Logitech MX518

[nicholaicheck]

I'm trying to get the forward and back buttons of my Logitech MX518 working on Mint 18.1 Cinnamon (if it matters I'm running a Thinkpad T430), especially in browsers (Firefox 56 and Chrome 62.0), but it would be nice if it worked in Nemo as well. So far I've tried the steps here, but was unable to save xorg.conf. I tried these instructions but reached the "comment out" part and have no idea what that means. I tried these instructions, and "xev -event button" gives me a little box to test click in but the back/forward buttons didn’t register, while left/right click did. Does anyone have any other ideas?

[FreedomTruth]

I was hoping somebody would have helped you by now. I have this mouse, working great in 18.2 XFCE, it also worked great in 17-18.1 MATE. However, my particular mouse won't stay powered on when plugged into USB, I have to use the USB-to-PS/2 adapter and plug it into my PS/2 port on my desktop. Something wrong with the hardware, it did that in windows too. Anyway, the side buttons (forward, back) just worked, no special set-up required for me. Not sure if it'd be any different on USB.
Some preliminary testing:
install "evtest" with the command sudo apt install evtest
Then run evtest with the command sudo evtest
It will list several devices, select your mouse device. Mine says "/dev/input/event5: ImExPS/2 Logitech Explorer Mouse" so I enter 5
With your mouse pointer over the terminal window (you'll get a lot of information when it moves), then try to hold the mouse as still as possible. press and release the "forward" button, then press and release the "back" button. You should get something like this:

type 1 (EV_KEY), code 276 (BTN_EXTRA), value 1
type 1 (EV_KEY), code 276 (BTN_EXTRA), value 0
type 1 (EV_KEY), code 275 (BTN_SIDE), value 1
type 1 (EV_KEY), code 275 (BTN_SIDE), value 0

Press control-C to end evtest.
If you don't get any of these lines, then ... not sure where to go from there. Try the mouse in another computer, do the buttons work correctly there?

[nicholaicheck]

Here's what the forward button gave me:

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Event: time 1510026923.671085, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90005
Event: time 1510026923.671085, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 276 (BTN_EXTRA), value 1
Event: time 1510026923.671085, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1510026923.847062, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90005
Event: time 1510026923.847062, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 276 (BTN_EXTRA), value 0
Event: time 1510026923.847062, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

Here's what the back button gave me:

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Event: time 1510027017.135878, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90004
Event: time 1510027017.135878, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 275 (BTN_SIDE), value 1
Event: time 1510027017.135878, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1510027017.295881, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 90004
Event: time 1510027017.295881, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 275 (BTN_SIDE), value 0
Event: time 1510027017.295881, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

[FreedomTruth]

That's good. The hardware works, and the click messages are seen by evtest at least. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I can help you at this point, or give me a while to research, maybe I can find something else to try. What does happen in, say, firefox or chrome, when you click the buttons? nothing at all?

[nicholaicheck]

What does happen in, say, firefox or chrome, when you click the buttons? nothing at all?

Tried Chrome, Firefox, and Nemo file browser for flavor. Nothing happens in any of those when I use the forward and back buttons.

[FreedomTruth]

Well, it doesn't seem to be a Cinnamon problem -- I'm running the 18.1 Cinnamon DVD now, and the forward and back buttons work correctly for me. I even plugged it into a USB port (so far it's been working).

So next, try adding a new user, and log in that user and see if they work right there? (Maybe something is messed up somewhere in your user settings?)

If it still does not work, boot from the mint USB or DVD that you used to install, and check if it works there? (Maybe some system-wide config is messed up?)

[nicholaicheck]

So next, try adding a new user, and log in that user and see if they work right there?

That did it. The buttons work as intended in Firefox, Chrome, and Nemo. How can I fix it in my standard user account?

I also discovered my Bumblebee behaved differently. When I log into my standard account I see this (with a grayed-out Intel logo and the notification that appears when moused over (mouse cursor apparently doesn't appear in screenshots)). When I logged into the test account, I saw this. Is Bumblebee operating incorrectly?

[FreedomTruth]

Hoping this will work; I really don't know where all the mouse settings are stored... If you don't have dconf-editor, install it (sudo apt install dconf-editor), then run it (it should be in your applications menu). Open the tree to org -> gnome -> nautilus -> preferences and check settings there.
mouse-use-extra-buttons should be checked, mouse-back-button should be 8, mouse-forward-button should be 9

dconf.png

If that doesn't fix it, search around in there (dconf-editor) for other "mouse" settings. The dconf files seemed to be the only relevant matches for "mouse" settings under ~/.config

[nicholaicheck]

mouse-use-extra-buttons should be checked, mouse-back-button should be 8, mouse-forward-button should be 9

It doesn't seem to work regardless if the "mouse-use-extra-buttons" is checked or not, and the back button is set to 8 and forward to 9. Is there a way to import working settings from the test account I created (that had working back/forward mouse buttons)?

I found a few other places that have mouse-based entries in dconf Editor, but nothing else seemed to reference extra or back/forward buttons. org>nemo>preferences shows the same "mouse-back-button", "mouse-forward-button" and "mouse-use-extra-buttons" entries but they're set up the same as org>gnome>nautilus>preferences.

[FreedomTruth]

Is there a way to import working settings from the test account I created (that had working back/forward mouse buttons)?

Sorry for the long delay. This is something that would be much easier for me to do than to explain how to do
I guess where I would start, is find out if it is something in your home .config directory. Give your new user sudo privileges, log in it, then rename your old users' .config directory to .config-backup. A new .config directory will be created for you on your next login. For example

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newuser@yourcomputer ~ $ sudo mv /home/mainuser/.config /home/mainuser/.config-backup

Then log back into your main user account, and see if it works correctly.

At this point, we're just trying to find the source of the bad configuration. Restore your old .config directory by logging back into your new account, removing the main account's new .config folder, and rename the backup to .config :

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newuser@yourcomputer ~ $ sudo rm -r /home/mainuser/.config && sudo mv /home/mainuser/.config-backup /home/mainuser/.config

IF renaming the entire .config directory did fix the issue, then you can try to narrow it down to a specific directory inside there (I still suspect dconf but who knows). Try renaming the directories inside .config, to backup, until you find out which one contains the setting that is messing up the mouse behavior. Personally I'd start with dconf by itself, but if that doesn't do it, I'd do a group of maybe 5 directories at a time, just to narrow it down quicker. Basically, just trying to keep all your programs' settings except whichever program has it messed up. The dconf example,

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newuser@yourcomputer ~ $ sudo mv /home/mainuser/.config/dconf /home/mainuser/config/dconf-backup

Log back in your main user, and see if that fixes the issue. If not, restore it (back on your new user):

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newuser@yourcomputer ~ $ sudo rm -r /home/mainuser/.config/dconf && sudo mv /home/mainuser/.config/dconf-backup /home/mainuser/.config/dconf

IF renaming the entire .config directory did NOT fix the issue, I'm not sure where else to go next. You could try the method above to rename other . folders in your home to narrow it down.

Worst case, just use your new user, and set everything back up how you want it.


This should probably go at the beginning of this post, but did the buttons ever work correctly on your main account, and do you have any backups from that time? It may be quicker or easier to restore your settings from then.