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funkaddict

Member

Registered: 2018-08-13

Posts: 117

[SOLVED] Touchpad Issues on Dell Latitude 7430

Hello,

I have a Dell Latitude 7430 2in1 (convertible) Laptop. I am running Arch on it since about two weeks and right from the beginning I had issues with the touchpad.

- xfce4 on xorg
- touchpad navigation (moving the cursor) stops sometimes after screen saver starts
- touchpad navigation also sometimes stops randomly during working on the machine
- click on the pad (left and right mouse button) always works

When the pad stops working, I can reboot the machine by shortcuts or by using the touch screen.

I think the relevant outputs by xinput list are

Device:           VEN_0488:00 0488:1040 Mouse
Kernel:           /dev/input/event10
Group:            6
Seat:             seat0, default
Capabilities:     pointer 
Tap-to-click:     n/a
Tap-and-drag:     n/a
Tap drag lock:    n/a
Left-handed:      disabled
Nat.scrolling:    disabled
Middle emulation: disabled
Calibration:      n/a
Scroll methods:   *button
Click methods:    none
Disable-w-typing: n/a
Disable-w-trackpointing: n/a
Accel profiles:   flat *adaptive custom
Rotation:         n/a

Device:           VEN_0488:00 0488:1040 Touchpad
Kernel:           /dev/input/event11
Group:            6
Seat:             seat0, default
Size:             109x63mm
Capabilities:     pointer gesture
Tap-to-click:     disabled
Tap-and-drag:     enabled
Tap drag lock:    disabled
Left-handed:      disabled
Nat.scrolling:    disabled
Middle emulation: disabled
Calibration:      n/a
Scroll methods:   *two-finger edge 
Click methods:    *button-areas clickfinger 
Disable-w-typing: enabled
Disable-w-trackpointing: enabled
Accel profiles:   flat *adaptive custom
Rotation:         n/a

When using the xfce4 configuration options, I found out, that the second device listed is the thouchpad. However I don´t know what is the other device. There is furthermore a

Device:           PS/2 Generic Mouse
Kernel:           /dev/input/event17
Group:            13
Seat:             seat0, default
Capabilities:     pointer 
Tap-to-click:     n/a
Tap-and-drag:     n/a
Tap drag lock:    n/a
Left-handed:      disabled
Nat.scrolling:    disabled
Middle emulation: disabled
Calibration:      n/a
Scroll methods:   *button
Click methods:    none
Disable-w-typing: n/a
Disable-w-trackpointing: n/a
Accel profiles:   flat *adaptive custom
Rotation:         0.0

Of which I don´t know, what its purpose is.

Would be thankful for any hint, where to look for the error.

Last edited by funkaddict (2024-10-23 13:49:06)

funkaddict

Member

Registered: 2018-08-13

Posts: 117

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad Issues on Dell Latitude 7430

To provide some feedback and an update:

• There is a reddit thread regarding this issue. It seems that after some fiddling Dell sorted out the issue a while back: Reddit It´s a firmware issue

• On Dell support pages Dell Support thre is a "Dell Touchpad Firmware Update Utilty listed"

• Unfortunately this update is for Windows only

• On LVFS using fwupd the respective firmare upgrade is not available

• I have Pro Support for my Laptop and contacted Dell to ask how to apply a Firmware update with a non-windows OS. They will come back to me, as the lady on the german support line had no clue about linux systems at all.

Has anybody experience how to flash the firmware of laptop devices independently from the OS?

I wonder if I might have to install windows just for making the touchpad run

yataro

Member

Registered: 2024-03-09

Posts: 76

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad Issues on Dell Latitude 7430

I briefly inspected the firmware updater in Ghidra and it looks like the whole update process is quite complicated and includes various checks including firmware signature. I couldn't find any software on the web that can flash synaptic devices.
While it's possible to replicate the whole process in Linux with enormous effort, I think you can just update it from Windows. Have you tried this or is Windows a no-go for you?

funkaddict

Member

Registered: 2018-08-13

Posts: 117

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad Issues on Dell Latitude 7430

I briefly inspected the firmware updater in Ghidra and it looks like the whole update process is quite complicated and includes various checks including firmware signature. I couldn't find any software on the web that can flash synaptic devices.
While it's possible to replicate the whole process in Linux with enormous effort, I think you can just update it from Windows. Have you tried this or is Windows a no-go for you?

After some discussions with Dell support, it seems that it is most likely not possible to update the firmware via Linux. I was expecting that, however I was wondering if flashing the hardware components is possible via pre-boot / UEFI, which was denied by the support. This on the other hand made me a bit wondering. Why would you make yourself so much depending on on specific OS? Especially as Dell is known that they also offer a variety of systems delivered with Ubuntu. When you roll out hardware with faulty firmware on a Linux laptop, you are forced to use Windows to fix it? Hmmpf.

Dell support was pointing towards booting the laptop from a live-usb drive with Windows and the respective exe for flashing the laptop. I just hope I don´t smash my arch installation by this

Thanks for your look into the code yataro!

Last edited by funkaddict (2024-07-04 13:19:22)

yataro

Member

Registered: 2024-03-09

Posts: 76

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad Issues on Dell Latitude 7430

I had similar problem with one of my devices, and I was also careful about installing Windows

I solved this by passing the entire USB hub to the virtual machine and managed to flash the device. I wonder if you can do the same with your touchpad device and Windows vm. virt-manager has simple interface to pass usb devices to vm.

EDIT:
I think this only makes sense if the touchpad is connected via USB. If it's connected via i2c, I believe you'd have to forward the i2c PCI device, and that's not a pleasant thing to do (for me).

Last edited by yataro (2024-07-04 23:41:32)

funkaddict

Member

Registered: 2018-08-13

Posts: 117

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad Issues on Dell Latitude 7430

Interesting idea to use a virtual machine for this task. On my precision laptop I run a Virtualbox for the MS office and CAD. But on this latitude here I don´t run a VM yet. However, lsusb indicates that the pad is not connected via USB.
I will give the live-usb stick a shot, when I got some time to hassle through it.

funkaddict

Member

Registered: 2018-08-13

Posts: 117

Re: [SOLVED] Touchpad Issues on Dell Latitude 7430

Just as a final remark:

Dell replaced the trackpad of my laptop. This solved the issue. However the new trackpad has quite a different feel as the click is quite wobbly. Anyway. The initial problem was solved. So I will mark this thread as solved now.