Arch Linux

Uromastix87

Member

Registered: 2015-03-09

Posts: 14

Touchpad randomly stops working

-----Problem
My touchpad will suddenly stop working and I can't get it to resume working until I have restarted my laptop. Sometimes I can use my laptop for hours without any problem other times it happens within the first few minutes of use. It happens usually when I'm using chrome, but that's the most common thing I do on my laptop. I don't think it has ever happened in the middle of use; In other words it stops working either while I'm typing or moving my hands to use the touchpad.

-----Troubleshooting
I've tried switching to libinput, but the problem still occurs. I'm currently back to using synaptics.

I have tried detecting touchpad activity through evtest, but the numbers don't change like they do when the touchpad is working.

-----Information
I'm using bspwm + sxhkd. with urxvt as my terminal. My laptop model is an Acer A01-431-C8G8.

palm detection is off and I've checked to make sure TouchpadOff = 0 using synclient.

If the touchpad quits on me and I exit xorg I get a bunch of repeating error messages for about 30 seconds then it stops and I have to ctrl+c. They are repeated like so:

260.0xxxxx i2c_designware 808622C1:00: controller timed out
260.0xxxxx i2c_designware 808622C1:00: Unknown Synopsys component type: 0x00000000

Those lines repeat for a bit unti this one pops up

263.3xxxxx i2c_hid i2c-SYN1B82:00: failed to change power setting.

I can't find anything on Google about those error messages.

-----
Do you have any suggestions for a service I can try restarting when this happens?

Thanks.
-Rocco

Last edited by Uromastix87 (2016-01-16 01:50:59)

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: Touchpad randomly stops working

Moving to "Laptop Issues".

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: Touchpad randomly stops working

An intermittent problem would suggest hardware failure.

Do you experience this problem in the live environment?

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

Uromastix87

Member

Registered: 2015-03-09

Posts: 14

Re: Touchpad randomly stops working

That crossed my mind, but this laptop has been used for a few months on several operating systems with no problems from the touchpad. The problem only arose after starting up x under Arch.

By live environment I'm assuming you are talking about when Arch is running from a USB stick and not actually installed. No, I have not experienced the problem in the live environment. It would be hard to tell if I have the problem in the live environment since it is so sporadic.

I realize that it is a possibility that this could be a hardware issue. Since even after restarting X I still get no response from the touchpad only after a full reboot do I gain control again.

I don't think it is caused by pressure from the keyboard I just tried mushing on it pretty hard and everything is fine. I don't think it is caused by any kind of torque since I use the laptop on a desk. What else could trigger it? Temperature? If I can find a way to trigger it I would be much more apt to try to simulate that in a live environment.

I'm still hoping to find a service to restart. Maybe a service related to input? The problem occurred last night and I tried resetting a few related to udev to no avail.

Thanks, I appreciate the response,
-Rocco

Last edited by Uromastix87 (2016-01-16 17:18:31)

Uromastix87

Member

Registered: 2015-03-09

Posts: 14

Re: Touchpad randomly stops working

OK, I remembered a setting in the BIOs to change the touchpad between advanced and basic. I switched it to basic just now. I'll see how it goes. It mentioned something about having the right i2c driver in order for "advanced mode" to work. So, I hope this does the trick. I don't know why it would be intermittent though.