X server crashes repeatedly with touchpad movements

[Michael Hanafey]

System is Dell 15z which has a Cypress touchpad. Although not reproducible at will, with distressing regularity some finger drags on the touchpad returns you to the Unity login screen because the X server crashes. It seems that it is a fast drag that does it, but attempts to make it happen at will so far have failed. Apparently it is evil and waits for an inopportune time nail your most important work.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.6.2-1ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-21.32-generic 3.5.7.1
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-21-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu9
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Dec 20 08:55:22 2012
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: quantal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-12-01 (19 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release i386 (20121017.2)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Dell System XPS 15Z
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-21-generic root=UUID=87869139-27fb-49c6-a5a6-54edf32e4b3e ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 09/07/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A12
dmi.board.name: 060G42
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA12:bd09/07/2012:svnDellInc.:pnDellSystemXPS15Z:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn060G42:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: Dell System XPS 15Z
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.8.4+bzr3412-0ubuntu0.1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.39-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.13.0-0ubuntu6.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.99.99~git20120913.8637f772-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.20.9-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.2-0ubuntu3

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sly (waxsly)]

I was able to reproduce, by putting a finger on the trackpad and kicking quikly whith the other finger, while leaving the first one standing still.

[Sly (waxsly)]

Sorry forgot to say I'm on 12.04, so it's affecting Ubuntu 12.04 also.

[Michael Hanafey (mike-hanafey)]

I cannot make the crash happen consistently with two fingers. It seems random, but always caused by a drag.

Am attaching a backtrace from a crash.

[Eric Caudal - www.elico-corp.com (elicoidal)]

same here in 12.10 / dell xps15z
It is very recently thought (update about 2 or 3 weeks ago).
Before I had no problem and could edge scroll and all of a sudden it was not possible anymore. I started using the 2 finger stuff and suffer now repeat return to login

[Michael Hanafey (mike-hanafey)]

Updated to 13.04 and have not seen this problem since the upgrade. This bug was almost enough to make Windows look good; nice to see it is finally fixed in the new release.

[Gerrit Addiks (addiks)]

For me, this bug started after upgrading to '13.04', did not happen in '12.10'. It is defenitly the same bug, i checked the backtrace. I attached a backtrace.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Michael Hanafey, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xserver-xorg-input-synaptics REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[Gerrit Addiks (addiks)]

For me, this is still an issue. I am still running 12.04 and wait for this to be fixed until i upgrade.
It is also kind of problematic to test this because i would have to sacrifice my only running machine which i regulary use to work. If i upgrade to the latest ubuntu and the crash is still there, i end up having an unusable machine.
If the process here is stuck in a deadend, i am willing to upgrade anyway and provide the needed debug information. But only if it is the last resort to get this fixed. I hope you can understand that.
Actually, now that i look at this bug, i see that a backtrace i have attached got lost somehow (at least i don't see it now). Where did that file go? When i am home in a few hours i can look if i find it again.
But please dont just close this bug.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Gerrit Addiks, thank you for your comment. So your hardware and problem may be tracked, could you please file a new report by executing the following in a terminal:
ubuntu-bug xorg

For more on this, please see the official Ubuntu documentation:
Ubuntu X.Org Team, Ubuntu Bug Control, and Ubuntu Bug Squad: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue
Ubuntu Community: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

Please note, not filing a new report will delay your problem being addressed as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Gerrit Addiks (addiks)]

As requested by Christopher, i have created a new report here and subscribed him:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1269600

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]