i recently installed the ksynaptics module for the control centre, i configured it at such in the xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
Option "Repeater" "/dev/ps2mouse"
EndSection

and it works well...functionality seems fine...until i run iceweasel or bittornado...then it just stops responding. other programs may do it too, those are just the ones ive encountered so far..

i attempted to run with --no-xshm in the theory that it was the shared memory which the pad also uses which was causing the problem...but it still happened...

in all cases the only way ive known to fix it is to log out and log back in.

is this familiar?