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Note:

This is an attempt to create a canonical question that covers all instances of "not-working trackpad" issues.

If you are experiencing a not-working touchpad, but none of the following answers work for you, please do ask a new question and then update the answers for this canonical question when your new question gets answered.

What’s the best way to troubleshoot a non-functional trackpad?

I ask this because almost every day someone asks about a touchpad that isn't working ... I think it would really help if Ask Ubuntu had a systematic generic strategy for how to troubleshoot not-working trackpads.

Ideally, the answer will cover simple things to try first (e.g., keyboard function keys, settings menu) and go on to increasingly advanced methods – ending with what information to post on this site to help people trying to answer if it's unsuccessful.

cocomac
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Will
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    I know this will be too broad a question for some and if it’s closed that’s fine … personally I think it would be useful to have a really good guide for people to follow. – Will Oct 08 '21 at 21:10
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    Perhaps it is too broad. But I personally think this would be a great Canonical Question. – cocomac Oct 08 '21 at 21:19
  • If nobody answers this, I might put a bounty on it I a day or two, to help the question get some possible solutions – cocomac Oct 09 '21 at 05:04
  • @cocomac - thanks - I was thinking the same - I’ll do that in a couple of days. – Will Oct 09 '21 at 06:44
  • in the command line type xev then use the trackpad, see if there is any response. it might be worth looking at cat /proc/bus/input/devices to get the device name, then parse dmesg for that name to see if it initializes with errors or something. – j0h Oct 13 '21 at 03:51
  • The touchpad has always "worked" on every computer I've used. The problem is occasional annoying glitches. Sometimes it's hopeless... Elantech touchpad does not work (i2c-hid). – xiota Oct 16 '21 at 06:25

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WELL...... The easiest way is having kde installed, so you can check your touchpad/trackpad settings first, just like any other operative system. If everything looks ok thru your settings, then open the terminal and start with; lsusb, and get all info related to your device dmesg, same here, get all info related xinput list (find the device and get its id number

THEN you test it;

xinput test your welcome.

Erniemenendez
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  • You may [edit] and organise your answer. – Error404 Oct 14 '21 at 08:20
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    Installing an entire desktop environment just to troubleshoot an input device could introduce a whole bunch of new issues for inexperienced users. I wouldn't recommend it. – svin83 Oct 14 '21 at 08:59
  • I don't care if you don't like my answer, but adding 3rd party apps to your desktop environment is counterproductive. and if your devices are toasted, why not just buy a new computer? – Erniemenendez Oct 16 '21 at 04:47
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    ‘Why not just buy a new computer?’ - seriously? - for a trackpad that’s stopped working, without attempting a fix? Agreed you shouldn’t care much if we don’t like your answer, but we’re trying to produce something useful for people in difficulty - suggesting you buy a new computer for something that might be a simple fix is pure nihilism. Not everyone wants to create unnecessary e-waste, and many people won’t have the resources. Those that can afford a new computer every time something stops working might still prefer to spend their money on something else, or do something useful with it. – Will Oct 16 '21 at 07:22
  • Installing a new desktop environment would be WAY Better than buying a new computer.... RIGHT? This is not about being able to afford a computer, this is about unwillingness! I suggested to use KDE because of its simplicity and ALL the congif settings available right out the box! so which one is it???? – Erniemenendez Oct 17 '21 at 04:33
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    @Erniemenendez - I don’t think it’s an unreasonable suggestion - but there are probably things to try first. So if it’s just that the trackpad has been disabled in settings, that’s the thing to try. I don’t have any issues with your proposed answer, but it’s certainly not the easiest / initial way I’d recommend to solve all issues. – Will Oct 17 '21 at 07:13
  • Will, thank you for seeing my answer the way I wrote it! Everyone else took it the wrong way. My problem with anything other than KDE is that you have to rely on tweaks and 3rd party apps to achieve a simple task. – Erniemenendez Oct 24 '21 at 22:24