Some basic info about my computer first. I have a Tablet PC ( to be specific, a ThinkPad x201t ). It has a touch and pen input.
My computer was originally shipped with Windows 7 Pro. Since then I have installed a huge variety of OSs on my computer; which includes a bunch of Ubuntu based distributions and Windows 8 Release Preview. I primarily use Linux Mint 13.
The tablet features on my computer are from Wacom and it was supported well in my OS, right from Linux Mint 10. Also, Windows 8 gives a smooth experience with the touch interface.
I am using the '3.2.0-32-generic' version of the Linux kernel and a 64-bit architecture.
Now the problem.
One fine day on my Linux Mint 13 I find that touch had suddenly gone. I thought that it might be a problem with that OS alone, so I checked up with Windows 8. Touch and Pen were gone there too. Hell, the system showed - No Pen or Touch available for this computer. Then, I thought that somehow the hardware had failed. BUT, when I went to my Windows 7, there it was working like a charm.
So what happened is, out of the blue my touchscreen and pen disappear from all my GNU/Linux's and my Windows 8 but work in Windows 7 ... !!!
Things I've tried.
Drivers
I've reinstalled every package which had the string "wacom" in its name, to no avail.
In Windows 8, under Device Manager, my Wacom Two-Finger Touch does show up and it reports working properly. Still, I uninstalled everything under Human Interface Devices (HID). When I rebooted, everything came back ( including the Wacom ), but the computer reported no touch even then.
Linux Live
Usually touch worked in the Linux Mint 13 bootable media, but now it doesn't.
/lib/udev/rules.d/40-inputattach.rules
My fresh Linux Mint install leaves the touchscreen in relative (touchpad like) mode instead of the absolute (touchscreen like) mode. This is due is one faulty input attach rule in the above file (the only rule in the file, which is for Fujitsu tablets). Commenting it out used to remove the problem.
Now I found that it had 2 rules, one for Fujitsu and one for Wacom, both uncommented. I tried all possible combinations of comment/uncomment and rebooted, but no success.
tty
I read that the 'inputattach' rules were referring to /dev/input/event*. So I 'cat' each of the event by turn, but none of them gave anything!
But, when i 'cat' '/dev/ttyS4' I got full response for my touch and pen. ( YAY! It seems hardware is working fine. )
Also, 'inputattach --dump /dev/ttyS4' responds to pen and touch.
Xorg logfile
'cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep wacom' gives
Code: Select all
[ 24.550] (II) LoadModule: "wacom"
[ 24.550] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wacom_drv.so
[ 24.550] (II) Module wacom: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 24.551] (II) Using input driver 'wacom' for 'Serial Wacom Tablet'
[ 24.551] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/wacom_drv.so
[ 34.312] (II) UnloadModule: "wacom"
[ 34.312] (II) Unloading wacomSo finally some bunch of questions ...
Why does it work in Windows 7 but not in any other OSs? ( considering it used to )
What caused it to stop working, seemingly without reason?
Why did it stop working on all GNU/Linux's and Windows 8 simultaneously? ( and not Windows 7 )
AND ... how to make it work again?
P.S. : Really appreciate your help!
then it is not an issue with drivers or configuration in linux. Possibly a firmware or BIOS issue, I suggest you contact the machine manufacturer or local computer shop for advice and support.