i8500 linux - wandering mouse (due to pointing stick?) problem

Question

I posted this in a HW forum and didn't see it mentioned for quite some time in this forum so I thought that I'd cross-post to see if anyone can help. I have an i8500 running Red Hat Linux 9 (kernel 2.4.20-19.9.acpi.5 from ltswww.epfl.ch/~dsanta/resources/dell-i8500-linux). I've had it for a number of months and it has worked perfectly until now. A couple of days ago the mouse cursor started moving by itself every now and then. Today, the problem is much worse and I can't work on the console any longer. It doesn't appear to be related to the touch pad and I'm guessing that it is the pointing stick sensor. I think that it mostly happens when I am typing or my hands are on the wrist area of the machine. If I leave it alone for a while and the cursor is sitting still, if I only touch the keys near the pointing stick (and not rest my hands on the machine) the cursor will start moving. Unfortunately, I have never been able to get an optical mouse to work on this system (I've tried 2 that I know work when Windows XP is booted on it) so I can't disable the mouse pad and the pointing stick and use an external mouse as a work-around. I'm going to try the Dell diagnostics CD tonight but I'm guessing that it will report no issues found. I found a utility called 'tpconfig' that has previously been used to disable the pointing stick but it asserts when I try to run it on my system. I've seen various postings on this in different places some of which say a new kbd might fix the problem and some say to just unscrew the current kbd to relieve pressure on the sensor. If anyone has a suggestion on how to fix this problem and/or get a USB mouse to work I would appreciate the tips. I have tried each of the tips that I've found to mod XF86Config to get the USB mouse to work with no luck. tks lu1

Agent Orange · Answer

it's strange that your USB mouse doesn't work. Mine works out of the box on my debian laptop (2.4.21). I use the usb-uhci and mousedev modules, with the following in my XF86Config file:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "USB Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" #This line enables the wheel
EndSection

When I think about it though, I really should upgrade to 2.4.24...

cheers

linuxuser1 · Answer

I use the same in my XF86Config.
One thing that I'm wondering is how /dev/input/mice gets associated.
I can't tell for sure what hotplug is doing re devlabel.
The following appears in messages on insert:

Jan 8 18:16:30 localhost kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:1d.0-1, assigned address 3
Jan 8 18:16:30 localhost kernel: usb-uhci.c: interrupt, status 2, frame# 573
Jan 8 18:16:35 localhost kernel: usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
Jan 8 18:16:35 localhost kernel: : USB HID v1.00 Mouse [0461:4d03] on usb2:3.0
Jan 8 18:16:39 localhost /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: Setup hid for USB product 461/4d03/550
Jan 8 18:16:39 localhost /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: Setup mousedev for USB product 461/4d03/550
Jan 8 18:16:39 localhost devlabel: devlabel service started/restarted

I do not know if the 'bulk_msg: timeout' is bad or not. I do not see any
other indications of errors.

Agent Orange · Answer

hmmm, not really sure, since I don't use devlabel at all and I don't see the timeout messages. It just detects things and goes happily on it's way.

It may be that these mice aren't supported? I know that some new fancy usb mice aren't yet supported - some people have mentioned logitech IIRC on the xfree86 list.

cheers

linuxuser1 · Answer

Just wanted to pass along that Dell sent me a
new keyboard and I just finished installing it.
The wandering mouse (probable pointing stick
problem) has disappeared. I wanted to thank
Dell for their prompt service. I have no
complaints about my i8500.
tks

Linux General

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