Howto fix touchpad issues after karmic upgrade

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This tutorial will explain Howto fix touchpad issues after karmic upgrade

1. Check what kernel you are booting into

$uname -a

Linux xxxx 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:05:01 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

If this is not your output, then you are using an older version (most probably from jaunty). You'll need to change the kernel you are booting into. This can be done by editing the default value in /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

1) cd /boot/grub/menu.lst (change directory)

2) sudo cp menu.lst ~/menu_bkup.lst (create bkup)

3) sudo vim menu.lst (it will open file for edit ... i) goto to the last portion of it using arrow key or mouse ...you will find all OS listed there if you have dual boot set .... ii) each block of about 4 lines for each boot option. Copy -paste the previous kernel lines block and change all kernel number (e.g. 2.6.28.11) to 2.6.31-14. iii) save file by Esc >> press ":wq" >> ENTER

4) reboot by typing Cmd sudo reboot

5) Select newly added boot option.

2. Search your ‘dmesg' output for this:

$dmesg | grep mouse

[ 13.603905] psmouse: Unknown parameter `synaptics_resume_reset'

3. Check if the ‘psmouse' module is loaded at all:

$lsmod | grep psmouse

If there is no output of the above command, that means the touchpad module (psmouse) is not loaded.

4. Look if there is a file called /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf

If this line exists in the file, you have the problem .

options psmouse synaptics_resume_reset=N

Solution:

1. Comment out the line in (step 3) /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf, i.e. add "#" at the start of the line.

2. Reboot.

The ‘psmouse' module should be loaded successfully, and you should see a ‘touchpad' tab in System->Preferences->Mouse

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9 Responses

  1. Kevin says:

    I read the title and was hoping against hope that this would fix my troubles, until I read this:

    >> If this is not your output, then you are using
    >> an older version (most probably from jaunty).

    I’m not using an older version, but a newer one – 2.6.31-15-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Fri Nov 6 09:52:03 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
    (I didn’t go the upgrade route)

    Then I read:

    >> This can be done by editing the default value
    >> in /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

    But this doesn’t apply w/ ‘grub2’, so unfortunately your howto won’t work for me.

    Oh well.

  2. MadDog says:

    I had an issue with the scrolly thing on my trackpad not working. After scratching my head for a long time and googling for hours and hours I discovered firstly /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf was called psmouse.modprobe. So I renamed that. Also in the /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf file there was a line that said
    options psmouse proto=exps

    so i commented that out and tada! scrolly thingy works now!

    might help others to make scrolly thingys work as i have seen lots of people with the same issue on karmic.

    Just as a side note this was on a fresh install with x86-64

  3. Giles Harris says:

    I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 (2.6.31-15-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP) on my Gigabyte T1028M a week ago and I’ve had this touchpad problem. My touchpad is completely dead. I have followed your instructions but have an issue with it. Within /etc/modprobe.d there is nothing called psmouse.conf. I’m at a bit of a loss here cos I’m a raw beginner to Linux and SO much of what I read is complete gobble-de-gook.

  4. jva says:

    I feel for you, Giles.
    Same thing here. Only I have 2.6.28-16 kernel (2.6.31 boots to black screen with no way to get out)

  5. Evilzee says:

    @MadDog: Thank you!! I have been searching for hours for the solution to the same problem as yours until I found your solution. Much appreciated!

  6. jai says:

    Thanks for this it really helped I was actually booting into the older kernel because I didn’t update the grub entries when I was upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10, a quick entry in the menu.lst did the job for me

    I have a question though, when upgrading or in general if the program tells you to modify Your grub entries what should be done because you get a long list of changes that can be applied like

    1. keep the original version installed
    2. show a side by side difference
    3. show a 3 way difference

    their are a couple other options that I may have left out because I forgot them.

  7. Trevor says:

    Great! My touchpad is now functional and not only that, I was finally able to install my NVIDIA graphics driver. All I had to do was make menu.lst recognize the newer version of the kernel and initrd. I am assuming my issue was due to the fact that I kept the current version of GRUB installed when upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10. Thus, the entries for menu.lst needed to be updated.

    I initially had vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic and initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic as the files being recognized by menu.lst. In my case, the newer version of these files was 2.6.31-16, so under each entry, I changed the kernel to vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic and initrd to initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic. If you look under /boot, you can find the version number.

  8. aanton says:

    Thanks a lot for the really useful info! My audio problem has also been fixed, just by updating the kernel number in the menu.lst file.
    I have experienced this problem since updating to 9.10 from 9.04.

  9. JohnT says:

    Good fix advice another way is attach a mouse then go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager and use this to install grub-pc which will take over and display all the installed kernels at Then re- boot.
    Choose the latest kernel and your touchpad should be working again

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