Touchpad recognized as generic mouse on Thinkpad R61 laptop

[Ugo Riboni]

I'm using Ubuntu Gutsy, final release, with most updated packages available to date of this report.
The hardware is a Lenovo IMB Thinkpad R61 (model code 8918-5WG), acquired around mid october 2007.

The issue is that neither the touchpad nor the trackpoint devices are recognized by ubuntu for what they are, and they work only in generic mouse emulation.
Both do their basic job for moving the cursor around and clicking, including tap to click on the touchpad (but not on the trackpoint).

However nothing specific about these devices can be configured at all, and they can't be configured separately as they should. I don't even have a "Touchpad" tab in my mouse preferences screen.

I will attach to this bug X.org log and hwinfo output related to this issue.
If there's any other hardware information anyone needs, please let me know and i will gladly provide it.

Finally, the issue is very similar, if not the same, as the one in Bug #129477

[Flemming Bjerke (flem)]

I have exactly the same problem on my Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook E8010. I have attached the requested information.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Hardy Heron Alpha2 release will be coming out soon. It will have an updated version of the kernel. It would be great if you could test with this new release and verify if this issue still exists. I'll be sure to update this report when Alpha2 is available. Thanks!

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

I'm opened a new task against the actively developed kernel. However, I'm closing the report against linux-source-2.6.22 as it does not meet the criteria for a stable release update. You can learn more about the stable release update process at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates . Thanks!

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hardy Heron Alpha2 was recently released. It contains an updated version of the kernel. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha2 release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-2/ . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha2 . Thanks!

[Flemming Bjerke (flem)]

I solved the problem on my Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook E8010 with Kubuntu, Gutsy, kernel 2.6.22-14-386. It was not a kernel problem. Here is my howto. I hope it works for others as well:

Not only the touchpad works properly with scrolling and tapping, including two-finger-tapping, also the scroll buttons works.

First, I found out that I had a synaptics touchpad, and not an Alps touchpad:
cat /proc/bus/input/devices

You may also check that you have the xorg driver:
apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Now, this is crucial: In the Section "Serverlayout" of /etc/X11/xorg.conf, the Touchpad InputDevice must be ABOVE the mouse InputDevice. Else, the mousedriver will be used. In that case, when you use ksynaptics, etc. you will get a message telling that you have to turn "SHMConfig" "on" although you apparently have done it.

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier "Default Layout"
  screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
  InputDevice "Touchpad" #This line first
  InputDevice "Configured Mouse" #Then this line
  InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
  InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
  InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

My InputDevice section for the Touchpad is:

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Touchpad"
  Driver "synaptics"
  option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
  option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
  option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
  option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
  option "SHMConfig" "on"
  option "MaxTapTime" "180"
  Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
  Option "Buttons" "9"
EndSection

(I am not sure of the exact values of two last lines. But, it works.)

"SHMConfig on" means that you can configure the touchpad with qsynaptics, ksynaptics or gsynaptics. Alternatively, you must configure your touchpad with SHMConfig off and all the relatvant variables in xorg.conf. You will easily find examples on the net. Please notice, that if MaxTapTime is set to 0, tapping does not work (though you may TEMPORARILY overrule the switching off of tapping with ksynaptics, etc.).

Link:
http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/

[Ben Dodson (bjdodson)]

I'm writing this from my Lenovo R61 from the Hardy Haron Alpha 2 live CD. My trackpad still does not have any advanced features (namely scrolling) and there is no trackpad tab in the mouse configuration dialog. Flemming's fix also did not work for me.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Flemming, thanks for the howto, I'm glad to hear things are working for you. However, it appears you have a different system than what this bug report is about.

Ben, if you can, please attach the following information for the newer Hardy Alpha2 release:

* uname -a > uname-a.log
* cat /proc/version_signature > version.log
* dmesg > dmesg.log
* sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log

Please be sure to attach each file as a separate attachment. For more information regarding the kernel team bug policy, please refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks again and we appreciate your help and feedback.

[Ben Dodson (bjdodson)]

Leann,

I'm more than happy to help in whatever way I can. I've attached the logs. On a side note, the Hardy alpha does fix my brightness keys : )

[Flemming Bjerke (flem)]

After I solved the problem as described above, everthing worked fine till restart (I usually just suspend). After restart my Fujitsu Siemens, the kernel did not find synaptics as touchpad, but just a generic mouse. Suspecting it was a problem with a kernel module, I found this:

"Turns out that my Alps touchpad was being detected as a generic PS/2 Mouse. The immediate fix was to manually relaod (has somebody fixed this yet!!!) the psmouse driver after unloading it."
http://chakravyuh.blogspot.com/2004/07/synaptics-touchpad-on-gentoo-linux.html

Indeed, my Lifebook finds the touchpad as such if I run:

rmmod psmouse
modprobe psmouse

After restarting X with ctrl+alt backspace everything works perfect again.

I have tried to make a work-around this by putting

rmmod psmouse
modprobe psmouse

in the beginning of /etc/init.d/x11-common. But, it didn't work. Apparently, it just works after X has been started. Perhaps someone knowing more about X and (k)ubuntu could suggest a fix?

[Flemming Bjerke (flem)]

Comment to Leann. Of course, you are right: Fujitsu-Siemens is not the same as Thinkpad. However, it need not be a good idea to make a new bug report for every laptop-model with the same problem. Moreover, wouldn't it be interesting to know if trick rmmod ... modprobe trick works on a Thinkpad, too. If you check my attachment on my first comment to this bug, you will notice that my lifebook did not find the synaptics touchpad. Thus, before I succeeded activating my touchpad, my laptop must have recognised the touchpad somehow. How this has happened, I don't know. But this suggests that it could be that the driver works fine, but that the kernel under some circumstances is happy with finding psmouse and does not check for a touchpad.

[Mat Lehmann (matlehmann)]

I am also on a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 (Type 8918-B6G) using Kubuntu Gutsy (2.6.22-14-generic) and I am having the same problem - my touchpad is recognized as a "PS/2 Generic Mouse".

If any more information is needed, I will happily supply it.

[Andreas H. (andrey-harder)]

I have the same problem with my Thinkpad R61 (Type 8919-A21). I'm using Ubuntu Gutsy with all new updates so far.
My touchpad is also recognized as "PS/2 Generic Mouse" (see the attachment)

[dnquark (leo-alekseyev+launchpad)]

I am having exactly the same problem with Fujitsu t2010, which has a Synaptics trackpoint. The device gets detected as "PS/2 Generic Mouse".

Eagerly waiting for the fix...

[dnquark (leo-alekseyev+launchpad)]

Let me add that sadly, the problem remains unchanged Hardy Alpha 4

[Ben Dodson (bjdodson)]

I just installed the Hardy beta and this is fixed for me! My brightness buttons also work now. Very happy with this release :)

[Mat Lehmann (matlehmann)]

Did you just install to Hardy and it worked out-of-the-box or did you have to do something else to make it work?

I am asking because I upgraded to Kubuntu Hardy beta yesterday and nothing changed.

[Ben Dodson (bjdodson)]

I had originally tried some things from the thread, but none of them worked.
Then after installing Hardy, things worked out of the box. So I don't know
if I jostled something into place or not...

You have the R61? I initially had some other things not work out of the box,
like the volume and brightness buttons. Those issues were fixed in Hardy as
well.

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 3:54 AM, Mat Lehmann <email address hidden> wrote:

> Did you just install to Hardy and it worked out-of-the-box or did you
> have to do something else to make it work?
>
> I am asking because I upgraded to Kubuntu Hardy beta yesterday and
> nothing changed.
>
> --
> Touchpad recognized as generic mouse on Thinkpad R61 laptop
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/163141
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Flemming Bjerke (flem)]

I have a dirty solution. Add:

rmmod psmouse
modprobe psmouse

in the beginning of /etc/init.d/kdm (e.g. just above "set -e"), then the touchpad is recognized as such in kde. This should be a "solution" for kubuntu.

If you use ubuntu, you will probably use gdm as window manager. I suppose you can do the same with /etc/init.d/gdm as I did with kdm.

I wonder if this bug is just a question of when the psmouse driver is started? I.e. if it started too early, the touchpad is recognized a mouse, only.

(Incidentally, on my Fujitsu kernel 2.6.27 did solve the problem.)

[Flemming Bjerke (flem)]

Sorry, I meant: Incidentally, on my Fujits,u kernel 2.6.27 did NOT solve the problem.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

[Pablo López Martín (mr-bible2001)]

Same problem here on a Toshiba Satellite Pro M10 laptop with ALPS Touchpad. It gets detected as PS/2 Generic Mouse so all solutions involving tweaking the xorg.conf to get advanced features like scrolling to work don't help at all. Is this going to be fixed anytime soon? Is this a kernel problem? Do I need to change the kernel?

Thanks,

~ Pablo

[Pablo López Martín (mr-bible2001)]

I opened bug in upstream and it got fixed, at least for Toshiba Satellite Pro M10 Alps Touchpad. The problem was that the signature for that particular Touchpad was not recognized. Attaching patch for kernel 2.6.29.1. Check http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13134 for more info.

Regards,

Pablo

P.S.: You probably need the signature of Thinkpad's touchpad added into alps.c

[kernel-janitor (kernel-janitor)]

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately.]

This bug was flagged as having a patch attached. The Ubuntu Kernel Team's preferred policy is for all patches to be submitted and accepted into the upstream kernel before agreeing to merge them into the Ubuntu kernel. The goal for the Ubuntu kernel is to have little to no divergence from the upstream linux kernel source.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/KernelPatches has been written to document the suggested policy and procedures for helping get a patch merged upstream and subsequently into the Ubuntu kernel. Please take the time to review that wiki if this patch should be considered for inclusion into the upstream and Ubuntu kernel. Let us know if you have any questions or need any help via the Ubuntu Kernel Team mailing list. Thanks in advance.

[Chase Douglas (chasedouglas)]

I have confirmed the fix is in the Lucid sources.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Checked the commit SHA and this is currently in the Lucid branch. Marking Fix Released.

-JFo

[Tymur Lavreniuk (tml605)]

I'm not Lenovo user, but my acer aspire 753 has same problem. My touchpad recognized as PS/2 mouse.
Ubuntu 11.04 x64 (x86 tested too).