Acer laptop fails to recognize Elantech touchpad after Ubuntu 16.04 upgrade

lavere · 08-15-2016, 02:50 PM

My Acer laptop will not recognize my Elantech touchpad after upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04. It was previously working in 14.04. If I plug in a USB mouse, the mouse works properly.

I tried some of the fixes mentioned on the forums, such as modifying the grub file with i8042.reset and it's variations in the DEFAULT line, but there was no change. I also tried installing sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics, but it was already installed and the latest version.

There is no reference to it in the devices list output by the command:
cat /proc/bus/input/devices

Code:

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/input0
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event0 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=3
B: KEY=10000000000000 0

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: PROP=0
B: EV=3
B: KEY=4000 0 0

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/input2
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event2 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=21
B: SW=1

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: PROP=0
B: EV=3
B: KEY=10000000000000 0

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/input4
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=sysrq kbd event4 leds 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=120013
B: KEY=10000 c020000000000 0 0 700f02000003 3802078f870f401 febfffdfffefffff fffffffffffffffe
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:00/input/input5
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event5 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=3
B: KEY=3e000b00000000 0 0 0

I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
N: Name="HDA Intel PCH Headphone"
P: Phys=ALSA
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input7
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event7 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=21
B: SW=4

I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
N: Name="HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=3"
P: Phys=ALSA
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input8
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event8 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=21
B: SW=140

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
N: Name="Acer WMI hotkeys"
P: Phys=wmi/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/virtual/input/input9
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=rfkill kbd event9 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=13
B: KEY=1c0000 0 0 0 0 1600800000c00 300000 0 0
B: MSC=10

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
N: Name="Acer BMA150 accelerometer"
P: Phys=wmi/input1
S: Sysfs=/devices/virtual/input/input10
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event10 js0 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=9
B: ABS=7

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=04f2 Product=b47f Version=4051
N: Name="VGA Webcam"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:14.0-4/button
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0/input/input11
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event11 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=3
B: KEY=100000 0 0 0

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=0000 Product=0538 Version=0111
N: Name=" USB OPTICAL MOUSE"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:14.0-3.2/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-3/1-3.2/1-3.2:1.0/0003:0000:0538.0004/input/input14
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse0 event6 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=17
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103
B: MSC=10

The output of dmesg shows no mention of the touchpad. (I tried to post the code here, but it made this thread too long).

Lastly, I loaded an old kernel at boot time, version 3.10.63-031063-generic

The touchpad still did not work, but it was at least recognized:

dmesg |grep elantech showed the following:

Code:

[     1.436725] psmouse serio1: elantech: unknown hardware version

Any help would be great!

lavere · 08-15-2016, 02:54 PM

Acer model number: MS2394 aka ES1-512-C88M

jefro · 08-16-2016, 02:36 PM

This post may have some clues.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ie-4175586698/

lavere · 08-16-2016, 05:09 PM

First, thanks for the reply.
I had a look at the link you sent, however, I think our situations are different. My laptop doesn't even recognize the touchpad. Nor does it kick up a fuss at boot time. There is no mention of it in the devices list. And the dmesg log shows no reference to it. I'm just a novice, but it would seem to me that the touchpad would need to be seen before anything could be done to make it function properly. Do you agree?

jefro · 08-17-2016, 09:54 PM

Did you try that ubuntu link about some ideas F key?

lavere · 08-18-2016, 10:48 AM

There is an Fn F7 key combination to turn the touchpad off/on on this laptop. I've been bitten by that one in the past, so I tried that early on without success. Since the touchpad is not even recognized in the devices list ( or anywhere else that I can see) that would seem to me to be a normal reaction. Ubuntu can't turn off/on a device that it can't see.

For some reason, the kernel is not recognizing the touchpad at boot time.... but why?

Btw, this laptop dual boots Windows 10 and the touchpad functions normally in that OS so I know the hardware is functional.

jefro · 08-19-2016, 02:45 PM

Boot t ubuntu 14 live for more exact info for this touch pad. See how the device connects. Be sure to note if it is off a pci to pci bridge too.

I assume you are correct in that there is no driver and that you did check that link about blacklisting wrong driver. If 14 had it then it may be possible to add in in to your 16 install. Yes, I find it upsetting that my working stuff breaks as they take out a driver they feel is no longer needed.

lavere · 08-20-2016, 04:29 AM

After a live boot into 14.04, the touchpad is working again.

I'm not quite sure what information we're looking for here, but the dmesg file contains the following entries about the touchpad:

Code:

[   34.000210] hid-multitouch 0018:04F3:300B.0001: Ignoring the extra HID_DG_INPUTMODE
[   34.000370] input: ELAN0501:00 04F3:300B Touchpad as /devices/platform/80860F41:00/i2c-8/i2c-ELAN0501:00/0018:04F3:300B.0001/input/input11
[   34.000681] hid-multitouch 0018:04F3:300B.0001: input,hidraw0: I2C HID v1.00 Mouse [ELAN0501:00 04F3:300B] on i2c-ELAN0501:00

And the devices list contains this:

Code:

I: Bus=0018 Vendor=04f3 Product=300b Version=0100
N: Name="ELAN0501:00 04F3:300B Touchpad"
P: Phys=i2c-ELAN0501:00
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/80860F41:00/i2c-8/i2c-ELAN0501:00/0018:04F3:300B.0001/input/input11
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse0 event11 
B: PROP=5
B: EV=b
B: KEY=6420 10000 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=260800000000003

Does that help?

lavere · 08-21-2016, 08:41 PM

Does anyone know how to use this information to get the touchpad to work in 16.04?

jefro · 08-22-2016, 09:03 PM

Looking at it.

jefro · 08-22-2016, 09:05 PM

In 16 do you see something like this?

# /var/log/syslog
Apr 8 10:36:01 aspire-es1 kernel: [ 13.495927] i2c_designware 80860F41:00: controller timed out

lavere · 08-23-2016, 09:28 AM

The only thing remotely close to that in /var/log/syslog was:

Aug 23 06:54:09 tracy-Aspire-ES1-512 kernel: [ 1.215944] i2c /dev entries driver

jefro · 08-23-2016, 02:40 PM

Look in /var logs for other entries related to how the device attaches. Seems it is a common complaint but I haven't found the proper solution. Some web pages have accused the chip maker of a poor driver while others just downleveled the kernel. Some claim GCC version and others say it was a kernel version in 3x that did it.

One windows site had a similar problem and noted that the device could work in PS/2 or I2C mode. They claimed it was related to ACPI if that helps.