[Regression] touchpad not recognized on upgade to karmic (sony vaio VGN-SR220)

[balak]

***** Bug Description *****
I upgraded from jaunty to karmic yesterday (10/30). The touchpad on my sony vaio SR220J stopped working. No response to any movement, no cursor, unless I add an external USB/bluetooth mouse.

This is what I found from dmesg:
dmesg | grep mouse
[ 1.051678] input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /devices/virtual/input/input2
[ 1.162601] mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[ 13.603905] psmouse: Unknown parameter `synaptics_resume_reset'
[ 13.653028] psmouse: Unknown parameter `synaptics_resume_reset'
[ 13.693133] psmouse: Unknown parameter `synaptics_resume_reset'
[ 13.733184] psmouse: Unknown parameter `synaptics_resume_reset'

System->Preferences->Mouse does not have a touchpad tab.

ProblemType: Bug
AplayDevices: aplay: device_list:223: no soundcards found...
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices: arecord: device_list:223: no soundcards found...
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/dsp', '/dev/snd/by-path', '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/hwC0D1', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c', '/dev/snd/hwC0D0', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer', '/dev/sequencer', '/dev/sequencer2'] failed with exit code 1:
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Date: Sat Oct 31 13:22:36 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=6e65a089-c725-4af3-af81-8804b0864c54
MachineType: Sony Corporation VGN-SR220J
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-14-generic 2.6.31-14.48
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=8a118175-e282-45ae-8f60-3035572801e4 ro single
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-14-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.24
SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64
dmi.bios.date: 08/14/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: R1110Y1
dmi.board.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.board.name: VAIO
dmi.board.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.board.version: N/A
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrR1110Y1:bd08/14/2008:svnSonyCorporation:pnVGN-SR220J:pvrC601156A:rvnSonyCorporation:rnVAIO:rvrN/A:cvnSonyCorporation:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: VGN-SR220J
dmi.product.version: C601156A
dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation

***** Diagnosis *****
Because of this mesg in the logs:
psmouse: Unknown parameter `synaptics_resume_reset'
the psmouse module was not loaded - I checked using 'lsmod'.

***** Workaround *****
The file /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf had this line:
options psmouse synaptics_resume_reset=N

This seems to be a temporary fix to load the psmouse module with this parameter (most probably required in Jaunty). Maybe this parameter does not exist in the module version in karmic. Anyways, I commented out this line and rebooted.
the 'psmouse' kernel module is loaded and my touchpad is recognized now. Yay!

***** Possible Fix *****
I think the file '/etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf' should be deleted on upgrading to karmic.

[balak (balak)]

Update: I found the reason and a possible fix for this bug.

Because of this mesg in the logs:
psmouse: Unknown parameter `synaptics_resume_reset'
the psmouse module was not loaded - I checked using 'lsmod'.

I searched for "synaptics_resume_reset" and came across the file /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf which had this line:
options psmouse synaptics_resume_reset=N

This seems to be a temporary fix to load the psmouse module with this parameter (most probably required in Jaunty). Maybe this parameter does not exist in the module version in karmic. Anyways, I commented out this line and rebooted.
the 'psmouse' kernel module is loaded and my touchpad is recognized now. Yay!

I think the file '/etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf' should be deleted on upgrading to karmic.

[Ewout ter Haar (ewoutterhaar)]

I had this problem also and your solution worked. Thank a lot!

[saint (john-grieve)]

I posted this same bug as a question because I was not sure it was a bug (Q 87664). I don't have a file called /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf on my installation unfortunately this workaround doesn't work for me. My USB mouse is fine.

Any more suggestions?

dmesg contains:

[ 1.578016] Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[ 1.578024] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[ 1.578095] input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /devices/virtual/input
/input4
[ 1.578132] Driver 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
[ 1.578144] Driver 'sr' needs updating - please use bus_type methods

[ptn (tn-pablo)]

I have the same problem, touchpad is dead to movement, clicks and scrolling, but USB mouse works fine. I'm on a Toshiba Satellite U405-S2856.

I too don't have a psmouse.conf file, so that fix won't work with me.

[saint (john-grieve)]

ptn, have you checked you are loading the correct kernel?

To fix a similar problem I manually edited /boot/grub/menu.lst to replace references to the old kernel (2.6.28-15-generic) with (2.6.31-14-generic) and hey presto all is well with the touchpad.

Please see my post here...

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/87664

hope this helps

[ptn (tn-pablo)]

Yup, correct kernel is being loaded:

$ uname -r
2.6.31-14-generic

Actually, I just found out that my touchpad doesn't even work on Windows, so I have a hardware problem.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and any supporting documentation. Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as confirmed and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better! There are a couple of work-arounds given in the comments.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.