Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package

  1. Bug #191024
  2. Comment #40

Comment 40 for bug 191024

Revision history for this message
Mariusz Domański (mario.7) wrote : Re: Synaptics touchpad not detected

I think that thanks to Gentoo wiki and LinuxQuestions I have found a workaround.

The problem seems to be in touchpad detection for the first time psmouse module is loaded. Usually (but what is strange - not always) dmesg says something like:
[ 24.992320] input: PS/2 ALPS GlidePoint as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input10

and it's wrong, it should be something like:
[ 191.276394] input: AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input15

The difference in "PS/2 ALPS GlidePoint" and "AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint" is the most important. When dmesg shows no "Alps" in front of "PS/2" thouchpad is not being recognized by XServer, when there is this "Alps" in front of "PS/2" - touchpad works as it should.

The workaround for this problem is reloading psmouse module - I checked few times and loading psmouse module 2nd time always makes touchpad being detected properly.

Just to check if it works for you too do this:
sudo rmmod psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse
and restart XServer (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace).

To reload psmouse module automatically on each boot place these 2 lines in /etc/rc.local file (before the "exit 0" line):
/sbin/rmmod psmouse
/sbin/modprobe psmouse

This works for me on Dell XPS M1530.