Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package

  1. Bug #783641
  2. Comment #5

Comment 5 for bug 783641

Revision history for this message
Tom Nicholls (pmyteh) wrote :

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