Debian 13 kernel error

Support & Help Requests
1

I was happily on Ubuntu Mate 25.10 but wanted to check debian mate 13.

So I went ahead and installed the latest Debian 13 mate. But during install I allowed net connection and debain downloaded and installed an updated kernel.

This kernel is buggy and when I try to login till then everything is fine but after login to desktop and gui the keyboard behaves frantic. If I try to type sudo it inputs s4d6!! It's a total mess such that after I switched back to Ubuntu Mate 25.10 the GUI is same as debian mate 13 and not of Ubuntu Mate. Can anyone tell me what's wrong here? Is it the kernel or anything else?

I tried to check online but unable to find a solution to this. I think uninstall of updated kernel might solve the issue but how to go about it?

The current kernel is:

linux-image-6.17.0-5-generic 6.17.0-5.5

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2

I'm not sure what you're asking, and got confused.

Debian offer two different installers; selected by the ISO you choose to download & thus install with; which don't end with an identical result; but differences don't impact desktop packages (can impact user experience; eg. sudo etc; I tend to prefer the calamares installer method as its closer to Ubuntu's defaults)

I am a Debian user, as well as Ubuntu, and I can't say that I really notice any differences between MATE desktops between them, on occasion switching my configs (inc. apps) between them as long as I ensure the app versions will align without issues (Debian LTS releases never align with Ubuntu LTS, and varies as to closest between the April/October of the odd year most of the time), but kernel issues aren't specific to desktop for the most part.

If you install Ubuntu MATE 25.10, you'll get the full Ubuntu MATE experience, but if you install another Ubuntu system, and add metapackages you can get something that can somewhat align with upstream Debian (or the Debian+Ubuntu MATE team's uploads) rather than Ubuntu MATE's pure install experience; maybe it's your install method??

( I do tend to use Debian testing (14) more on desktop; so it may have been a long time since I used MATE on Debian 13; though I'm using Ubuntu more than 75% of the time anyway )

I do note the kernel you mention doesn't appear updated

 linux-generic | 6.17.0-5.5             | questing          | amd64, amd64v3, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, s390x
 linux-generic | 6.17.0-5.5.1           | questing          | riscv64
 linux-generic | 6.17.0-14.14           | questing-security | amd64, amd64v3, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, s390x
 linux-generic | 6.17.0-14.14           | questing-updates  | amd64, amd64v3, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, s390x
 linux-generic | 6.17.0-14.14.1         | questing-security | riscv64
 linux-generic | 6.17.0-14.14.1         | questing-proposed | riscv64
 linux-generic | 6.17.0-14.14.1         | questing-updates  | riscv64

The questing line represents Ubuntu MATE 25.10 install media; where the -updates and -security lines are what you'd expect on 'updated' systems, (-security if only security updates are being installed).

This site doesn't support Debian kernels; Ubuntu [MATE] only or MATE desktop support.

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3

Hi I was trying to say that I was previously on Ubuntu Mate 25.10 and everything was working fine.

I thought of checking out Debian mate 13 as I'm a fan of Debain also.

I did clean install of Debian 13 and what happened is that during install I kept the net connection on and while installing debian downloaded and installed latest kernel.

Now the problem is that after this when I try to login upto login window the keyboard behaves normal. But after I login when I try to type anything like sudo it types s4d6 like wise how is h6w. The keyboard after that install is not working properly.

So what exactly is the problem here? Is it the debian install error or Xseever error.

I'm asking this here because I removed debain 13 and clean installed Ubuntu Mate 25.10 and after I did this the menu and look of Ubuntu Mate 25.10 is same as debian mate 13!!

How come this is happening plus the keyboard not working properly. If I removed debain and clean installed Ubuntu Mate then I should see Ubuntu Mate features but it' all looks like debian mate 13 plus the keyboard not working properly.

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4

Ok forget all that my keyboard is not working properly on Ubuntu Mate 25.10 what can I do for that??

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5

Hi, @Jayant_D and welcome to the Ubuntu MATE Community!

6

Not a solution but possibly a way to find a solution.

Boot into or switch to text mode and verify keyboard behaviour. If the problem is not reproduced the chances are that the root cause is keyboard layout and/or language misconfiguration within GUI desktop.
If the problem still presents in the text mode I'd suspect hardware or kernel driver problem.

Hopefully, that may help.

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7

Right, it works perfectly well in text mode.

What can be done to resolve the behaviour in GUI mode??

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8

My only idea is to verify keyboard layout, language settings (in GUI) and locale settings and change them forth and back using 'en-us/gb' defaults. :man_shrugging:

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9

quote: If I try to type sudo it inputs s4d6

To enable NumLock on startup in Linux (Mint/Ubuntu/Debian), install numlockx via terminal with sudo apt install numlockx. Then, configure it to run at startup, either by enabling "Activate NumLock" in the Login Window settings or by adding numlockx on to your session startup apps.

In laptop keyboards, the letter u has the number 4 and the letter o has the number 6.

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10

Do what @pavlos_kairis said:
Disable your numlock :slight_smile:

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11

Did a clean install and all's good now. Thanks.

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