Touchpad not recognised on Acer Aspire 5720 after upgrade to 13.10

[UbUK]

After upgrading from ubuntu 13.04 to 13.10 the touchpad on my Acer Aspire 5720 laptop is no longer recognised by the kernel.

Running xinput I get:

⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ MCE IR Keyboard/Mouse (ene_ir) id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Acer Crystal Eye webcam id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ ENE eHome Infrared Remote Receiver id=14 [slave keyboard (3)]

System Settings > Mouse & Touchpad only shows settings for mice (no touchpad settings present).

Using Google I see various other reports of the same problem on different laptops and the consensus is that it is a problem with the kernel NOT with synaptics.

***The Acer Aspire 5720 has three physical buttons below the touchpad*** - Left, Right, and a middle 4-way button, which has previously always worked for scrolling up/down/left/right. Only up and down works but it only "scrolls" up or down one line at a time (no continuous scrolling by holding the up/down button down).

I have managed to get a partial fix by adding "options psmouse proto=imps" to /etc/modprobe.d/options.conf and then running:

sudo modprobe -r psmouse
sudo modprobe psmouse

That gets the physical middle button scrolling up/down working correctly but still no left/right scroll and no way to turn off touchpad tap to click (Grrr! Grrr! and thrice Grrr!)

Help!
---
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: i386
DistUpgraded: 2013-10-18 16:47:07,834 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: saucy
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-10-14 (770 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
MachineType: Acer Aspire 5720
MarkForUpload: True
Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.7.1-0ubuntu1 [modified: usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/51-synaptics-quirks.conf]
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-13-generic root=UUID=2da6d337-44c6-4370-8808-47a269485bc3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-13.20-generic 3.11.6
Tags: saucy ubuntu
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-13-generic i686
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-10-18 (35 days ago)
UserGroups: adm admin lpadmin sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 11/10/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V1.45
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: eMachine
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: V1.45
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: V1.45
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV1.45:bd11/10/2008:svnAcer:pnAspire5720:pvrV1.45:rvnAcer:rneMachine:rvrV1.45:cvnAcer:ct1:cvrV1.45:
dmi.product.name: Aspire 5720
dmi.product.version: V1.45
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.46-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.2.1-1ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental 9.2.1-1ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.2.1-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.14.3-3ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.2.0-0ubuntu10
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.904-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.9-2ubuntu1
xserver.bootTime: Fri Nov 22 17:46:12 2013
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 14661
 vendor SEC
xserver.version: 2:1.14.3-3ubuntu2

[N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:

apport-collect 1254092

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

Also, what is the result of the following command ?

synclient

Regards
 NikTh

[UbUK (ubuk)]

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[N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux)]

Could you please add the log files from '/var/log/dist-upgrade/' to this bug report as separate attachments? Thanks in advance.

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Log files from /var/log/dist-upgrade/ attached as requested.

[UbUK (ubuk)]

There is another file named "term.log" but it is an empty file.

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Thank you. I guess I wait for a bug fix now?

[N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux)]

You will wait for a developer to examine the logs you've attached in order to determine if this report is a bug or not. For any additional information you should provide or action you should take, you will be notified.

The "confirmed" status was a mistake(sorry about that).

Best Regards
 NikTh

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Any update?

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Hi

Is there any chance of an update on this? It really is affecting my use of ubuntu. If this website cannot help me then could anyone point me to somewhere that might be able to help resolve this?

Thank you.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

UbUK, 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

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Hello Christopher

Yes this is still an issue in 13.10.

I downloaded the latest development release to test, as requested. There is good news and bad news.

The good news is that when booting from a live CD the touchpad is recognised as an ''Alps PS/2 Glidepoint'', the touchpad settings are back in System Settings and I can disable tap to click and disable the touchpad when typing.

The bad news is that the Acer Aspire 5720 has three physical buttons below the touchpad - Left button, Right button, and a middle 4-way button (as per my original bug report). This middle 4-way button has previously always worked for scrolling multiple lines up/down and left/right. The scrolling now only works one line at a time, whereas previously in ubuntu 11.10, 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04 the scrolling worked continuously i.e hold down the 'down' part of the middle button and the scrolling down would continue until the button was released. This stopped working after upgrading from 13.04 to 13.10. I have always found this multi-line scrolling functionality tremendously useful. Is there any way to get this functionality back?

Do you still want me to run the apport-collect -p xserver-xorg-input-synaptics REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER command from the development release Live CD?

Many thanks for your help so far.

Bill

[penalvch (penalvch)]

UbUK, thank you for performing the requested test. An apport-collect at this point is not necessary.

However, given the bug originally reported about is solved in Trusty, the next step is to change focus to the scrolling regression. While in Trusty, could you please post to this report the result of the following terminal command:
synclient

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Good morning

Here is the result of the synclient command when running the Trusty live CD:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ synclient
Parameter settings:
    LeftEdge = 153
    RightEdge = 870
    TopEdge = 115
    BottomEdge = 652
    FingerLow = 12
    FingerHigh = 15
    MaxTapTime = 180
    MaxTapMove = 56
    MaxDoubleTapTime = 180
    SingleTapTimeout = 180
    ClickTime = 100
    EmulateMidButtonTime = 75
    EmulateTwoFingerMinZ = 141
    EmulateTwoFingerMinW = 7
    VertScrollDelta = 25
    HorizScrollDelta = 25
    VertEdgeScroll = 1
    HorizEdgeScroll = 1
    CornerCoasting = 0
    VertTwoFingerScroll = 0
    HorizTwoFingerScroll = 0
    MinSpeed = 1
    MaxSpeed = 1.75
    AccelFactor = 0.156495
    TouchpadOff = 0
    LockedDrags = 0
    LockedDragTimeout = 5000
    RTCornerButton = 2
    RBCornerButton = 3
    LTCornerButton = 0
    LBCornerButton = 0
    TapButton1 = 1
    TapButton2 = 3
    TapButton3 = 0
    ClickFinger1 = 1
    ClickFinger2 = 1
    ClickFinger3 = 0
    CircularScrolling = 0
    CircScrollDelta = 0.1
    CircScrollTrigger = 0
    PalmDetect = 0
    PalmMinWidth = 10
    PalmMinZ = 100
    CoastingSpeed = 20
    CoastingFriction = 50
    PressureMotionMinZ = 15
    PressureMotionMaxZ = 80
    PressureMotionMinFactor = 1
    PressureMotionMaxFactor = 1
    ResolutionDetect = 1
    GrabEventDevice = 1
    TapAndDragGesture = 1
    AreaLeftEdge = 0
    AreaRightEdge = 0
    AreaTopEdge = 0
    AreaBottomEdge = 0
    HorizHysteresis = 6
    VertHysteresis = 6
    ClickPad = 0
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Does that help to diagnose the problem?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Please execute the following in a terminal and advise if anything changes:
synclient RTCornerButton=0 && synclient RBCornerButton=0 && synclient VertScrollDelta=0

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Executing the command as one line I get:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ synclient RTCornerButton=0 && synclient RBCornerButton=0 && synclient VertScrollDelta=0
X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request: 131 (XInputExtension)
  Minor opcode of failed request: 37 (X_ChangeDeviceProperty)
  Value in failed request: 0x130
  Serial number of failed request: 22
  Current serial number in output stream: 25
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Executing each line separately I get:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ synclient RTCornerButton=0
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ synclient RBCornerButton=0
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ synclient VertScrollDelta=0
X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request: 131 (XInputExtension)
  Minor opcode of failed request: 37 (X_ChangeDeviceProperty)
  Value in failed request: 0x130
  Serial number of failed request: 22
  Current serial number in output stream: 25
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Either way middle button scrolling still only scrolls up or down one line at a time.

Thanks for your help so far but what now?

Regards

Bill

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Hello again Christopher

Are you able to help further with this?

Bill

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Is anyone able to help with this?

[UbUK (ubuk)]

I first reported this bug in November 2013. Are we any closer to a fix? I feel as though this issue is being ignored :-(

Any help to fix this annoying bug would be sincerely appreciated.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

UbUK, regarding just the touchpad not being recognized (not how in Trusty the scrolling isn't working) would you need a backport to a release prior to Trusty, or may this be closed as Status Invalid?

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Christopher, I am not 100% sure what a backport is but to try to answer your question, the touchpad stopped being recognised correctly after upgrading to 13.10 (and the scrolling stopped working correctly too). It was recognised correctly and functioned correctly in 13.04 and many previous releases going back several years.

I hope that sufficiently answers your question but if you need any further information please let me know and I will answer quickly.

The problem as originally reported still exists. Nothing has changed. I would really like this issue to remain "open" until it is fixed.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

UbUK, a backport is applying a fix commit to a release prior to Trusty. Given that Saucy has four months left until EOL, would you need a backport to Saucy?

[UbUK (ubuk)]

If that is what it takes to fix this problem then yes, a backport to Saucy is what I need. However, could I confirm that when 14.04 is released I will:

A) still be able to upgrade from 13.10 to 14.04?

and

B) The fix (backport) will still work?

Are there any other implications of a backport that I should know about?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

UbUK, thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. However, I am closing it because as per your comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/+bug/1254092/comments/35 the bug has been fixed in the latest development version of Ubuntu - Trusty Tahr.

This is a significant bug in Ubuntu. If you need a fix for the bug in previous versions of Ubuntu, please perform as much as possible of the SRU Procedure [1] to bring the need to a developer's attention.

[1]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Procedure

[UbUK (ubuk)]

Christopher, I would like this bug left open.

Although you refer to my post #35 in this bug report, I did make it clear in post #35 that multiple line scrolling with the middle 4-way physical button still does not work as it previously did in 13.04. I really would like this fixing.

[sardonicus (sardonicus)]

Hello, just a little contrib: This bug is still present in ubuntu 14.04 beta (with a lifebook S7110). No continuous scrolling via scrolling button, just a one line scrolling per click.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

sardonicus, 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

Please ensure you have xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information.

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.

[UbUK (ubuk)]

A quick update:

I upgraded from 13.10 to 14.04 a couple of days ago. This appears to have fixed the problem. Running xinput now shows the touchpad recognised correctly as:

"AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"

The touchpad settings are back in System Settings > Mouse & Touchpad and I can now (finally!!!) disable "Tap to click". Hurrah!

Vertical multiple line scrolling works using the physical middle 4-way button below the touchpad and horizontal scrolling works again too, using the same 4-way button.

My only frustration is the many, many months it has taken to get to this point but nevertheless I'm happy to say this issue is now resolved, so "thank you" to whoever was responsible.