USB Keyboard drivers not loaded in initramfs

This is only a problem with break=premount or earlier. break=mount happens after hal/udev have loaded drivers for everything.

 Note that some servers don't _support_ ps/2 keyboards anymore. e.g. I have a rack of Dell PE1950 machines with a KVM-over-IP that connects to 1 USB port and their VGA out. I don't think the PE1950 even has a PS/2 port anywhere.

 The best fix for this is probably in scripts/functions:panic(). It already does
        modprobe i8042
        modprobe atkbd
 before dropping to a shell.

 So just add maybe
modprobe ehci-hcd
modprobe hid
to that. I think that's right. I'll see if I can boot a machine with a ps/2 and usb kbd attached, and load modules until the USB kbd starts working at break=premount.

 Hmm, I don't know how to detect the right USB controller module. ehci-hcd is for usb2.0 machines, and older hardware only has uhci-hcd or ohci-hcd. There might be laptops with no ps/2 ports, broken internal keyboards, and only USB1.1 support. Other than that, this fix would be enough for most people, since USB keyboards are most often used on newer computers. At least USB1.1 computers will have PS/2 ports...

I booted a machine with a USB and a PS/2 keyboard from an i386 Intrepid alpha5 USB drive, with break=premount.
 panic() should run (after the modprobe for ps/2 keyboards):

if ! grep -q '^H:.*kbd' /proc/bus/input/devices ; then
# no keyboard? Try USB.
  modprobe uhci-hcd
  modprobe ohci-hcd
  modprobe usbhid
fi

 The line we want to match with grep is
H: Handlers=kbd
(that line has a trailing space.)
In a fully running kernel, the line is e.g.
H: Handlers=kbd event1

 It's ok to load both USB modules, esp. since this only happens with break=whatever, or some other panic. So they won't be loaded for most people's normal boots. When we're trying handle errors, it's better to be safe. And it won't load anything extra if a keyboard of any kind is known to the kernel, thanks to grep on /proc/bus/input/devices.

 I'm not aware of USB host drivers other than ohci and uhci; They should work for almost all hardware ever. ehci-hcd isn't needed for keyboards, and is not sufficient for using them. I guess it _only_ handles USB2.0 HighSpeed devices.

 After modprobing both USB HCD drivers, I exitted from the break=premount shell, and the boot continued normally from my USB drive. ehci-hcd was loaded properly and both keyboards work after boot. (K8V mobo, Via K8T800 chipset.)

USB module loading order: Linux 2.6.27.3's changelog says that Linux will now warn if ehci isn't loaded before o/uhci. And that it has always been better to load ehci first. So panic() should load ehci-hcd first, then try the other two, in case the user works around a problem and goes on to boot up.

Not a server-specific issue, more for the foundations team. Invalidated in 20100210 meeting.

Bug was marked as in progress, but not assigned to anyone. Resetting to Triaged.

This is still valid to this day on Saucy.

Debian supports USB in initramfs via /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/driver-policy : MODULES=most or via /etc/initramfs-tools/modules:
usbcore
uhci_hcd
ehci_hcd
usbhid

Perhaps one of these options would make a sensible default in this day and age, or at least something obvious to note with an appropriate message when dropping to an initfamfs shell? This would have saved quite a few 'hard lockup' reboots on my system over the last few months before I discovered the reason.

Since bugs #1238194 and #1239306 are now marked as duplicates of this one: Please make sure that the ohci_pci module is included in the initramfs by default at some point.

I am having this issue as well. I had a box hang at boot.

No text display (boot messages) and my keyboard doesn't work either (USB).

Hooking up a usb keyboard and hitting control-d (even though I can't see anything on the screen) eventually lets Ubuntu boot normally. I can't believe this bug is still around!!!

This bug was fixed in the package initramfs-tools - 0.103ubuntu2

---------------
initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu2) trusty; urgency=low

  * Include usbhid in the list of modules we probe in the panic function,
    since we may panic before udev runs and most keyboards are USB these
    days. Closes: #229732.
  * Add ohci_pci to the list of USB host modules included in the initramfs,
    needed on some systems and not a built-in driver in Ubuntu.
    LP: #1238194.
 -- Steve Langasek <email address hidden> Thu, 24 Oct 2013 13:40:43 -0700

Have uploaded the fix for this to trusty, but managed to use the wrong changelog syntax. Here's the changelog entry for the upload:

 initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu2) trusty; urgency=low
 .
   * Include usbhid in the list of modules we probe in the panic function,
     since we may panic before udev runs and most keyboards are USB these
     days. Closes: #229732.
   * Add ohci_pci to the list of USB host modules included in the initramfs,
     needed on some systems and not a built-in driver in Ubuntu.
     LP: #1238194.