Acer Aspire 5310 Touchpad: strange behavior in various situations

echoes91 · 08-29-2010, 12:02 PM

More than help, I'm looking for an explanation for this behavior I noticed since I began to use Linux on this laptop: sometimes, apparently with no reason, the touchpad go crazy, the mouse pointer jumps around and simulates casual left and right clicks; after rebooting, apparently with no reason too, everything is normal again and works perfectly (even tapping, wheel button and side scrolling). This appens with ALL distros (the first 10 of Distrowatch's ranking and some others, i think it's enough).
After a long time looking around, i found similar situations and some distro-specific workarounds, especially with Ubuntu, but none of them seemed to understand and fix the real problem. Unfortunately, we must forget some obvious explanations: it's not an xorg problem, 'cause it's exactly the same with GPM in the console even without installing xorg at all, and it's not a physical hardware issue 'cause... it works perfectly under sVista

The "soft" workaround is to reinstall the psmouse module (rmmod & modprobe), it always works but only with distros using that module (Ubuntu and Arch), which doesn't exist on some RPM-based (like Fedora and Mandriva). The "hard" workaround is to reboot and here comes the surprise: it works by rebooting in EVERY situation, even CTRL+ALT+CANC during the boot screen (before loading the kernel) or during the BIOS screen (before loading system, kernel, bootloader, everything!). I wonder: how can it, whatever it is, know that i rebooted if it hasn't been even consulted? What appens while rebooting during BIOS screen that give the same effect of reinstalling that module? I'm not a newbie with linux and computers, but my knowledge about programming and interactions between hardware and software is poor, i can't go further without some help.
By the way, this is the line of dmesg which should talk about the touchpad:

Quote:

[ 8.103499] input: AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input8

Here is lspci output, i don't know exactly which line means the touchpad:

Quote:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
06:00.0 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Memory Stick Card Reader Controller
06:00.1 SD Host controller: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI SmartMedia / xD Card Reader Controller
06:00.2 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc Memory Stick Card Reader Controller
06:00.3 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Secure Digital / MMC Card Reader Controller

I can go on with workarounds, so there's no hurry, but if I forgot something obvious or someone finds this interesting, it would be nice to find an answer

Thank you

pkhera_2001 · 08-31-2010, 01:50 AM

Hi echoes91,

Please share the following output:

1. cat /proc/bus/input/devices
2. cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Here is a online link, you can give it a try and share the results.
http://embraceubuntu.com/2005/11/15/...aptics-driver/
Thanks,

echoes91 · 09-11-2010, 03:48 PM

Sorry, I'm back. Here is my input/devices:

Quote:

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0005 Version=0000
N: Name="Lid Switch"
P: Phys=PNP0C0D/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0C0D:00/input/input0
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event0
B: EV=21
B: SW=1

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0003 Version=0000
N: Name="Sleep Button"
P: Phys=PNP0C0E/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0C0E:00/input/input1
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event1
B: EV=3
B: KEY=4000 0 0 0 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0001 Version=0000
N: Name="Power Button"
P: Phys=PNP0C0C/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0C0C:00/input/input2
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event2
B: EV=3
B: KEY=100000 0 0 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0001 Version=0000
N: Name="Power Button"
P: Phys=LNXPWRBN/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXPWRBN:00/input/input3
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event3
B: EV=3
B: KEY=100000 0 0 0

I: Bus=0017 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="Macintosh mouse button emulation"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/devices/virtual/input/input4
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse0 event4
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input5
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event5
B: EV=120013
B: KEY=10000 c0200 0 0 0 0 0 700f 2000003 3803078 f830f401 febfffdf ffefffff ffffffff ffffffff
B: MSC=10
B: LED=7

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0006 Version=0000
N: Name="Video Bus"
P: Phys=LNXVIDEO/video/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:01/input/input6
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event6
B: EV=3
B: KEY=3f000b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c016 Version=0110
N: Name="Logitech Optical USB Mouse"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:1d.2-1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.2/usb4/4-1/4-1:1.0/input/input7
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse1 event7
B: EV=17
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103
B: MSC=10

I: Bus=0001 Vendor=10ec Product=0268 Version=0001
N: Name="HDA Digital PCBeep"
P: Phys=card0/codec#0/beep0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/input/input8
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event8
B: EV=40001
B: SND=6

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=0000
N: Name="PS/2 Mouse"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input1
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input11
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse2 event9
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=7325
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input12
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse3 event10
B: EV=f
B: KEY=420 0 670000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3
B: ABS=1000003

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=09a4 Version=0006
N: Name="UVC Camera (046d:09a4)"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:1d.7-1/button
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-1/1-1:1.0/input/input13
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event11
B: EV=3
B: KEY=100000 0 0 0 0 0 0

where

Quote:

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=7325
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input12
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse3 event10
B: EV=f
B: KEY=420 0 670000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3
B: ABS=1000003

is the touchpad.
Since X works perfectly with HAL's help on all the computers in my home, there's no xorg.conf. Moreover, the link's instruction refer to symptoms which are different from mines (no strange movements, no changes after reboot) and they may work only with X. Sorry, three reasons not to try them

My laptop works perfectly with rmmod and modprobe inside rc.local, which affect also GPM in the console. I'd just like to know why...