lenovo thinkpad E560 trackpad stopped working

Question

Last week my trackpad was working and this week just decided not to. Tried a update with no success.

Virtual core pointer                        id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ DELL DELL USB Laser Mouse                 id=9    [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)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Integrated Camera                         id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ ThinkPad Extra Buttons                    id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Linux 4.2.0-35-generic #40~14.04.1-Ubuntu

Answer 1

I have the thinkpad e560 and have not experienced any problems until last night. I tried many things and the only thing that fixed the track pad was to close the lid, putting the computer to sleep and then opening it back up and it worked again! No idea why this fixed it but it did.

Answer 2

i solved the same problem by updating the kernel to the newest LTS version (in this case 4.4.7), maybe that is an option for you.

http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2016/01/how-to-install-linux-kernel-4-4-in-ubuntu/

Answer 3

I can't seem to find a permanent solution to this yet, but a temporary one is to: 1. Close the laptop lid which puts it in sleep mode. 2. Start it again and click the touchpad and the three mousebuttons above at the same time. This should fix it until the next time your computer runs out of power, but it is a fkd up way to fix it.