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When I switch between two machines with a KVM, the wirelss mouse gets messed up for one machine (Ubuntu). To fix it, I unplug the USB dongle from the KVM switch then plug it back in. I don't know why this works. I'd like to avoid having to monkey around with the hardware. Is there some other way to get the same benefit without having to grope around and physically manipulate things? Maybe some sort of mouse reset command to run on the one machine?

Update: problem has a workaround, and the workaround is better than any directly solution to the original problem. I found software that lets keyboard+mouse focus switch from one machine to another, just by sliding the cursor off one side of one monitor, for one machine, onto another monitor for the other machine. The KVM stays always set to the Ubuntu machine. The mouse works fine, motion and scroll wheel and all, on both machines all the time. There's more than one such thing, and Synergy is what I ended up with. As an unexpected benefit, I can can copy-paste text between the two machines, which I wouldn't even have thought of asking for.

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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A good KVM should have a menu and/or command that can reset the USB connections. However, the problem itself points to the fact this is not a good KVM. Check the manufacturers website and/or manual for instructions... and hopefully a firmware update.

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  • another good kvm would be a ps2 KVM! ;-) Do Ps2 KVMs have this issue? One might manage with adaptors. It's shocking USB is so messed up. I've had an inexpensive zonet ps2 kvm that has no reset switch for anything but works very well.
    – barlop
    Commented Sep 5, 2013 at 21:51
  • the KVM should keep the USB or PS2 connection alive regardless of which machine the user is on. It sounds like its not switching properly.
    – Keltari
    Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 1:46
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You could try using modprobe to remove and then reinsert the appropriate kernel driver:

sudo modprobe -rv usbhid; sudo modprobe -v usbhid

I'm suggesting both the removal and reinsertion on one line in case your keyboard is affected by the removal.

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  • Nope, that didn't anything.
    – DarenW
    Commented Sep 9, 2013 at 18:38
  • @darenw hmm, then either the problem is more of a physical one or we got the wrong module. What does lsmod and lsdev say with and without the mouse dongle plugged in?
    – PeterSW
    Commented Sep 10, 2013 at 19:37
  • lsmod shows no change before, during, or after removal of the USB dongle. lsdev requires installation of packages but I am not sysadmin on this particular machine.
    – DarenW
    Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 23:42

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