A way to restart ubuntu 20.04 touchscreen drivers?

Question

For some reason ubuntu 20.04 touchscreen stops working after some time (Acer r7 371t). Google not much help, xinput enable/disable don't work, have to restart laptop for it to work again. I am not sure what information to provide for debugging, using X11.

xinput

Virtual core pointer                        id=2    [master pointer  
(3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  
pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SYN1B7B:00 06CB:2991 Mouse                id=9    [slave  
pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SYN1B7B:00 06CB:2991 Touchpad             id=10   [slave  
pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SYNAPTICS Synaptics Touch Digitizer V04 Mouse id=16   [slave  
pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SYNAPTICS Synaptics Touch Digitizer V04   id=17   [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)]
↳ Power Button                              id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Acer WMI hotkeys                          id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ HD WebCam: HD WebCam                      id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus                                 id=14   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ SYNAPTICS Synaptics Touch Digitizer V04   id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ LUXA2 Lavi D (AVRCP)                      id=18   [slave  keyboard (3)]

xinput list-props 16

Device 'SYNAPTICS Synaptics Touch Digitizer V04 Mouse':
Device Enabled (164):   1
Coordinate Transformation Matrix (166): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (301):   0
libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (302):   0
libinput Scroll Methods Available (303):    0, 0, 1
libinput Scroll Method Enabled (304):   0, 0, 0
libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (305):   0, 0, 0
libinput Button Scrolling Button (306): 3
libinput Button Scrolling Button Default (307): 3
libinput Accel Speed (308): 0.000000
libinput Accel Speed Default (309): 0.000000
libinput Accel Profiles Available (310):    1, 1
libinput Accel Profile Enabled (311):   1, 0
libinput Accel Profile Enabled Default (312):   1, 0
libinput Left Handed Enabled (313): 0
libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (314): 0
libinput Send Events Modes Available (286): 1, 0
libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (287):    0, 0
libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (288):    0, 0
Device Node (289):  "/dev/input/event8"
Device Product ID (290):    1739, 30331
libinput Drag Lock Buttons (315):   <no items>
libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (316):   1

Answer 1

I had the same problem with my Lenovo Yoga S1. I see your laptop uses the same Synaptics touchscreen as my Yoga.

I noticed in journalctl -b:

systemd[1]: Starting Firmware update daemon...
fwupd[2737]: ERROR:esys:src/tss2-esys/esys_context.c:69:Esys_Initialize() Initialize default tcti. ErrorCode (0x000a000a)
fwupd[2737]: 21:37:44:0499 FuEngine failed to add udev device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5/1-5:1.0/0003:06CB:7244.0003/>
fwupd[2737]: 21:37:44:0675 FuEngine device 602b0a6cc821d155208724f0e22f8d111542b74c [SAMSUNG MZ7TE128HMGR-000L1] does not define a vendo>
systemd[1]: Started Firmware update daemon.

I noticed 06CB:7244 is:

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 06cb:7244 Synaptics, Inc. Synaptics Touch Digitizer V04

I tried blacklisting plugin synaptics-rmi in /etc/fwupd/daemon.conf:

BlacklistPlugins=synaptics-rmi;test;invalid

But it did not help. In the end I did:

sudo apt remove fwupd

It worked, there must be a better way to fix this by tinkering with fwupd though.