How do I load the synaptics driver on 12.04? (Scrolling does not work)

Question

I have installed Ubuntu 12.04 on my new Lenovo z580 laptop. The touchpad maker is Synaptics. However Ubuntu is unable to load the Synaptics driver, although the driver has been installed. Due to this, I am unable to use scrolling on my touchpad. The command

synclient -l

returns:

Couldn't find synaptics properties. No synaptics driver loaded?

Please help.

Answer 1

Try this if neither of the previous ideas of this thread worked

In a terminal enter : xinput

you should get something looking like this :

⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad                  id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ MOSART Semi. 2.4G Wireless Mouse          id=10   [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)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ USB Camera                                id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Asus WMI hotkeys                          id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Locate your touchpad, mine here is called is called "ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad" (on the third line).

now, once you've done this enter : xinput --list-props "whatever your touchpad is called to print your device xinput properties

for instance mine would be nathan@linux-engine:~$ xinput --list-props "ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad"

Device 'ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad':
    Device Enabled (135):   1
    Coordinate Transformation Matrix (137): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
    Device Accel Profile (263): 1
    Device Accel Constant Deceleration (264):   2.500000
    Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (265):   1.000000
    Device Accel Velocity Scaling (266):    12.500000
    Synaptics Edges (288):  123, 2974, 114, 2005
    Synaptics Finger (289): 1, 1, 0
    Synaptics Tap Time (290):   180
    Synaptics Tap Move (291):   165
    Synaptics Tap Durations (292):  180, 180, 100
    Synaptics ClickPad (293):   1
    Synaptics Middle Button Timeout (294):  0
    Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure (295):    282
    Synaptics Two-Finger Width (296):   7
    Synaptics Scrolling Distance (297): 75, 75
    Synaptics Edge Scrolling (298): 0, 0, 0
    Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling (299):   1, 1
    Synaptics Move Speed (300): 1.000000, 1.750000, 0.053305, 0.000000
    Synaptics Off (301):    0
    Synaptics Locked Drags (302):   0
    Synaptics Locked Drags Timeout (303):   5000
    Synaptics Tap Action (304): 2, 3, 0, 0, 1, 3, 0
    Synaptics Click Action (305):   1, 3, 0
    Synaptics Circular Scrolling (306): 0
    Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance (307):    0.100000
    Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger (308): 0
    Synaptics Circular Pad (309):   0
    Synaptics Palm Detection (310): 0
    Synaptics Palm Dimensions (311):    10, 200
    Synaptics Coasting Speed (312): 20.000000, 50.000000
    Synaptics Pressure Motion (313):    30, 160
    Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor (314): 1.000000, 1.000000
    Synaptics Resolution Detect (315):  1
    Synaptics Grab Event Device (316):  1
    Synaptics Gestures (317):   1
    Synaptics Capabilities (318):   1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1
    Synaptics Pad Resolution (319): 32, 31
    Synaptics Area (320):   0, 0, 0, 0
    Synaptics Soft Button Areas (321):  1548, 0, 1737, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
    Synaptics Noise Cancellation (322): 18, 18
    Device Product ID (255):    2, 14
    Device Node (256):  "/dev/input/event5"

Look carefully for "two fingers scrolling". for instance, mine is Synaptics Two finger scrolling (299). If the values in that line are something else than 1, 1, there, you have it!

fix it with : xinput --set-prop "touchpad name" "scrolling option" 1 1.

Once again, mine as an exampe : nathan@linux-engine:~$ xinput --set-prop "ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 1 1.

Results should be immediate but temporary. Add the xinput command (the last one only) somewhere (presumably at end) of the file /home/<you>/.bashrc which is automatically run when you enter a session (or open a terminal).

Answer 2

For Lubuntu 18.04 LTS, the touchpad on a Dell Latitude 3540 worked, but only as a basic mouse. I had to issue a modprobe psmouse in order to activate it as a touchpad for two-finger scrolling, etc. Still, there is no GUI configuration options for it, so the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-synaptics.conf had to be edited manually.

Answer 3

Have you checked your Mouse and Touchpad settings in Settings. Disable Two-finger scroll and also disable natural scrolling. Hope that fixes the scrolling problem

Answer 4

Go to System Settings(search from dash) > Mouse & Touchpad
Enable Two Finger Scrolling and Natural Scrolling (or as you wish your configuration to be)
Will update this post if I find a synaptics-like-functionality((as in windows) touchpad driver for Ubuntu
Hope this helps

Answer 5

Upgrade to newer ubuntu version helped me to workaround the problem, though I still don't know the root cause of it.

sudo do-release-upgrade

Among downsides I should mention that this takes pretty long time - about 1 hour (depends on network connection throughput)

Answer 6

Do it in terminal:

1. open terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + t
2. su (Administrator)
3. Password
4. sudo apt-get update
5. sudo apt-get install synaptic
6. continue as your knowledge