Any hints on troubleshooting an inconsistent mouse/touchpad problem?
On one of the VivoBook-ASUSLaptop-E210MAB-L210MA laptops at work running Trisquel, left-click on the touchpad seemingly-randomly stopped working, on 2 different days: 2025-04-22 and 2025-05-07. It might have happened once before but I didn't think to log it that time. This is on Trisquel Aramo (11.0.1), and I've yet to figure out how to reproduce the issue.
After the issue started, I tried plugging in a USB mouse, and it seemed to have the same issue. evtest shows the inputs, but xev does not. Suspending the laptop makes the issue go away, but I'd like to figure out why this happens and fix the bug that causes it. It does seem suspicious that there's 2 mouse inputs (excluding the USB one), yet only one actually does anything, except for an error right around the time the issue started. Does anyone have any hint as to how to further debug this?
I posted some information on IRC, and I have copied it here:
(06:54:22 PM) jacobk: I have an issue with a Trisquel laptop at work, where left-click seemingly-randomly stops working. It happens somewhat rarely; the last time I noticed was ~15 days ago. I have logs from evtest and xinput that both show the inputs, with a USB mouse or touchpad, and neither work. The only thing I think this laptop has that's not from Trisquel repos is an unstable version of brlaser for a printer, which seems unlikely to affect mouse input.
(06:54:40 PM) jacobk: What other logs should I collect while the problem is currently happening?
(07:01:04 PM) jacobk: Something else I noticed: mouse hover effects for Abrowser ignore overlaying windows. In other words, hovering the mouse over an icon in Abrowser highlights it, even if a terminal window is between the cursor and Abrowser.
(07:01:45 PM) jacobk: On a correctly-functioning laptop, the terminal window would block Abrowser from detecting the hovering.
(07:07:04 PM) jacobk: Right-click works but only triggers Abrowser actions; maybe this is an Abrowser bug and not a MATE bug
(07:10:08 PM) jacobk: https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/how-to-show-system-config-printer-applet-in-indicator-icon-list/13151
(07:10:08 PM) jacobk: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/369097/mouse-left-click-stops-working
(07:11:23 PM) jacobk: Just like the user in the second link, evtest shows the inputs but xev does not; maybe the issue has to do with focusing
(07:12:40 PM) jacobk: xev shows keyboard presses, but not when it's not in focus, and it doesn't show *any* mouse input, not even right click
(07:16:40 PM) jacobk: Scrolling works in Abrowser but not the terminal window
(07:20:54 PM) jacobk: /var/log/Xorg.0.log : https://termbin.com/baz6
(07:22:07 PM) jacobk: [ 6681.427] (EE) client bug: timer event6 middlebutton: scheduled expiry is in the past (-1122ms), your system is too slow
(07:22:07 PM) jacobk: [ 6681.427] (EE) client bug: timer event8 hold: scheduled expiry is in the past (-75ms), your system is too slow
(07:23:25 PM) jacobk: event6 is called "ASUE1409:00 04F3:3157 Mouse" and event8 is called"ASUE1409:00 04F3:3157 Touchpad", but only the latter gets any inputs, on both the working and currently-broken system.
(07:25:50 PM) jacobk: As soon as I received the report that the touchpad was not working, I went and got my USB mouse out of my backpack, which is called "USB OPTICAL MOUSE", so the issue started only a few minutes before that device was attached
(07:28:17 PM) jacobk: I notice the only messages from event6 seem to be right after boot and right before the error occurred.
(07:32:38 PM) jacobk: This is /var/log/Xorg.0.log from a currently-working laptop: https://termbin.com/91ue
(07:47:57 PM) jacobk: Is there a good way to collect a bunch of logs all at once? Like an application that had information about where logs for various programs are and copied them all to one directory?
(07:48:30 PM) jacobk: Closing an Abrowser tab seems to have no effect on the issue
(07:52:43 PM) jacobk: I suspect the issue is somehow related to the event6 input
(07:53:30 PM) jacobk: Hovering over the bottom bar seemed to work but with an offset, making selecting the top row of applications easier than the bottom row.
(07:54:18 PM) jacobk: I closed Abrowser, and now hovering seems to work as normal on multiple different applications, including Abrowser launched again
(07:54:59 PM) jacobk: Suspending and resuming the laptop made the mouse work again
What kernel are you using? Are you suspending and resuming prior to the event occurring?
I've noticed that some discussions online refer to suspend and resume glitches when speaking about this error message:
timer event6 middlebutton: scheduled expiry is in the past (-1122ms), your system is too slow
I think the newest versions of Linux-libre will have had some additional work done to improve suspend and resume.
output of `uname -a`:
Linux gideon-VivoBook-ASUSLaptop-E210MAB-L210MA1 5.15.0-139-generic #149+11.0trisquel31 SMP Fri May 2 03:49:12 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
The laptop had been suspended and resumed, probably several times, prior to the issue, but I don't think it happened right after resuming, because people who encountered the issue already had work open and were in the middle of something.
I think there probably is a kernel bug involved, but since some of the effects depend on which application is being hovered over, I think the desktop environment probably has a bug as well.
I see several later kernels in aramo-updates, 6.2, 6.5, 6.8 - might be worth trying one. I guess that's where I would start, although you are a highly technically advanced person and should be able to track down the desktop environment bug and submit a bug report if you so desire. For me, I'm feeling lucky if I can get it to work without understanding exactly how it works.
You may want to check whether xserver-xorg-input-synaptics is installed, in order to rule out a libinput issue.