Touchpad stops working after login when using latest kernel (5.15.0-58-generic)

[Tina Russell]

After upgrading to the latest kernel (5.15.0-58-generic), my laptop’s touchpad has stopped working after the login screen. That is, it works on the login screen, but as soon as I log in (in fact, the moment I press enter after entering my password), the mouse cursor no longer responds to touchpad input. (I’ve made sure that my touchpad is enabled, both by using the touchpad enable/disable button on my laptop, and by checking in “Mouse Preferences” (Preferences → Mouse in the main menu) that the “Enable Touchpad” box is checked.) The mouse buttons below the touchpad, however, still work, and if I plug in a USB mouse, that will work as well.

When I restart and select the previous kernel version (5.15.0-57-generic) on boot, the touchpad works again, on the login screen and after. Nevertheless, I’d really appreciate a fix; this laptop is dear to me, and I’d like to be able to use it with the latest kernel updates.

I’m using Ubuntu MATE 22.04.01 LTS on a Compaq Presario CQ60.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
Package: linux-image-5.15.0-58-generic 5.15.0-58.64
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-58.64-generic 5.15.74
Uname: Linux 5.15.0-58-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.3
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: tina 2670 F.... pulseaudio
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: MATE
Date: Wed Feb 1 18:36:00 2023
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=3e371ef8-1061-4c6d-b9ab-a072575893c9
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-05-24 (1715 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-MATE 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard Compaq Presario CQ60 Notebook PC
ProcFB: 0 nouveaudrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15.0-58-generic root=UUID=1e6f5cc4-d098-4aaa-9a26-4f3808cfd68d ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-5.15.0-58-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-5.15.0-58-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.9
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to jammy on 2023-01-11 (21 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 02/04/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: F.33
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: 3617
dmi.board.vendor: Wistron
dmi.board.version: 09.48
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Chassis Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Wistron
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvrF.33:bd02/04/2009:svnHewlett-Packard:pnCompaqPresarioCQ60NotebookPC:pvrF.33:rvnWistron:rn3617:rvr09.48:cvnWistron:ct10:cvrChassisVersion:skuNL058PA#AB2:
dmi.product.family: 103C_5335KV
dmi.product.name: Compaq Presario CQ60 Notebook PC
dmi.product.sku: NL058PA#AB2
dmi.product.version: F.33
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Tina Russell (tinarussell)]

After restarting my laptop recently, the touchpad no longer works under kernel version 5.15.0-57-generic. (Same symptoms: the touchpad works in the login screen, but the moment I log in, it stops working.) My best guess is that this happened because of the linux-firmware update (20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.10, from 20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.9), which of course regenerated the initramfs for each kernel installed. (I installed this update before restarting the computer.) But, that's only my best guess. Let me know if I should mark this bug as affecting linux-firmware, or if you need any other information.

Oh, and just to be thorough, I did try the newest kernel (5.15.0-60-generic, newer than my original bug report), and the touchpad still doesn't work (same symptoms as before). This was after installing that linux-firmware update.

[Tina Russell (tinarussell)]

A few things:

1. The linux-firmware thing might be a red herring; I downgraded the package to the old version (20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.9) and restarted (choosing kernel version 5.15.0-57-generic), and the problem persisted.

2. I noticed that, even when the touchpad wasn’t working, it could still be found using “xinput list” (listed as “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad”) and tested using “sudo evtest”. (Remember, I made sure that the touchpad wasn’t disabled, either by the hardware switch or in “Mouse Preferences.”) This made me wonder if this all was a kernel bug at all (but that was still my best guess, given that previously my touchpad worked under 5.15.0-57-generic but not 5.15.0-58-generic).

3. Finally, I found a fix for my use-case: https://askubuntu.com/questions/815569/ubuntu-16-04-touchpad-stops-working-after-login/1338177#1338177 I tried using “xinput --list-props 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'”, and indeed, one of the results displayed was “Synaptics Off (295): 1”. By using “xinput --set-prop 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad' 'Synaptics Off' 0”, I was able to get the touchpad working again instantly. Just to make sure, I updated linux-firmware to the latest version (20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.10) and restarted into the latest kernel (5.15.0-60-generic), and once again, the touchpad stopped working after login; but once again, I was able to use “xinput --set-prop 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad' 'Synaptics Off' 0” in the terminal to restore touchpad functionality. (I’ll put that line in my .profile, so that hopefully I won’t have to do it manually again.)

So I guess this bug report is now a matter of what disabled the touchpad in the first place using that obscure flag. Hmmmm…