ubuntu. I booted into recovery mode and the keyboard is working fine in that mode. Can someone please tell me what the problem is and more importantly, how to correct it? Any help would be much appreciated.

[rokytnji]

Next time you wish to experiment with apt-get. Just a useful command to see what is installed or available.

# apt-cache policy udev
udev:
  Installed: 170-1
  Candidate: 170-1
  Version table:
 *** 170-1 0
        500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ testing/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
# apt-cache policy iceweasel
iceweasel:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.5.19-2
  Version table:
     3.5.19-2 0
        500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ testing/main i386 Packages

For finding apt-get usage.

# man apt-get

If wanting to remove udev while in recovery mode (not sure where you screwed up as udev comes pre-installed I bet in Ubuntu. It certainly does in Debian).

sudo apt-get remove udev. But . I seriously doubt that udev somehow is why your keyboard and mouse quit working as udev should have already been installed at initial install. Like I said. Not sure where you screwed up. If me. I would boot a live CD. Save my critical stuff to external drive/media. Do a reinstall . Probably quicker.

If wanting instead to read up on udev while in recovery mode.

man udev

[scuzzy]

Next time you wish to experiment with apt-get. Just a useful command to see what is installed or available.

# apt-cache policy udev
udev:
  Installed: 170-1
  Candidate: 170-1
  Version table:
 *** 170-1 0
        500 
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
# apt-cache policy iceweasel
iceweasel:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.5.19-2
  Version table:
     3.5.19-2 0
        500

For finding apt-get usage.

# man apt-get

If wanting to remove udev while in recovery mode (not sure where you screwed up as udev comes pre-installed I bet in Ubuntu. It certainly does in Debian).

sudo apt-get remove udev. But . I seriously doubt that udev somehow is why your keyboard and mouse quit working as udev should have already been installed at initial install. Like I said. Not sure where you screwed up. If me. I would boot a live CD. Save my critical stuff to external drive/media. Do a reinstall . Probably quicker.

If wanting instead to read up on udev while in recovery mode.

man udev

Yeah, I thought removing udev would fix it, but, issuing the command, I get a warning which tells me its a REALLY bad idea to remove the selected packages... So no fix, haan (other than installing a new system)? BTW thanks for the response...

[rokytnji]

So no fix, haan (other than installing a new system)?

There probably is a fix if you have Midnight Commander installed and know how to use Nano text editor while in recovery mode. I think you are still learning though and for right now a reinstall would save you some time.

You can read up on Midnight commander file manager and nano on the net. Command line tools that can be used in recovery mode to fix broken user changes. Thing is. I am just a biker who uses linux. I won't have the time to coach you on where to look for text files that enable keyboard and mouse in /etc and Sherlock Holmes your way to see what is broken. I also am a AntiX user instead of a Ubuntu user so location of files may be different plus configs between Ubuntu and AntiX.

Which is why I mentioned re-install (backup first)

[rokytnji]

Just to give you a last pointer.

Whenever I decide to make changes to anything in my installs. I make a new folder in /home and name it Backups. Before I change anything. I copy the original Folder or text file I am going to be changing. That way I can restore original files or directories in case some thing breaks using midnight commander in init 3 boot which is recovery mode I guess in Ubuntu.