SOLVED -- Elan Touchscreen available but not working LM 20.3

[anorman]

Hello all,

I have an ASUS Chromebook 523n which I just removed CrhomeOS from and installed Linux Mint 20.3 onto.

The machine has 2 issues. I haven't even looked into the sound yet, as the touchscreen is the more important issue to me.

The touchscreen does not work. No response, however it is listed in the xinput and I even gave it an xinput enable and still no joy

Here is the x.org log with touchscreen

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cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i touchscreen
[    31.066] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchscreen (/dev/input/event5)
[    31.066] (**) Elan Touchscreen: Applying InputClass "libinput touchscreen catchall"
[    31.066] (II) Using input driver 'libinput' for 'Elan Touchscreen'
[    31.066] (**) Elan Touchscreen: always reports core events
[    31.070] (II) event5  - Elan Touchscreen: is tagged by udev as: Touchscreen
[    31.070] (II) event5  - Elan Touchscreen: device is a touch device
[    31.071] (II) event5  - Elan Touchscreen: device removed
[    31.111] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Elan Touchscreen" (type: TOUCHSCREEN, id 10)
[    31.111] (**) Elan Touchscreen: (accel) selected scheme none/0
[    31.111] (**) Elan Touchscreen: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
[    31.111] (**) Elan Touchscreen: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
[    31.116] (II) event5  - Elan Touchscreen: is tagged by udev as: Touchscreen
[    31.116] (II) event5  - Elan Touchscreen: device is a touch device
[    31.118] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchscreen (/dev/input/mouse0)

here is my xinput

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xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Elan Touchscreen                        	id=10	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Elan Touchpad                           	id=11	[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)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                            	id=8	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam: USB2.0 HD         	id=9	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard            	id=12	[slave  keyboard (3)]
andre@asus-mint:~$ 

and here is the xinput list --long 10 output

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xinput list --long 10
Elan Touchscreen                        	id=10	[slave  pointer  (2)]
	Reporting 6 classes:
		Class originated from: 10. Type: XIButtonClass
		Buttons supported: 7
		Button labels: "Button Left" "Button Middle" "Button Right" "Button Wheel Up" "Button Wheel Down" "Button Horiz Wheel Left" "Button Horiz Wheel Right"
		Button state:
		Class originated from: 10. Type: XIValuatorClass
		Detail for Valuator 0:
		  Label: Abs MT Position X
		  Range: 0.000000 - 65535.000000
		  Resolution: 0 units/m
		  Mode: absolute
		  Current value: 0.000000
		Class originated from: 10. Type: XIValuatorClass
		Detail for Valuator 1:
		  Label: Abs MT Position Y
		  Range: 0.000000 - 65535.000000
		  Resolution: 0 units/m
		  Mode: absolute
		  Current value: 0.000000
		Class originated from: 10. Type: XIValuatorClass
		Detail for Valuator 2:
		  Label: Rel Horiz Scroll
		  Range: -1.000000 - -1.000000
		  Resolution: 0 units/m
		  Mode: relative
		Class originated from: 10. Type: XIValuatorClass
		Detail for Valuator 3:
		  Label: Rel Vert Scroll
		  Range: -1.000000 - -1.000000
		  Resolution: 0 units/m
		  Mode: relative
		Class originated from: 10. Type: XITouchClass
		Touch mode: direct
		Max number of touches: 10

andre@asus-mint:~$ 

Any help would be appreciated,

thanks.

- Andre

[SMG]

I have an ASUS Chromebook 523n which I just removed CrhomeOS from and installed Linux Mint 20.3 onto.

Welcome to the forum, Andre.

Please give us information about your install by providing the results of

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inxi -Fxxxrz

This will let us know how Mint sees your hardware and perhaps give us some ideas of what to suggest.

[anorman]

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andre@asus-mint:~$ inxi -Fxxxrz
System:    Kernel: 5.15.0-33-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 wm: muffin 5.2.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
           Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Google product: Coral v: rev5 serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Google model: Coral v: rev5 serial: <filter> BIOS: coreboot v: N/A date: 11/18/2020 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 19.8 Wh condition: 27.8/37.9 Wh (73%) volts: 7.5/7.9 model: AS1GTGE C523-50 type: Li-ion 
           serial: <filter> status: Discharging cycles: 243 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Pentium N4200 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Goldmont rev: 9 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 8755 
           Speed: 1791 MHz min/max: 800/2500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1416 2: 1250 3: 1241 4: 1669 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:5a84 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 505 (APL 3) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Imaging Unit driver: N/A bus ID: 00:03.0 
           chip ID: 8086:5a88 
           Device-2: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Audio Cluster driver: snd_soc_skl v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:0e.0 chip ID: 8086:5a98 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.15.0-33-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 1040 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 8086:095a 
           IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 173.76 GiB used: 14.41 GiB (8.3%) 
           ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: DA4064 size: 58.24 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 0x8 scheme: MBR 
           ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB model: USB DISK 3.0 size: 115.52 GiB serial: <filter> rev: PMAP scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 113.58 GiB used: 14.41 GiB (12.7%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list 
           1: deb https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/
Info:      Processes: 260 Uptime: 21h 30m Memory: 3.72 GiB used: 1.87 GiB (50.4%) Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
           gcc: 9.4.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: konsole inxi: 3.0.38 
andre@asus-mint:~$ 

[anorman]

Thank you for taking the time to have a look..

Andre

[anorman]

Just to give further information:

I removed ChromeOS from the machine because it has a bad flash drive, and ends up changing the file system to R/O at random times..

So I installed Mint 20.3 on an external UBS flash drive (using ext 2 so as not to write to the drive continually and wear it out quickly)..

At least this way I can use the hardware..

The touch screen (and incidentally the sound) both worked when ChromeOS was on the machine.

Thank you again for any suggestions as I really miss my touch screen LOL

Andre

[SMG]

I have an ASUS Chromebook 523n which I just removed CrhomeOS from and installed Linux Mint 20.3 onto.

The inxi data you posted seems to indicate you are just using Coreboot. Did you check if any info from the Mr. Chromebox site might be helpful? Your Chromebook does appear to be on the list.

I removed ChromeOS from the machine because it has a bad flash drive, and ends up changing the file system to R/O at random times..

Are you not able to boot to the flash drive if ChromeOS is installed? I have never had a Chromebook so I do not know.

So I installed Mint 20.3 on an external UBS flash drive (using ext 2 so as not to write to the drive continually and wear it out quickly)..

One can install with ext4 and just turn off journaling (although one loses helpful info when troubleshooting when doing that).

The touch screen (and incidentally the sound) both worked when ChromeOS was on the machine.

I would hope so. The coreboot firmware was specifically designed to run on that hardware. Coreboot has differences from BIOS/UEFI which is why problems can arise when using other operating systems.

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Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Google product: Coral v: rev5 serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Google model: Coral v: rev5 serial: <filter> BIOS: coreboot v: N/A date: 11/18/2020 

I did a search on the forum for Coral and found this topic No analog sound driver in linux mint 20 (cinnamon) on Asus C423 chromebook which looks like very similar hardware (but not exactly the same). Unfortunately, it's not good news for the audio.

I had done a search on the Elan touchscreen before you posted your data and most of what I found was people wanting to get it to work with older kernels and the advice was the driver ended up being in a newer kernel. The default 5.4 kernel is already newer than those suggestions. Did you try the 5.4 kernel before you upgraded to the 5.15?

[anorman]

Just wanted to update with what I found, and the work-around solution.

The issue was exactly as you suggested, it was a bios issue.

Using Seabios/MrChromebox.tech to just add support in the bios for booting from USB seems to break the internal I2C bus, which apparently is what the touchscreen uses.

I went back, and flashed and replaced the bios with the UEFI bios (and had to re-install Mint -- now version 21 <G>) as a result of the laptop only booting UEFI. There is no way to boot standard BIOS any longer..

And to be able to flash the UEFI, you have to disable the Write Protect (Which involves opening the back cover and unplugging the battery connector -- then using the AC adapter powering up the laptop, and flashing the system with the battery disconnected) [The battery itself is used as the WP enable line]. All in all, very easy to do as the battery connector is exposed as soon as you remove the cover (To remove the cover remove all screws, and don't forget the hidden screw underneath the top left foot -- just below the hinge of the lcd). Then use some plastic prytools to get the cover to open (gently). Youtube has tons of videos..

Once I did that, I was able to flash, re-install Linux Mint, and the touchscreen works perfectly (well, I guess there are issues with the touchscreen in that in many applications it doesn't actually scroll, but rather thinks you are trying to select text).. Google Chrome works out of the box, as do a few of the applications supplied with Mint, but the majority of them select text instead of scroll..

And, as for sound.. That was an easy work-around.. The Chromebook has bluetooth, so I just use an external bluetooth speaker.. Internal sound is foobar, and it appears that is a known issue as yet unsolvable.

[hglee]

Once I did that, I was able to flash, re-install Linux Mint, and the touchscreen works perfectly (well, I guess there are issues with the touchscreen in that in many applications it doesn't actually scroll, but rather thinks you are trying to select text).. Google Chrome works out of the box, as do a few of the applications supplied with Mint, but the majority of them select text instead of scroll.

If the Firefox browser has that non-scroll issue on your touchscreen, try this:


Open a Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) and copy-and-paste the following line, then tap Enter ...

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echo "MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1"|sudo tee -a /etc/security/pam_env.conf; . /etc/security/pam_env.conf

Restart Firefox.