EVIOCSKEYCODE

After updating my office desktop and laptop to Slackware 14.2, I let things settle for several weeks for observation. There are some remaining quirks but no show stoppers. Next in the lineup was updating the living room media player.

Most of the update was without event. There was a new boot error message throughout the process.

    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc00b8, key code 161): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc0183, key code 226): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc0184, key code 421): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc0186, key code 423): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc018a, key code 155): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc018e, key code 397): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc01b6, key code 212): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc01bc, key code 430): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc0221, key code 217): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc0223, key code 172): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc022d, key code 418): Invalid argument
    Error calling EVIOCSKEYCODE on device node ‘/dev/input/event9’ (scan code 0xc022e, key code 419): Invalid argument

Many people have reported similar messages. To stop the error spew when booting I had to comment out the entire Cordless Wave Pro section in /lib/udev/hwdb.d/60-keyboard.hwdb.

A classic sledge hammer approach.

Not a palatable solution either. A future update of the file will overwrite the file and the error spew will return.

All of the reported errors are related to the small multimedia buttons on my Logitech Pro 2000 Wireless USB Keyboard. The buttons are never used, but the error spew indicated typical Linux breakage.

Installing and running evtest proved fruitless. Pressing the keyboard buttons only confirmed the error spew. That is, nothing happened in the evtest output. The scan codes in 60-keyboard.hwdb are incorrect.

The device reference in proc/bus/input/devices matched the evdev:input ID in /lib/udev/hwdb.d/60-keyboard.hwdb:

proc/bus/input/devices:

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c529 Version=0111

/lib/udev/hwdb.d/60-keyboard.hwdb:

evdev:input:b0003v046DpC52[9B]*

Yet the buttons still did not function. I know of no solution.

That is how the story ends. Something in a Linux system is always broken.

Posted: March 24, 2017 Category: Usability Tagged: General, Slackware

Next: Cranky Sendmail

Previous: Annoying Firefox Tooltip Popups