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This is my first post here and I have spent many hours trying to read through the posts to diagnose this problem. I used Linux off and on since the late 90s and only recently came back to it.

I was running Xubuntu 18.04 on a Lenovo ThinkPad 11e with no issues until I did a ‘sudo apt dist-upgrade‘, which brought me to 18.04.1 (according to lsb_release -a) and my Synaptics s3203_ver5 touchpad stopped working.

Prior to the upgrade my touchpad was working fine, so I know it is compatible with Xubuntu. I tried doing a clean install with 18.04 and the touchpad works until upgrade and dist-upgrade. The last packages I noticed to be updated were kmod and libkmod2.

When I do the following, the touchpad works for 10-20 seconds and then it stops: sudo rmmod psmouse sudo modprobe psmouse

Both the following packages are installed: xserver-xorg-input-libinput 0.27.1-1 xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.9.0-1ubuntu1

I tried booting to other kernels 4.15.0-20 and 4.15.0-29 from 4.15.0-38, but that has no effect.

I am a huge fan of Linux and want to stick with it, but I don’t have the time to spend troubleshooting touchpad problems after a system software update. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks and best regards!

earlev4
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  • This might be related to the kmod issue: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kmod/+bug/1802135 – earlev4 Nov 08 '18 at 15:37
  • For those that already installed the kmod version (24-1ubuntu3.1) that caused the failure of the touchpad, I was also able to get it working by going to Software Updater > Developer Options, enabling 'Pre-release updates (bionic-proposed)', and installing the kmod version 24-1ubuntu3.2. However, you will need to sudo update-initramfs for the change to take place. – earlev4 Nov 21 '18 at 16:51

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I referred to your question in resolving my own here.

My solution was to sudo apt-mark hold kmod after a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04, then upgrade to 18.04.1.

I haven't tested it, but reverting kmod to version 24-1ubuntu3 from 24-1ubuntu3.1 and holding it there may have the same result (without starting your system over from scratch like I did).

Logicisms
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  • Hi Logicisms. I appreciate the response. I just downloaded the Xubuntu 18.04.1 ISO and performed a fresh install. I did as you suggested with sudo apt-mark hold kmod (holding 24-1ubuntu3), performed sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade, and rebooted. All worked perfectly. Thanks so much for the suggestion! – earlev4 Nov 21 '18 at 16:50