Keyboard and touchpad malfunctioning on Thinkpad Twist

[Matteo Dell'Amico]

I don't know if this is really a kernel bug or if it's any other component, please help me know how I can diagnose the problem better.

This is a bug I have been experiencing with both 15.04 and 15.10, while this was not a problem with earlier distributions -- unfortunately, I don't remember which one in particular was actually working.

I have a Thinkpad Twist -- a hybrid laptop with touchscreen. The touchpad almost never works (even though sometimes, erratically, it does). The keyboard sometimes stops working, and works again after a suspend/resume cycle. Sometimes it behaves as if a key is stuck.

When running xinput --list, I don't see the touchpad. The touchscreen and external input devices connected via USB, however, work fine.

I was thinking this was a hardware problem, but on the same machine with Windows the problem does not appear to present itself.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: linux-image-4.2.0-17-generic 4.2.0-17.21
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.2.0-17.21-generic 4.2.3
Uname: Linux 4.2.0-17-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.19.1-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: della 1684 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Nov 2 21:39:42 2015
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=38d3eec5-87ea-4477-bd19-d975ac2fca22
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-05 (758 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Beta amd64 (20130925.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 33474HU
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.2.0-17-generic root=UUID=907c2dfa-5b96-4857-a1e7-6b59406e9721 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.2.0-17-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.2.0-17-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.149.1
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to wily on 2015-11-01 (0 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/15/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: GDETA9WW (1.69 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 33474HU
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Win8 STD DPK TPG
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGDETA9WW(1.69):bd12/15/2014:svnLENOVO:pn33474HU:pvrThinkPadTwist:rvnLENOVO:rn33474HU:rvrWin8STDDPKTPG:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 33474HU
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad Twist
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Did this issue start happening after an update/upgrade? Was there a prior kernel version where you were not having this particular problem?

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v4.3 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.3-unstable/

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

If I remember correctly, I started having the issue with the upgrade from 14.10 to 15.04, I believe. Stupid me, I didn't file the bug because I didn't know which package to file it for.

Right now I'm running the 4.3 mainline kernel, and everything seems to run fine.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

After a reboot, the same problem is now happening with the upstream (4.3) kernel.

Again, I'm not really sure this is a kernel problem and the devices are not appearing on xinput --list.

Please let me know how I can help further.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

Christopher and Joseph, thanks a lot!

After updating the BIOS, the problem *seems* to be gone. I'll mark this as Invalid, and will change it to Confirmed it if it shows up again.

The output for the dmidecode commands is

GDETB1WW (1.71 )
09/14/2015

Thanks a lot!

matteo

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

I was speaking too early. The problem resurfaced. Now running 1.71 BIOS and 4.2.0-19-generic kernel.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Matteo Dell'Amico, and how does it run on the latest mainline kernel?

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

Couldn't reproduce it yet. At the moment, the situation is:

Kernel 4.2.0, both BIOS versions (v. 1.69 & v. 1.71): bug present
Mainline kernel 4.3, old BIOS v. 1.69: bug present
Mainline kernel 4.3, new BIOS v. 1.71: but not reproduced yet

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

I just reproduced it on the mainline kernel 4.3 (4.3.0-040300-generic). Now I've reproduced the bug with all combinations of BIOS and kernel versions.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

Bug confirmed also on the 4.4-rc3 kernel.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Matteo Dell'Amico, could you please advise which release prior to vivid specifically this wasn't an issue in?

If you don't know, it would need to be confirmed to root cause. Prior release ISOs are available via http://releases.ubuntu.com/ .

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

I remember that I didn't have this problem in 13.10 (Saucy) and I had it in Vivid and now Wily.

What do you mean as "confirmed to root cause"? What do you expect me to do next?

thanks!
matteo

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Matteo Dell'Amico, if you boot a kernel from Saucy, is this issue still reproducible?

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

Could you please tell me where to download them from? I'm having a bit of a hard time navigating through old-releases.ubuntu.com. Thanks!

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Matteo Dell'Amico, you wouldn't have to download them as they would still be loadable via GRUB given you upgraded from Saucy.

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

Unfortunately, I don't have them anymore as I had to delete them to make space for upgrades.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Matteo Dell'Amico, for instructions on this please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/KernelBisection .

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

This is just to confirm that the bug still appears in Ubuntu 16.04. I am stuck with bisection, because I can't find the binaries for Saucy from the link you posted -- appears to be too old. Also, when I tried to run old kernels on this laptop nothing was working as apparently newer distros require a newer kernel.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Matteo Dell'Amico, to keep this report relevant to upstream, could you please continue to test the latest mainline kernel as it comes out (now 4.6-rc7)?

[Matteo Dell'Amico (della)]

This problem appears to be solved by setting GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nomux=1 i8042.reset" in /etc/default/grub (as advised in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1210748). Looks like it's either buggy hardware or a buggy driver, then.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]