[SOLVED]-ish Intermittent touchpad on Dell XPS 13

[mikecz]

I just loaded the latest Mint XFCE on a Dell XPS 13 and there is only one thing that didn't work out of the gate: the touchpad becomes sluggish periodically and may also stop responding to mouse clicks. I have adjusted the touchpad sensitivity and whatnot and it doesn't seem to have made a difference. It will work for a while then just go wonky for a bit then come back. I'm pretty sure its not bad hardware since it was used successfully running Windows 7 for a couple of months and it worked fine.

Fortunately it also has a touch screen (which seems to have been picked up without issue) so that mitigates the problem somewhat but I'd like to see if there's anything else I'm missing.

MikeC

EDIT: I'm categorizing this as SOLVED, but see my last post below

[Laurent85]

Please post the inxi overview report, open a terminal:

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inxi -Fxz

Also provide the command results:

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xinput
dmesg | egrep -i 'i8042|mouse|PS/2'

[mikecz]

Here you go (just so you know, I have a Kensington Bluetooth mouse paired to it to get a bit better control):

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inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: NexusGold Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.2 (Gtk 2.24.23) Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: Dell product: XPS13 9333
           Mobo: Dell model: 0D13CR v: A00 Bios: Dell v: A08 date: 08/31/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i7-4510U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10375
           clock speeds: max: 3100 MHz 1: 1999 MHz 2: 2000 MHz 3: 1999 MHz
           4: 1999 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.5.9 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic
Network:   Card: Intel Wireless 7260
           driver: iwlwifi v: in-tree: bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 256.1GB (2.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: LITEONIT_LMT size: 256.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 235G used: 5.2G (3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 61.0C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 193 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 498.7/7507.7MB
           Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28 

and

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xinput
⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SYNAPTICS Synaptics Large Touch Screen  	id=9	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ DLL060A:00 06CB:2734                    	id=11	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Si670m Bluetooth Wireless Notebook Mouse	id=15	[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)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=8	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Integrated_Webcam_HD                    	id=10	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard            	id=12	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys                        	id=13	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ DELL Wireless hotkeys                   	id=14	[slave  keyboard (3)]

And finally:

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dmesg | egrep -i 'i8042|mouse|PS/2'
[    0.999637] i8042: PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K,PNP0f03:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12
[    1.004870] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[    1.004875] serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[    1.005190] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[    1.014501] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input3
[    4.106785] hid-multitouch 0003:06CB:0AF8.0001: input,hiddev0,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [SYNAPTICS Synaptics Large Touch Screen] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3/input0
[  449.732586] input: Si670m Bluetooth Wireless Notebook Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-6/1-6:1.0/bluetooth/hci0/hci0:256/0005:047D:1150.0003/input/input17
[  449.733037] hid-generic 0005:047D:1150.0003: input,hidraw2: BLUETOOTH HID v1.29 Mouse [Si670m Bluetooth Wireless Notebook Mouse] on e8:2a:ea:b1:dd:f1

I should also probably mention that this is the 64-bit version of Mint XFCE

Thanks for at least giving it a look.

MikeC

[Laurent85]

It seems the touchpad device is not properly recognized. Try first to upgrade to a newer kernel:

Update Manager > View > Linux kernels > select latest kernel 4.2 or 4.4, install & reboot.

If it doesn't fix the issue then the suggested workaround is to blacklist the i2c-hid module, see this bug report. Here is how to proceed, open a terminal:

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echo "blacklist i2c-hid" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-touchpad-i2c-hid.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

Reboot.

[mikecz]

I went to the 4.4 kernel, and it seems better though perhaps not completely fixed.

I'll give it a day or so, then I'll try blacklisting that module and update this thread as needed.

Thanks again.

MikeC

[mikecz]

So, after a couple of weeks, going to the latest kernel 4.4, the behavior of the touchpad is a lot better, though it is still occasionally sluggish.

The performance is improved enough that I don't feel like I need to try the alternative of blacklisting the i2c-hic module since, though I will try it if the current level of behavior really gets on my nerves. In the meantime, I found a bluetooth mouse on a back shelf that I forgot I had, and that along with the machine's touchscreen should give me a satisfactory user experience.

Thanks as always; The Mint Forums have always treated me well, and are an example of the best the 'net has to offer.

MikeC