[SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

Razakhel · 2016-03-09 08:03:05

I may not have posted this in the right place, please ask me to move it if necessary.

My touchpad simply stops working after an undefined amount of time. I am using i3, I'm not sure that it's the problem (I didn't try another WM except OpenBox but not for long enough), but it most likely is.

It appears that this often (if not always) happens at the opening of an app.

The content of my

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf

should not be an issue: I had a simple one at first, then changed for a more 'complete' one. It didn't solve the problem whatsoever.

The output of

xinput list

is as follows:

⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Elan Touchpad id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ USB Camera id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Asus WMI hotkeys id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]

The entry "Elan Touchpad" does not disappear when touchpad stops working.

(Question asked on Unix&Linux StackExchange: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions … rking-arch)

Last edited by Razakhel (2016-04-21 21:53:52)

swalladge · 2016-03-09 10:33:32

Can you post the output of `journalctl -xb` after your touchpad stops working, as well as the contents of `.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log`?

Side note: this post on gogi.in, sounds similar to your problem - he suggests installing gpointing-device-settings - worth a try.

Razakhel · 2016-03-09 11:38:52

'journalctl -xb' mostly displays the same line (from 2 hours ago until now):

mars 09 09:57:02 Razakhel konsole[14470]: QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.

(At different times obviously).

The content of the log has been hosted here. The touchpad stops working right before the last loading of evdev for the Razer, so before the entry 15651.835. I've plugged the mouse way before, this is why the Razer has been recognized earlier (this is the first time I plugged the mouse at boot though, so it is not an issue nor a solution).

I've installed gpointing-device-settings, I thought it worked for a moment and wanted to tell you're a saint... But touchpad still stopped. Damn.

EDIT: Though if I may add, it seems that the touchpad works for way longer than before now. It may just be an impression, but if it's true that's a good start.

Last edited by Razakhel (2016-03-09 12:02:47)

swalladge · 2016-03-09 23:38:51

Ok this section looks suspicious to me (although I'm not sure what is going on - could be unrelated - did you unplug your razer mouse at that point?):

[ 6537.894] (II) config/udev: removing device Razer Razer Abyssus
[ 6537.896] (II) evdev: Razer Razer Abyssus: Close
[ 6537.913] (II) UnloadModule: "evdev"
[ 6537.913] (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 13:73
[ 6537.915] (EE) systemd-logind: failed to release device: Device not taken

It's possible that the touchpad is going to sleep and not able to resume properly (which seems to be a common issue with certain usb devices) - it is a usb touchpad right? Have a look at the USB autosuspend section under power management in the wiki for more information.

Personally I have '/etc/udev/rules.d/50-usb_power_save.rules' which contains the following to disable usb powersaving (because I had issues with a keyboard or something ages ago):

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="on"

Try disabling usb powersaving with the above method and see how it goes.

PS. also check gointing-device-settings before and after touchpad stops working to make sure it's not somehow disabled there.

Razakhel · 2016-03-15 01:28:12

Sorry for the delay, I've waited a while to see if the problem was still there after what you suggested, but unfortunately it stopped functioning a while ago.

To answer your questions:
- Yes, these lines appeared when I unplugged the Razer mouse.
- I have no idea if it is a USB touchpad or not, actually... Is there any way to know that?
- There is no difference in gpointing-device-settings between before & after it stops functioning. The options are exactly the same (including the unchecked box 'Disable touchpad').

And I confirm that there is nothing in the Xorg.0.log that tells that the touchpad has been disconnected or anything.

Is there any way that this happens when the system begins to fill in the swap (since it mostly happens while I launch relatively heavy applications, and since my swap is not at 0% but not that high either)? If not, do you have any other idea about what is going on?

swalladge · 2016-03-16 14:02:28

To be honest, I don't know what's going on. (sorry - these mysterious problems where things randomly stop working are difficult to debug)

If you know exactly what make/model your laptop (assuming it's a laptop) is, you could look it up on the archwiki or elsewhere to see if it's a known problem - often various laptops have specific drivers for their hardware that can be installed from the official repos or the aur.

You should be able to tell how the touchpad is connected by looking at the journal (output from journalctl).

Something else you could look at - your keyboard might have a shortcut to disable the touchpad, or maybe a system 'disable touchpad while typing' setting that isn't working properly. Since your using i3, it's unlikely though - you would have had to setup those things yourself if you aren't running a desktop environment or some other settings daemon.

Maybe someone else with more knowledge of how that all goes together could answer your last question about swap...

Razakhel · 2016-03-16 14:51:06

I agree, these are the worst...

I will do just that, I hope I'll get to find a solution...!

There's nothing about the touchpad in the journal, actually... Unless there's a specific command, 'journactl' only gives me the journal prior to the actual connection (I assume it is intended), while 'journalctl -xe' (or -xb) gives me the journal of the current session. In neither case I have lines related to the touchpad though.

My keyboard does have a 'disable touchpad' key, but does not work. It doesn't bother me much since I wouldn't use it anyway, but I don't think there is a problem about that. For the 'disable touchpad while typing' I don't think it is really relevant, since the touchpad has been like this out of the box.

If I were to add something, the touchpad worked fine under elementaryOS. Well, the dual-finger-scroll didn't work at all, but at least it didn't stop working.

As for the swap suggestion, I can attest this is not a problem, the last time it happened the swap was totally empty.

Thanks a lot for the time you took though, as well as for your suggestions. I will post the answer here if I find it!

Docbroke · 2016-03-16 15:48:08

have you checked output of below command when touchpad is not working

synclient | grep Touchpad

if you get "TouchpadOff = 1", run below command to activate your touchpad

synclient TouchpadOff=0

Razakhel · 2016-03-16 16:06:32

The result is

TouchpadOff = 0

So no problem here either.

Docbroke · 2016-03-16 16:15:01

Can you try removing "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf", (after taking backup!) reboot and see what happens.

Razakhel · 2016-03-17 01:34:03

The touchpad is still working (actually not a single file was in '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/' when I've installed it, so not really surprising), and the problem is still the same.

I can attest that my '50-synaptics.conf' is taken into account since I've modified it to make a right-click when pressing its area instead of the actual button.

Razakhel · 2016-04-01 08:39:38

It appears that if I plug the mouse before I start the computer (OR before doing anything, maybe before launching startx? Xorg related? I didn't check while plugging it between powering on the PC and 'startx'), my touchpad does not stop working at all during a whole day, 8 hours straight.

Razakhel · 2016-04-21 21:53:29

Just coming back to say that problem is solved. It appears that the previous Linux kernel upgrade solved this. All the better!

Arch Linux

#1 2016-03-09 08:03:05

[SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#2 2016-03-09 10:33:32

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#3 2016-03-09 11:38:52

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#4 2016-03-09 23:38:51

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#5 2016-03-15 01:28:12

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#6 2016-03-16 14:02:28

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#7 2016-03-16 14:51:06

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#8 2016-03-16 15:48:08

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#9 2016-03-16 16:06:32

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#10 2016-03-16 16:15:01

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#11 2016-03-17 01:34:03

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#12 2016-04-01 08:39:38

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

#13 2016-04-21 21:53:29

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad stop working [i3]

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