Keyboard semi-disconnect, fixed by closing and opening the lid

[kensanata]

Something I’ve started noticing in the last few weeks is that I occasionally get a partial keyboard disconnect. Recently I saw it while I was typing: the keyboard was turning sluggish and within one or two seconds it was semi-dead. The reason I’m so confused is that the keyboard still works for OLED: I can Hyper-Return and shut the Pocket Reform down, for example. This happened to me two or three times in recent days while I was using the laptop. Potentially the same issue is that the laptop boots and by the time I get to the login prompt, I can no longer use it. My memories of this happening go back further, a few months, perhaps. It is only now that it has happened to me in mid session that I figured that there might be something else afoot.

The problem is not too bad, because I discovered a way to unblock the keyboard: Instead of rebooting, I can close the lid of the laptop and open it again and usually that brings the keyboard back.

To my innocent eyes, this doesn’t look like a hardware problem because I can keep using the OLED menu. Maybe a driver problem?

Does anybody have an idea that I can follow-up on? Some service log that I can check?

I: Contents of /proc/device-tree/model: MNT Pocket Reform with i.MX8MP Module
I: `uname -a` output: Linux subterraneobombus 7.1.12-mnt-reform-arm64 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 7.1.12-1+reform20260831T193840Z (2026-08-3 aarch64 GNU/Linux
I: Version of linux-image-mnt-reform-arm64: 7.1.12-1+reform20260831T193840Z
I: Version of reform-tools: 1.88-1+reform20260817T102547Z+1
I: Version of system image: System Image v4: 2024-05-03
I: Version of system controller firmware: 20260808
I: Latest version of system controller firmware: 20260819
I: Version of keyboard firmware: 20260808
W: No known path for mnt_pocket_reform_panel_version for MNT Pocket Reform with i.MX8MP Module -- please consider contributing the output of: find /sys -name mnt_pocket_reform_panel_version
W: /sys/bus/spi/drivers/reform2_lpc/spi1.0/firmware does not exist -- is the reform2_lpc module loaded?
W: Unable to retrieve bootloader version
I: probably booting via /boot/boot.scr (/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf does not exist)
W: unexpected content in /etc/default/flash-kernel:
I: Mount source of /: /dev/mmcblk2p2 (eMMC)
I: Mount source of /boot: /dev/mmcblk2p1 (eMMC)
I: MNT Reform Desktop meta-package is not installed: reform-desktop-full
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: gnome
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: wofi
I: Suggests of reform-desktop-minimal is not installed: firmware-atheros
I: Suggests of reform-desktop-minimal is not installed: firmware-iwlwifi
I: Suggests of reform-desktop-minimal is not installed: firmware-mediatek
I: Suggests of reform-desktop-minimal is not installed: firmware-misc-nonfree
E: unexpected last line in /etc/skel/.profile, should be:
if [ "$(whoami)" = "root" ]; then reform-help --root; elif [ -z "$WAYLAND_DISPLAY" ]; then reform-help; fi
I: the following files differ from how they are shipped by reform-tools (ignore /var/lib/alsa/asound.state):
??5??????   /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
??5?????? c /etc/skel/.config/wayfire.ini
??5?????? c /etc/skel/.config/sway/config.d/input
??5?????? c /etc/profile.d/reform.sh
I: kernel boot parameters your system does use but which are not the default:
 + fbcon=rotate:3
 + loglevel=3
 + loglevel=3
I: kernel boot parameters which are the default but your system doesn't use them:
 - fbcon=font:TER16x32
W: /boot/flash.bin is not the latest bootloader
W: You can update it to the latest version by running as root:
reform-flash-bootloader
W: eMMC does not contain latest bootloader
W: You can update it to the latest version by running as root:
reform-flash-bootloader emmc
I: note that updating the bootloader on eMMC on your platform is not without risk!

❮ sudo find /sys -name mnt_pocket_reform_panel_version
/sys/devices/platform/soc@0/32c00000.bus/32e60000.dsi/32e60000.dsi.0/mnt_pocket_reform_panel_version
❮ sudo cat /sys/devices/platform/soc@0/32c00000.bus/32e60000.dsi/32e60000.dsi.0/mnt_pocket_reform_panel_version
1

[sleeplessval]

i have issues with this now and then, have you tried unseating and reseating the keyboard connectors on the HID board and mainboard? that usually fixes it for a while for me.

[chorc]

Resitting both keyboard cables on both sides helped me last time.

[minute]

Yes, I’ve ran into this myself and it’s really quite puzzling. I’m pretty sure it’s an electromechanical issue that has to do with the keyboard USB cable going through the hinge. I’d really like to eliminate this for good, but don’t have a recipe yet. I wonder if strain relief on the cables would work, i.e. adding some slack in form of a loop, so that the hinges pinching + pulling on the cable’s connector/crimp end can be ruled out. Ideas+experiments welcome.

[MartiniMoe]

Does the keyboard still light up when this happens? Is the trackball also dead then? I wonder if this might be the weird problem which I am having a lot, but until now I was thinking this was due to some error in my NixOS

// looks like I can’t get it back to work with closing and opening the lid. So probably a different issue

[WickedShell]

When I have had this the backlight works, but trackball is also dead. And as stated OLED is alive.

I haven’t tried opening and closing while having the issue, but I have just tried across multiple days of opening and closing and it never resolved from that.

Usually for me the fix ends up being disassembling and checking the cable on both sides. Visually the connector is fully seated, pushing on it yields no perceptable movement, but after reassembly it’s fine for a couple more months.

[blipblub]

I have this issue too. With my Pocket Reform, it is on every boot, the keyboard is unresponsive, but then I move the lid back and forth a few times, and it becomes responsive again. Also when in use, when the lid is slightly more closed then 90degrees angle, the keyboard usually becomes unresponsive. So I think there is definitely a connection with the lid/hinge position and the issue.

[NeonkAaa]

I assume, the issue is: the kbd’s wires to the motherboard are moving a bit when the lid is moving, thus affecting the connectors. You can see it if you’ll try to move the lid with the cover removed.
I re-inserted the plugs and restrained half of each wire by tying them to the nearest structural element.
So far so good.

[Vinh]

hi everyone, I’m having the same issue (it started maybe a few weeks ago??) and it’s quite annoying I have to fight a bit with my pocket reform by opening/closing it at every boot to get the keyboard to respond

could people be a bit more specific with what connectors they had to move?

We’re talking about removing the cover for top half of the pocket reform right? I’ve never opened the lower-half/keyboard area of my pocket reform

What did people do exactly? In that picture (from online handbook) did people just wiggle the cables “USB to Keyboard” and the “UART to keyboard” ?

[NeonkAaa]

[minute]

That’s right, but it could also be on the other side of each cable, the one that plugs into the keyboard.

[hardcoreufo]

I have this happen every now and then as well, but have not tried the lid. I reset the keyboard/trackball with hyper+enter then r.