Recent install on Thinkpad T530

[anarchyalaska]

I have recently installed the latest Ubuntu on my T530 machine and the touch pad occasionally goes out or stutters. It seems to come back to life if I move my USB mouse. The trackpoint (nub) doesn't work at all.

Could someone aid me in fixing this/better understanding the matter.

If it's allowed I'd offer 5$ BTC bounty for the fix.

I tried :


$ sudo apt-get install *synaptics
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'xorg-driver-synaptics' for glob '*synaptics'
Note, selecting 'xserver-xorg-input-synaptics' for glob '*synaptics'
Note, selecting 'xserver-xorg-input-synaptics' instead of 'xorg-driver-synaptics'
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
libfprint-2-tod1
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
Suggested packages:
gpointing-device-settings touchfreeze
The following NEW packages will be installed:
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 62.9 kB of archives.
After this operation, 204 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 xserver-xorg-input-synaptics amd64 1.9.1-1ubuntu3 [62.9 kB]
Fetched 62.9 kB in 1s (54.1 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics.
(Reading database ... 180767 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../xserver-xorg-input-synaptics_1.9.1-1ubuntu3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (1.9.1-1ubuntu3) ...
Setting up xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (1.9.1-1ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...




$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Razer Razer Mamba id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ ThinkPad Extra Buttons id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]




$ sudo cat /etc/default/grub
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
# info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

[ActionParsnip]

Try the boot options in #6 here
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2442660

Do they help?

[1fallen]

Along with the above suggestion^^^^^


xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ SYNA8004:00 06CB:CD8B Mouse id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ SYNA8004:00 06CB:CD8B Touchpad id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Integrated Camera: Integrated C id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ sof-hda-dsp Headset Jack id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ ThinkPad Extra Buttons id=15 [slave keyboard (3)]

All my TP's work as expected, T430, t420, t530, t520 & X1 Carbon.
I will add placement for USB mouse dongle seems key here.
I place any USB mouse dongle in the right rear port, this helps with the cross-talk that occurs on Ubuntu.
And the key for me was to check all installed software related.

sudo apt list --installed | grep libinput
For my carbon x1:


WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

libinput-bin/focal-updates,now 1.15.5-1ubuntu0.2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libinput10/focal-updates,now 1.15.5-1ubuntu0.2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xserver-xorg-input-libinput/focal,now 0.29.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

Most of my issues went away with the install of "xserver-xorg-input-libinput". And where I placed the USB dongle for the added mouse.

sudo apt install --reinstall xserver-xorg-input-libinput
Good Luck!