# [SOLVED]made a new kernel now system won't see my touchpad

## stardotstar

Not sure where the problem arises or where to start looking but it was fine before rebuilding my kernel with a new seed courtesy of pappy-mcafe;

I have checked the input devices - mice cats input (and gpm and X work) with external usb mouse.  The onboard keyboard is fine.

This is an MSI Wind U100.

Where is the touchpad detected and where do I begin troubleshooting it?

TIA

\\'

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## ZeuZ_NG

It's just a thought, but perhaps you could compare both .config (from the one working and the currently not working) and see if you forgot something there...

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## stardotstar

For some reason the touchpad has come back alive - simply left the machine off overnight and today on startup (after a brief trip through bios setup (nothing to see there)) I booted in and all is well.  oh well.

one for the ages.

thanks for the reply.

I still do have to properly compare the .configs to understand what is better.

cheers

\\'

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## stardotstar

It's gone again today after working all day yesterday  :Confused: 

How are trackpads normally enumerated on laptops?

I am beginning to parse the kernel configs to see if I can find anything that tips me off...

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## ZeuZ_NG

 *stardotstar wrote:*   

> It's gone again today after working all day yesterday 
> 
> How are trackpads normally enumerated on laptops?
> 
> I am beginning to parse the kernel configs to see if I can find anything that tips me off...
> ...

 

Well, most of the times they can get recognized as simple mouses (mines, in my HP dv2000, Toshiba Satellite A series, and my old Compaq Evo n1020v, touchpad is behing recognized as a ps2 mouse) 

Have you checked your xorg.conf?

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## stardotstar

Not specifically because the problem exists with the base system - gpm won't respond until an external usb mouse is plugged in and then the mouse cursor becomes active.

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## ZeuZ_NG

 *stardotstar wrote:*   

> Not specifically because the problem exists with the base system - gpm won't respond until an external usb mouse is plugged in and then the mouse cursor becomes active.

 

Well, up till now, have you checked both configs in the kernel? 

Maybe it's because of that, maybe you've got your mouse device pointed to some point where it doesnt exist, and when you plug another one in, it reaches that left wide-open space as of the HotPlug event in X.org (NOTE: I don't really recall how the event is called, but you all get the point)

EDIT: And, the gpm configuration file too

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## stardotstar

yeah. thing is I have been through the seeds and I can't see it.  and worse, the system acknowledged it this afternoon when running on battery and without network or any other devices - but then I attached network and other devices and it stayed working.

going to have to work on this one I can see...

btw my kernel seed fertilisation process is in this thread:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-731249-highlight-.html

a late post in this is my summary of the config diffs

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## stardotstar

Here is my finding when diffing the dmesg's between a boot when the mouse is working (Touchpad ON dmesg) and not

```
Touchpad OFF dmesg

[    5.450591] garmin_gps: garmin gps driver v0.31

[    5.450874] PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K,PNP0f03:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12

[    5.457310] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1

[    5.457859] mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice

[    5.490741] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /class/input/input5

[    5.501447] rtc_cmos 00:04: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0

Touchpad ON dmesg

[    5.461496] garmin_gps: garmin gps driver v0.31

[    5.461786] PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K,PNP0f03:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12

[    5.480623] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1

[    5.480741] serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12

[    5.481308] mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice

[    5.514407] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /class/input/input5

[    5.532965] rtc_cmos 00:04: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0

```

mayhap this contains the clue to why it works sometimes and not others.

any further advice is much appreciated.

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## 165177

A *very* wild guess:  Try booting with "i8042.reset" on kernel command line.   I frankly don't no, if this will have any effect, but on my dell laptop it cured a similar syndrome with a touchpad working only infrequently.

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## stardotstar

thanks for the idea. I will try this immediately

I have opened the machine to ensure that hardware is properly connected.

it is.

further, it doesn't look like hardware because the trackpad always works reliably when it is detected/

ie is not flaky.

took several boots today to get it to come on.

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## stardotstar

Well, this is looking promising.

after several boots to my 27r8 kernel with no success I tried my old r7 (and previous seed build) and it works.

now i rebooted into r8 with the i8042.reset option and it works.

after a couple of more boots further luck so - thank you for noticing this thread and making your *very* precient guess  :Smile: 

I'm not convinced yet but will continue to hope this is a fix...

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## thecooptoo

this any help 

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-725852-highlight-.html

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## stardotstar

Better than a wild guess lunar, that is the fix.

Reading up on it it appears that the soft nature of reboots and brief shutdowns on the netbook require the hardware reset to ensure

http://search.luky.org/linux-kernel.2004/msg00530.html

[snip]

+	i8042.reset	[HW] Reset the controller during init and cleanup

[/snip]

this works reliably it seems.

Interestingly maybe the old kernel config had a different patch level to the i8042 code and subsequently the module is not cleaning up properly on shutdown.,

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## 165177

 *stardotstar wrote:*   

> Better than a wild guess lunar, that is the fix.

 

Happy to have helped  :Wink: 

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## stardotstar

not sure if this is right but for the record :

I tried using i8042.reset=1 as suggested in various other forums which touch upon this problem.

This seemed to cause the keyboard AND the touchpad to fail to respond.

as lunar suggested the kernel line i8042.reset addition alone seems to make the difference for this MSI Wind U100 netbook.

I would have thought that the statement i8042.reset implies setting the value true...  but perhaps using the =1 is not a correct statement in the kernel line and is therefore ignored.

 :Cool: 

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