# Thinkpad R31: Trackpoint Trouble...

## windchill

Hi everybody

I installed gentoo from a stage3 tarball. Everything went smoothly (except the long compile time for kde   :Razz:  ).

I love the way Gentoo runs and how easy it is to install new / updated packages.

But I have a big problem with my trackpoint:

As soon as there is apm compiled into the kernel the mouse pointer on the screen start jumping around and clicking in random spots. 

If an applet is running which polls for apm data (battery monitoring applet), it even gets worse, you hardly can use the system anymore.

So has anyboy encountered something like that? Maybe even solved it?

TIA

Marc

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## reverius42

 *windchill wrote:*   

> I have a big problem with my trackpoint:
> 
> As soon as there is apm compiled into the kernel the mouse pointer on the screen start jumping around and clicking in random spots. 
> 
> 

 

Are you sure APM is what's causing it? It sounds to me like you're using the wrong mouse driver. Most likely, it's a PS2 mouse... so a generic PS/2 driver (PS/2 in the XF86Config file) will do the trick.

Also, try unmerging GPM if you have it, and put "-gpm" in your USE variable as well. Maybe that will help.

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## windchill

Yeah, I'm pretty sure its apm causing this weird behaviour. When I didnt include apm support in the kernel config and rebooted, the trackpoint was fine.

The problem got worse when I used the apm plugin in gkrellm, or when the kde battery monitor applet was running.

As you suggested, I had the mouse protocol as PS/2 from the beginning.

I would happily switch to acpi, if support was better (it doesnt seem to work with gentoo sources...)

Marc

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## reverius42

 *windchill wrote:*   

> Yeah, I'm pretty sure its apm causing this weird behaviour. When I didnt include apm support in the kernel config and rebooted, the trackpoint was fine.
> 
> The problem got worse when I used the apm plugin in gkrellm, or when the kde battery monitor applet was running.
> 
> As you suggested, I had the mouse protocol as PS/2 from the beginning.
> ...

 

Well, my next guess is that APM isn't really supported by your laptop (I've heard its happened before)... I guess you'll have to wait for ACPI to work better. I don't know anything else to do...

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## pilla

In http://www.linux-on-laptops/ , you may find some experiences with Thinkpads R30, like this

http://www.infosun.fmi.uni-passau.de/~nils/r30.html

I think APM will work in your notebook. Maybe you have some weird conflict (look you gpm configuration, also your XF86Config-4)

Regards,

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## Auriacan

I have found the solution. I had to add the kernel option "i8042.nomux=1" to the bootloader, don't ask me why this works, but it works perfectly, i havn't had the occur to me since i've done it.

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## thelusiv

I tried adding the i8042.nomux=1 option to my grub.conf and the mouse still jumps on APM calls. I have a Thinkpad R31, running kernel 2.6.8-gentoo-r7. Are there any other kernel options I need?

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## mike_d

 *thelusiv wrote:*   

> I tried adding the i8042.nomux=1 option to my grub.conf and the mouse still jumps on APM calls. I have a Thinkpad R31, running kernel 2.6.8-gentoo-r7. Are there any other kernel options I need?

 

anybody else solve this problem?  i have two identical R4x thinkpads.  one is running gnome and the other is running KDE.  the KDE laptop does the crazy mouse thing.  if i disable the klaptop applet it doesn't happen nearly as frequently, but it does happen.  the gnome laptop runs perfectly.  

thanks!

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