I can only get my trackpad to work by shutting down, removing the battery and holding down the power button for 15 seconds. If I do a normal reboot the trackpad no longer works, buttons included.
xinput list gives this output
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ PS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Microsoft Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM) id=14 [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)]
↳ Power Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HP Truevision HD id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HP Wireless hotkeys id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ HP WMI hotkeys id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]
But on restart the PS/2 Synaptics Touchpad dissapears.
Also in System Settings the mouse/touchpad settings has nothing about the touchpad at all.
I have downloaded Ubuntu 14.10 and 15.04 and the touchpad does not work in either running as a live session.
This seems to be a common problem but I have not been able to find any help other than the hard reset option which is very time consuming.
Thank you
UPDATE As per suggested below installing the latest kernel fixed the touchpad but broke all internet connectivity. Upon installing extras connectivity returned but the touchpad is gone again. Any help?
sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.19.0-18-generic
sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-3.19.0-18-generic linux-headers-3.19.0-18-generic
. I thought they would be automatically added to the installation.