Power converter kits for international travel negatively affects touchpad

[Eric Appleman]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

I'm in Israel right now and I have my adapter set up properly with my laptop, but the touchpad is flipping out.

Cursor jumps randomly and clicks even when I haven't clicked.

My USB mouse is not affected and the problem with the touchpad disappears once unplugged.

[ 16.288] (II) config/udev: Adding input device SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad (/dev/input/event8)
[ 16.288] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: Applying InputClass "evdev touchpad catchall"
[ 16.288] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: Applying InputClass "touchpad catchall"
[ 16.288] (II) LoadModule: "synaptics"
[ 16.288] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/synaptics_drv.so
[ 16.300] (II) Module synaptics: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 16.300] compiled for 1.9.0.902, module version = 1.2.2
[ 16.300] Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
[ 16.300] ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 11.0
[ 16.300] (II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 1.2.2
[ 16.301] (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event8"
[ 16.308] (II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: x-axis range 1472 - 5472
[ 16.308] (II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: y-axis range 1408 - 4448
[ 16.308] (II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: pressure range 0 - 255
[ 16.308] (II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: finger width range 0 - 15
[ 16.308] (II) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: buttons: left right
[ 16.312] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found
[ 16.312] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: always reports core events
[ 16.316] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" (type: TOUCHPAD)
[ 16.316] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
[ 16.316] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration profile 0
[ 16.316] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
[ 16.316] (**) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
[ 16.324] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found
[ 16.324] (II) config/udev: Adding input device SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad (/dev/input/mouse1)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.2.2-2ubuntu7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.37-12.26-genusername 2.6.37
Uname: Linux 2.6.37-12-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CompisitorRunning: None
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/allscreens/options/active_plugins'
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1440x900
 edid-base64: AP///////wBMo1dEAAAAAAAQAQOAHhN4Cof1lFdPjCcnUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBSCWgMFGEDDBAIDMAL74QAAAZAAAADwAAAAAAAAAAAHjmAiMAAAAA/gBDRzAwMgExNDFXRAogAAAA/gAXNkJKbo60/wIBCiAgAB8=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
Date: Sat Jan 15 03:37:57 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 vboxhost, 4.0.0, 2.6.37-12-generic, i686: installed
 vboxhost, 4.0.0, 2.6.37-11-generic, i686: installed
GraphicsCard:
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01d8]
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01d8]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha i386 (20101229)
MachineType: Dell Inc. MXC061
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37-12-genusername root=UUID=6962d6df-ace0-470e-8518-44affc4c8716 ro vt.handoff=7 quiet splash
Renderer: Hardware acceleration
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
UnitySupportTest:

dmi.bios.date: 07/10/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A11
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA11:bd07/10/2007:svnDellInc.:pnMXC061:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: MXC061
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.22-2ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.9+repack-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.13.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.13.901-2ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20100805+b96170a-0ubuntu1

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

I notice this in your XorgLog:

[ 5994.912] (EE) intel(0): Failed to submit batch buffer, expect rendering corruption or even a frozen display: Invalid argument.

Subsequent to that it re-acquires the touchpad (and monitor, and usb mouse):

[ 5995.208] (--) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad: touchpad found

Working theory... the power adapter causes a gpu lockup that the kernel recovers from, but X doesn't reload the touchpad settings and thus misses a quirk/workaround for the jumpy cursor.

Can you test this theory, by booting fresh on battery, then running 'tail -f /var/log/Xorg.0.log' in a window, and plug in your power adapter. If the theory is true, the batch buffer error message should print out, and then the touchpad should start behaving weird.

[Eric Appleman (erappleman)]

I could not produce the desired log output on demand.

Furthermore, I am no longer in Israel and as such can no longer use that organic testing environment.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Alright, hrm. Since this is such a combination of weird corner cases and hard to reproduce, and not serious (as in crashy), I'm setting the priority to low. The bug probably should go upstream.

It would be *really* useful to come up with a repeatable (synthetic) test case. But not sure how to go about that.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi Eric,

Since there isn't enough info here to really pinpoint what led to this issue I'm not going to forward the bug upstream. They'd almost certainly want to see some testing done to verify the cause. Also, a lot has changed upstream since this was reported so it's likely they'd want to see it reproduced on newer kernel bits before they'd do analysis of it. At the distro level I think this is such an uncommon corner case anyway that given the lack of info/test case it probably isn't worth tracking for natty.