While trying to fix some of my function keys, I decided to update my BIOS. Although this didn't solve my original issue, my touchpad was no longer working!
Initially, after the first reboot, it still showed up in /proc/bus/input/devices and xinput, but just didn't seem to work. Then, Ubuntu (19.10) prompted me to install a lot of new updates.
First of all, I couldn't boot into ubuntu anymore from GRUB2 (I run dual-boot with windows), although that was quickly resolved by changing my kernel to vmlinuz-5.3.0-19-generic in the entry (from 4.xx-23 I believe).
Then, after finally successfully rebooting, my touchpad doesn't show up in /proc/bus/input/devices or xinput at all anymore! The only trace I managed to find was this output in dmesg:
[ 2.471492] psmouse serio4: elantech: assuming hardware version 4 (with firmware version 0x461f01)
[ 2.474830] systemd[1]: /lib/systemd/system/dbus.socket:4: ListenStream= references a path below legacy directory /var/run/, updating /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket → /run/dbus/system_bus_socket; please update the unit file accordingly.
[ 2.487000] psmouse serio4: elantech: Synaptics capabilities query result 0x00, 0x16, 0x0d.
[ 2.504567] psmouse serio4: elantech: Elan sample query result 01, 7b, 75
[ 2.534034] systemd[1]: Listening on initctl Compatibility Named Pipe.
[ 2.534644] systemd[1]: Created slice User and Session Slice.
[ 2.534709] systemd[1]: Listening on udev Kernel Socket.
[ 2.534797] systemd[1]: Listening on Journal Socket (/dev/log).
[ 2.534806] systemd[1]: Reached target Slices.
[ 2.535269] psmouse serio4: elantech: Trying to set up SMBus access
[ 2.557682] EXT4-fs (sdb5): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro
[ 2.560654] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[ 2.569821] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[ 2.712339] Adding 2097148k swap on /swapfile. Priority:-2 extents:5 across:2260988k SSFS
[ 2.748547] elan_i2c 0-0015: 0-0015 supply vcc not found, using dummy regulator
[ 2.756831] elan_i2c 0-0015: failed to get product ID: -71
[ 2.803035] elan_i2c 0-0015: failed to get product ID: -71
[ 2.847035] elan_i2c 0-0015: failed to get product ID: -71
[ 2.883114] elan_i2c: probe of 0-0015 failed with error -71
Does anybody have a clue on how to fix this?
EDIT:
After LinuxSecurityFreak's suggestion I tried activating the touchpad with:
sudo rmmod elan_i2c
sudo modprobe elan_i2c
After which the touchpad does show up again in /proc/bus/input/devices and xinput! But.. It still doesn't work.
/var/log/syslog reports the following for sudo rmmod elan_i2c:
Nov 20 14:19:25 User xdg-desktop-por[1895]: Failed to get application states: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed: Could not get window list: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied: App introspection not allowed
Nov 20 14:20:03 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) config/udev: removing device Elan Touchpad
Nov 20 14:20:03 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Option "fd" "56"
Nov 20 14:20:03 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) event16 - Elan Touchpad: device removed
Nov 20 14:20:03 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) UnloadModule: "libinput"
Nov 20 14:20:03 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 13:80
Nov 20 14:20:03 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (EE) systemd-logind: failed to release device: Device not taken
and for sudo modprobe elan_i2c:
Nov 20 14:20:06 User kernel: [ 359.718149] elan_i2c 0-0015: 0-0015 supply vcc not found, using dummy regulator
Nov 20 14:20:06 User kernel: [ 359.726146] elan_i2c 0-0015: failed to get product ID: -71
Nov 20 14:20:06 User kernel: [ 359.775575] elan_i2c 0-0015: Elan Touchpad: Module ID: 0x0000, Firmware: 0x0000, Sample: 0x0000, IAP: 0x0000
Nov 20 14:20:06 User kernel: [ 359.776325] input: Elan Touchpad as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.4/i2c-0/0-0015/input/input26
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchpad (/dev/input/mouse1)
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) This device may have been added with another device file.
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchpad (/dev/input/mouse1)
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (II) No input driver specified, ignoring this device.
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (II) This device may have been added with another device file.
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchpad (/dev/input/event16)
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Elan Touchpad: Applying InputClass "libinput touchpad catchall"
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) Using input driver 'libinput' for 'Elan Touchpad'
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchpad (/dev/input/event16)
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (**) Elan Touchpad: Applying InputClass "libinput touchpad catchall"
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (II) Using input driver 'libinput' for 'Elan Touchpad'
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) systemd-logind: got fd for /dev/input/event16 13:80 fd 66 paused 0
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Elan Touchpad: always reports core events
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event16"
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Option "_source" "server/udev"
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) event16 - Elan Touchpad: is tagged by udev as: Touchpad
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (II) systemd-logind: got fd for /dev/input/event16 13:80 fd 30 paused 1
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1195]: (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 13:80
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) event16 - Elan Touchpad: device is a touchpad
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) event16 - Elan Touchpad: device removed
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.4/i2c-0/0-0015/input/input26/event16"
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Elan Touchpad" (type: TOUCHPAD, id 14)
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Option "AccelerationScheme" "none"
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Elan Touchpad: (accel) selected scheme none/0
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Elan Touchpad: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (**) Elan Touchpad: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) event16 - Elan Touchpad: is tagged by udev as: Touchpad
Nov 20 14:20:06 User /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session[1695]: (II) event16 - Elan Touchpad: device is a touchpad
Strangely enough, running the same commands again the touchpad disappears yet again, with sudo modprobe elan_i2c giving a different output:
ov 20 14:22:19 User kernel: [ 492.932593] elan_i2c 0-0015: 0-0015 supply vcc not found, using dummy regulator
Nov 20 14:22:19 User kernel: [ 492.940679] elan_i2c 0-0015: failed to get product ID: -71
Nov 20 14:22:19 User kernel: [ 492.986685] elan_i2c 0-0015: failed to get product ID: -71
Nov 20 14:22:19 User kernel: [ 493.034988] elan_i2c 0-0015: failed to get product ID: -71
Nov 20 14:22:19 User kernel: [ 493.074890] elan_i2c: probe of 0-0015 failed with error -71
