Bug 191767

Summary: Mouse functionality limited after USB KVM switch
Product: [Plasma] kwin Reporter: Jared Harder <jared.harder>
Component: generalAssignee: KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status: RESOLVED NOT A BUG    
Severity: normal CC: finex
Priority: NOR    
Version First Reported In: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Ubuntu   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Jared Harder 2009-05-06 04:16:23 UTC 
Version:            (using KDE 4.2.2)
OS:                Linux
Installed from:    Ubuntu Packages

I am experiencing limited mouse functionality immediately following switching back to my KDE computer while using a USB KVM.

The KVM has a single USB connection to my computer.  The KVM itself has a USB wireless receiver for my mouse, and a separate one for my keyboard.  It also has audio.

I'm in an existing session (logged in, applications running) and switch to the other computer on the KVM (Windows XP).  When I switch back to the KDE computer, my mouse functionality will be limited in various ways.  Depending on which window was in the foreground at the time of the switch, I'll be able to perform different mouse actions.  For instance, if KVIrc was active, I can scroll through the chat and select different channels/servers.  However, I cannot click into the chat box to send a message (I need to tab through to get focus).  If I'm in Firefox, I'll be able to scroll through the active tab, but not click on other tabs.

I also cannot switch to another running program using only my mouse; I need to Alt+Tab to move around.  I can generally always open the K Menu, but I cannot click any items or tabs within the K Menu.  If I select an option using my keyboard, it works fine.  When a dialog opens (like Firefox asking to resume previous session), I cannot click the buttons.  Same goes for the shutdown/restart dialog from the K Menu; I need to wait out the 30 second timer.

I also get this problem sometimes on a fresh boot of the system (cold reboot).  I let the system fully boot without switching to the other computer on the KVM.  Once logged in, I sometimes do not have the full mouse functionality.

This problem becomes resolved after I force X to restart (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace).
Comment 1 FiNeX 2009-05-06 13:02:45 UTC 
Can you try with a different enviroment like gnome? Many thanks.

Can you type (from a previously opened shell) the following command:
  kwin --replace
What does it happen?
Comment 2 Jared Harder 2009-05-08 04:11:22 UTC 
Very curious.  I tried it in Gnome and I had the same functionality, only I could recover from it.  For instance, I had a Firefox window open.  Initially I couldn't use the window chrome buttons (minimize, close, etc), nor could I click on any links.  When I right clicked on the title bar for Firefox, I instead got the context menu for the Gnome bar.  I right clicked again, and the Firefox context menu came up, and I had full mouse functionality again.

I switched my mouse to another wireless one, and I'm not getting the bug in KDE any more.  I'm still not sure what caused it, though it appears to be "resolved" at least on my end.

If anybody is still interested in pursuing this bug, I can provide any information you require, and I can probably replicate it again (I still have the mouse that was causing the problems).
Comment 3 Martin Flöser 2009-05-08 09:57:03 UTC 
As it happens in GNOME as well it's very likely not a KDE bug.

My fair guess is it's either a hardware or a X bug.