pinebook pro trackpad randomly stops working

[chewie]

Running Manjaro ARM i3-edition on my PineBook Pro. Just received the device a few days ago.

At first I noticed that the trackpad's palm rejection wasn't quite there, but then I noticed that it was suddenly great -- not just palm rejection, but finger rejection, button press rejection -- it stopped working altogether!

Well, I run i3wm, so I don't use the mouse all that much. I just kept trucking on the terminal, and then the cursor started randomly moving around again according to the movement of my palms as I typed.

So, the trackpad seems to randomly cut in and out every few seconds -- BUT! I can keep the touchpad "alive" if I constantly mouse around in little circles. But sometimes I have to wait for a while for it to come back once it goes to "sleep."

Any ideas?? I saw a post about touchpad drivers, but the 2021 units are supposed to be pre-updated.

Just to re-iterate, the trackpad is completely dead every few seconds. Not only non-responsive to touch, but also to physical clicks with the trackpad buttons.

[KC9UDX]

You could try a different operating system on micro SD to eliminate the OS and it's "firmware".

[chewie]

You could try a different operating system on micro SD to eliminate the OS and it's "firmware".

Actually, I figured it out this morning. Super simple. The powersaving mode for the keyboard USB device was shutting off power to the trackpad.

I changed the parameter in `powertop`, and bingo! it was fine.

Palm rejection still kinda sucks, but I guess I can live with that

[KC9UDX]

Please put that in the wiki, if you can.

[jiyong]

Hey all is there a final word on whether or not the trackpad issues can be fixed through software or is this a permanent issue with the hardware that cannot be fixed? It might sound like I'm complaining but just looking for a answer as to if I should wait for a fix or go ahead and mod in a USB trackpad to replace the one onboard.

Have you seen this thread? https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=14531

[chewie]

Hey all is there a final word on whether or not the trackpad issues can be fixed through software or is this a permanent issue with the hardware that cannot be fixed? It might sound like I'm complaining but just looking for a answer as to if I should wait for a fix or go ahead and mod in a USB trackpad to replace the one onboard.

Have you seen this thread? https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=14531

The new update definitely did it for me. It's not 100% perfect, but it's good enough that I don't have to use the old python touchpad hack script that someone kindly wrote a while back.