Touchpad of Dell n4030 is not recognised

[Habib]

Binary package hint: xorg

The touchpad is recognised as a generic ps/2 mouse, and therefore, its edge scrolling does not work

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.34-generic 2.6.35.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Architecture: i386
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1366x768
 edid-base64: AP///////wAlzBQAAAAAAAAUAQOAHxJ4Cof1lFdPjCcnUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBvBtWhFAAFjAwIBQANa4QAAAYvBtWhFAAFjAwIBQANa4QAAAAAAAA/gBIUjFWVIAxNDBHVzAxAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEBCiAgAEs=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
Date: Tue Oct 19 00:22:08 2010
DkmsStatus:
 bcmwl, 5.60.48.36+bdcom, 2.6.35-22-generic, i686: installed
 vboxhost, 3.2.10: added
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron N4030
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=2c543bb6-ac15-4980-9022-fdac4191f5e9 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
dmi.bios.date: 07/12/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A03
dmi.board.name: 0K13WN
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A03
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: A03
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA03:bd07/12/2010:svnDellInc.:pnInspironN4030:pvrA03:rvnDellInc.:rn0K13WN:rvrA03:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrA03:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron N4030
dmi.product.version: A03
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: maverick
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.35-22-generic

[Ahmed Shams (ashams)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.
Please, run thefollowing from your terminal 'cat /proc/bus/input/devices >~/devices' and 'dmesg > ~/dmesg
' then attach the 'devices' and 'dmesg' files from your Home dir. to this report.

[Habib (habibseifzadeh)]

Dear Ahmed,

Attached you can find the two required files.

By the way, I found some information that I guess it is useful for the
developers: I have another DELL laptop (the old DELL 6000). When I
booted this old laptop with Ubuntu 10.10 CD, I noticed that its touchpad
has been recognized as generic PS/2 mouse too, but interestingly, all of
its touchpad functionalities like vertical scrolling work perfectly and
the touchpad tab appears in the mouse properties dialog.

Another information is that n4030 laptop touchpad is an ALPS one but
6000 laptop touchpad is a Synaptics one. I read in a forum that the only
way to solve the problem is to add n4030 touchpad model to alps.c file
of the kernel and then recompile the kernel.

Cheers,
Habib

[Habib (habibseifzadeh)]

Dear Ahmed,

Attached you can find the two required files.

By the way, I found some information that I guess it is useful for the
developers: I have another DELL laptop (the old DELL 6000). When I
booted this old laptop with Ubuntu 10.10 CD, I noticed that its touchpad
has been recognized as generic PS/2 mouse too, but interestingly, all of
its touchpad functionalities like vertical scrolling work perfectly and
the touchpad tab appears in the mouse properties dialog.

Another information is that n4030 laptop touchpad is an ALPS one but
6000 laptop touchpad is a Synaptics one. I read in a forum that the only
way to solve the problem is to add n4030 touchpad model to alps.c file
of the kernel and then recompile the kernel.

Cheers,
Habib

[Dirley Rodrigues (dirleyrls)]

Hello, there. I think that this should be useful to you to know that there's a patch for the kernel alps.c file, and a more technical explanation about this bug (or one very similiar) at Fedora's bugzilla here: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=590880

[Ahmed Shams (ashams)]

Reported Package changed to Kernel (linux), I'm not sure if the batch will work, but it's easy to try and if it worked fine with you, please confirm this here so we hope it finds it's way to the archive.

[Habib (habibseifzadeh)]

I confirm that the patch which has been put in the comment #194 of
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/550625 causes the
vertical scrolling to work, but click-by-tapping stopped to work...

Habib

[Adilson Lopes Pauleti (adilson-pauleti)]

Hello my friends!
First I apologize for my bad English.
I have a Dell Inspiron N4030, 11.10 Working with Ubuntu on dual boot with Windows 7. When I'm running Ubuntu key to disabling the touchpad does not work, I would like this feature also occurred on my Ubuntu. Could anyone help me how to fix this bug?
Thank you.

[JamesIsIn (k-launchpad-soundunreason-com)]

I also have an n4030. The trackpad is recognized (incorrectly) as a PS2 mouse. There is no Trackpad tab in the mouse properties dialog. Trackpad specific features (scrolling) do not work. Finally, the mouse tends to fling the pointer around the screen and tap while typing (and since there is no Trackpad tab there is no way to disable the pad while typing).

I have been seeking either a remedy or a workaround for some time now. You can see the fruits (such as they are) of this adventure in these three threads. This first link is to my thread comment which contains some potentially useful output from the machine concerning the mouse/trackpad:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=11807478&postcount=13

This one (also mine) has some output from a Win7 machine which may also be useful:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1892135

This one (not mine) suggests a workaround which I do not know how to make work:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1682834

I will also post the files requested above in a separate comment.

If anyone can help at least with a workaround that would be very useful.

Thanks.

[JamesIsIn (k-launchpad-soundunreason-com)]

Sorry, I should clarify about the first link I provided above:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=11807478&postcount=13

The output is from apt-get after attempting to install an ALPS package/driver which alleges to remedy this problem. The installation fails and this output comes whenever I run apt-get.

Also, Ubuntu's bug reporting recognizes a crash (at login) for this driver but when I tell it to file a bug report it says it can't because it's not an Ubu package.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Habib, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. Maverick reached EOL on April 10, 2012.
Please see this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We were wondering if this is still an issue in a supported release? If so, can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command in a supported release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please do not test the kernel in the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. As well, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream', and comment as to why specifically you were unable to test it.

Please let us know your results. Thanks in advance.

Helpful Bug Reporting Links:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_Reporting_Etiquette
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#A3._Make_sure_the_bug_hasn.27t_already_been_reported
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Adding_Apport_Debug_Information_to_an_Existing_Launchpad_Bug
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Adding_Additional_Attachments_to_an_Existing_Launchpad_Bug