touchpad stops working until I switch the user or re-login

[Mirko Günther]

Since I upgrated from Ubuntu 10.10 to 11.04 the touchpad stops working when a window pops up or is refreshed
A usb mouse works well.

Irritating is, when I switch the user, the touchpad work in the new seeeion, but not in the old one.

I've observed that problem on my Samsung NC150 netbook.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.3.99+git20110116.0e27ce3a-0ubuntu12
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,resize,fade,scale,session,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1024x600
 edid-base64: AP///////wANrwcQAAAAAAMTAQOAFgx4Cs9FkFlXlSkfUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBLBUAakFYNCBtSH0A3n0AAAAYAAAA/gBOMTAxTDYtTDAxCiAgAAAA/gBDTU8KICAgICAgICAgAAAA/gBOMTAxTDYtTDAxCiAgAMQ=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
Date: Mon May 16 21:21:15 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-02-20 14:05:56.298032
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: vboxhost, 4.0.6, 2.6.38-8-generic, i686: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:a011] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device [144d:c072]
   Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device [144d:c072]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Netbook 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Release Candidate i386 (20100419.1)
MachineType: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. N150/N210/N220
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_DE:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=82e03543-50bb-49dc-b91d-0ef9b3f5e7a6 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-11 (35 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 01/29/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
dmi.bios.version: 06JI.M053.20100129.JIP
dmi.board.asset.tag: SAMSUNG
dmi.board.name: N150/N210/N220
dmi.board.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLtd.:bvr06JI.M053.20100129.JIP:bd01/29/2010:svnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:pnN150/N210/N220:pvrNotApplicable:rvnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:rnN150/N210/N220:rvrNotApplicable:cvnSAMSUNGELECTRONICSCO.,LTD.:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: N150/N210/N220
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[RedSingularity (redsingularity)]

Assigning package.

[Tom Nicholls (pmyteh)]

This also affects my Eee PC 1001P, though it does not appear to relate to windows popping up as far as I can tell - it works for a while, then stops. Like Mirko, it will restart on logging out and logging in, or switching user.

I have done some digging to find out what the issue is. The device is still being recognised by the HAL, and also by the input layer. cat /dev/input/event8 will produce output when the trackpad is used, even after it's stopped moving the pointer, and evtest in one of the virtual terminals produces the output you'd expect.

What is more interesting is the first two lines of the output from xinput --list-props:
Device 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad':
 Device Enabled (135): 0

Issuing xinput --set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics Touchpad" "Device Enabled" 1 returns no error, but does not enable the device. The log of another window running xinput --watch-props is attached - in short, the Device Enabled flag is immediately returned to 0, as well as another set of settings being switched. FWIW, the first "Property 'Synaptics Off' changed. Synaptics Off (290): 0" happens before the enable command is sent

This is as far as I have got. I don't know what software is disabling the touchpad, or why - but I hope this post spurs some ideas from people who may know.

Thanks,
Tom

[Ryan May (rmay31)]

I'm seeing it here too on an HP laptop. The touchpad is listed as: 'AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint'

[Tom Nicholls (pmyteh)]

It looks like the issue is related to GNOME's settings - specifically the touchpad_enabled setting being set to false. See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1606153 for discussion.

The following solution works for me. Open a terminal (or press Alt+F2), and enter:
gconftool -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled true

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hey mirko-infojungs,

You filed this bug report against natty, but I see it's still open and
doesn't appear to have much activity recently. So, now that oneiric
is released and stable, this may be a good point for you to upgrade
and re-test if this issue is still present there.

If it's solved in the new release and you think it's worth backporting
the fix, please indicate that. Or if having the fix in the new release
is good enough, feel free to close out the bug (or let us know and we'll
close it.)

If it's not solved, leave the bug report open. I can't promise we'll
get to it (we get way more bugs filed than we can usually get to), but
your testing and feedback can help out if and when we do.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.