Enable SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad in 14.04

Question

With fresh install 14.04.1 (64-bit), the touchpad does not function at all (in fact, I see no mouse cursor). Touchpad works in Windows 8.1, both OS boot with EFI.

xinput reports:

SynPS/2 Synaptics Touch Pad id=11 [slave pointer (2)]

How can I turn my recognized touchpad into a functioning touchpad?

Solutions I have tried:

• Keypad solutions:
  • F5
  • Fn+F5
  • pressing NumLock repeatedly during boot
• Modprobe solutions:
  • sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse
  • sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse proto=imps
  • sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse proto=exps
• Kernel solutions (append to grub at end of quiet splash line):
  • atkbd.reset i8042.nomux
  • i8042.nopnp
  • i8042.reset=1
• Missing Package solutions:
  • sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
  • sudo apt-get install gpointing-device-settings
    • xinput now fails to report SynPS/2 Synaptics Touch Pad

Answer 1

This may be a simple driver issue, similar to the one I solved for myself on a HP laptop with a 14.04.3/WinXP dual boot, a few months ago.
Look for the SynPS/2 Synaptics Touch Pad driver.
What put me on that trail was @JustinSolms' answer here. I downloaded it as a tar ball from Dell's download center as:

downloads.dell.com/FOLDER02334135M/1/E5x50_A00.fish.tar.gz

The Dell site comes with MD5 and SHA256 and more to check the integrity of yr downloaded material, so no worry there. It also comes with installation instuctions. Basically double click on the tar ball and follow instructions.

After reboot, check that your touchpad works. If you want you can check its setting capabilities. You should get something close to:

$ xinput --list-props "SynPS/2 Synaptics Touch Pad" | grep Capabilities
Synaptics Capabilities (304): 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 

• 1st number =1: device has physical left button
• 2nd number =1: device has physical middle button
• 3rd number =1: device has physical right button
• 4th number =1: device supports 2 finger detection
• 5th number =1: device supports 3 finger detection
• 6th number =1: vertical resolution of device can be configured
• 7th number =1: horizontal resolution of device can be configured

This wiki discusses capabilities in more details.

Answer 2

I have a similar issue, but already fixed by doing a very simple operation. After installing gpointing-device-settings:

1. run this tool, you should see the SynPS/2 TouchPad device in left panel.
2. Select SynPS/2 touchpad, and in the 'general' property page in the right side, click and select the disable button. And then un-select it. Disable first, and then re-enable.
3. Now, open system setup->Mouse & Touchpad, will see the related settings back.
4. Reboot and found the touch-pad works.

It's amazing for me. I think there should be some module variables related to this issue. And by doing a disable and re-enable operation, they are reset to correct values.