Re: Touchpad problems with latest kernels

Luke Sharkey
2006-08-16T13:59:47Z

Hello

>Ok, there seems to be two distinct issues here. 1) Synaptics
>'supersensitive' mode, 2) pointer 'freezing'.
Hmmm... perhaps "jerky" was the wrong choice of word. I don't at all mean
I've had a supersensitive touchpad: quite the opposite. What I was trying
to convey was the fact that when my pointer freezes, sometimes it becomes
unfrozen again suddenly (for a brief time) and then moves forward a little,
then gets stuck again, and in this way is "jerky". So not supersensitivity.
(Apologies for any confusion).

>The trick is to have a terminal open and then do alt-tab (presuming that it
>does not unfreeze the pointer)

Yes, I've been doing that as a worthwhile precaution. Sometimes the pointer
seems to get so stuck even when I plug in a normal mouse, it remains frozen.
Seeing as Linux is less easily controlled with the keyboard compared to
MS-Windows, sometimes all I can do is Alt-tab to the terminal window and do
a command line reboot.

(Off topic question: why not have the K menu open when the "MS-Windows"
button on the keyboard is pressed, as happens with the "Start" button on
MS-windows?)

*However*, I have noticed that sometimes when I alt-tab between any windows
/ programs I have open, sometimes the pointer becomes unstuck again...

>Also, is there programs that poll status of your battery or monitor box's
>temperature?

Battery charge level, yes, but not the box's temperature. I have tried lots
of apps to try and do this, e.g. gkrellm, but there is no support for this
on my laptop. Besides, these problems often evidence themselves soon after
I switch on, so I don't think laptop temperature would still be a problem
that early. Also, I rip the occasional DVD, sometimes leaving my computer
on for 5+ hours: it doesn't overheat.

>Oh, another one... try booting with "ec_intr=0" on the kernel command line
>to disable embedded controller interrupt mode.

>And finally, can I mples get a dmesg (or /var/log/messages) of boot with
>"i8042.debug=1 log_buf_len=131072" please?

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try the kernel option, and post the
results of the error log.

Yours,
LS

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