Comment 19 for bug 34501

Workaround this problem by changing the file /boot/grub/menu.lst to add 'i8042.nomux' as follows:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=44b532a5-2527-4641-a7af-9d553d430715 ro quiet splash i8042.nomux

This is the same fix as noted by Alex above.