cursor jumps to screen border when touching trackpad border

[Andreas E.]

When I do a drag operation (tap followed by a continuous pointing motion) and my finger reaches the edge of the trackpad, the cursor jumps to the screen edge. Since the cursor normally moves relative to the movement on the trackpad, it should still be somewhere in the center area of the screen but not at the screen border.

This could be connected to the option to continue cursor motion slowly (!=jump) when the finger hits the trackpad border, however I couldn't find this option anymore in the control panel.

Examples where this bug appears:
moving an icon on the desktop, panning a map in the browser or Google Earth, drawing a freehand line in Inkscape or Gimp

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.5.99.901-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-19.30-generic-pae 3.2.11
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-19-generic-pae i686
ApportVersion: 1.94.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Mar 23 01:51:36 2012
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha i386 (20120201.1)
MachineType: MAXDATA PRO600IW
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-19-generic-pae root=UUID=19eac017-3035-4eaf-a7d4-af518d44a5af ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/25/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: Q3B21
dmi.board.name: PRO600IW
dmi.board.vendor: MAXDATA
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvrQ3B21:bd08/25/2006:svnMAXDATA:pnPRO600IW:pvr5123660003:rvnMAXDATA:rnPRO600IW:rvrNotApplicable:cvnNoEnclosure:ct1:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: PRO600IW
dmi.product.version: 5123660003
dmi.sys.vendor: MAXDATA
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.0+bzr3035-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.30-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 8.0.1-0ubuntu5
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 8.0.1-0ubuntu5
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20111219.aacbd629-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build2

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi Andreas, has it always behaved like this, or did this behavior just begin recently?

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

Hi,
this issue doesn't occur anymore in 12.04 beta2. It seems to be solved for now.
Thanks.

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

Sorry, it still occurs in 12.04 beta2. It's easier to reproduce by dragging a desktop icon and moving the finger into (or over) a trackpad corner, then the icon jumps over half the screen into the screen corner.
It started only recently, I think not before alpha 2.

[Jacob (jacob11)]

Same problem here. This started after an upgrade to 12.04. I'm using Lxde installed on top of KDE.

[Jacob (jacob11)]

found this on /var/log/apt/history.log : xserver-xorg-input-synaptics:amd64 (1.5.99.902-0ubuntu2, 1.5.99.902-0ubuntu3).
Upgrade started at 2012-04-05 05:16:12

[Jacob (jacob11)]

I downgraded the package, but it was the same. Looks like some config is wrong somewhere, but I have no idea wat the problem is.

[Jacob (jacob11)]

if I go to the IRC channel, people tells me to file a bug report. If I file a bug report, no one seems to care about the bug. REALLY sad.

[Thomas Ward (teward)]

You need patience. :P

Marked as confirmed since two people are experiencing the same issue.

[Jacob (jacob11)]

solved (at least, it's been working fine for a couple hours) by adding "i8042.dumbkbd=1 i8042.nomux=1" to the kernel command line in /etc/default/grub ( GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX = "i8042.dumbkbd=1 i8042.nomux=1" ). don't know what they do...
I had those since a couple years, but removed it after some upgrade.
Adding xev output to see if it helps.

[Jacob (jacob11)]

well, somedays have passed.
the mouse is still jumping, but much less than before.
I hope this helps somebody out there.

[Nikos Fazakis (gccster)]

guys, i had the same problem so i created a patch https://github.com/fazakis/cursor_jump_top_corner_x11_synaptics_bug i include installation instructions hope this helps...i don't really know why this problem is happening but i added a few sanidation lines of code that seem to workaround the problem...

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

Thanks!
This bug was still there in 12.04, now I am on 12.10 and it doesn't hapen anymore. So it could be that it has been fixed in 12.10 and should be back-ported, or be fixed using your patch.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Andreas E., this bug report is being closed due to your last comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/+bug/962704/comments/13 regarding this being fixed with an update. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.