On 6/7/24 16:39, Steinar Bang wrote:
Steinar Bang <s...@dod.no>:
Sometime (a day or so maybe) before <2024-06-26 Wed 19:59> the touchpad
stopped working on my Acer Aspire 5 with a MATE desktop on debian 12.5.
At the time the laptop had gone 50 days since the last reboot so I
figured something had gone wrong during the time and a reboot would fix
it.
So in <2024-06-29 Sat 18:07> I did a reboot as a result of "apt
full-upgrade" to debian 12.5 and the touchpad still wasn't working.
I have been thinking that the cause may be
1. A hardware failure?
2. I accidentially pressed a keyboard combination that disables the
touchpad?
3. I have accidentially made some configuration change that disables
the touchpad?
The cause was number 2 and the key is F7 (without pressing the Fn key).
Pressing F7 gave me the touchpad back.
I decided to give this yet another try this morning and googled
combinations of "acer aspire 5 fn key disable touchpad"
I was told that Fn+F6 and Fn+F7 is supposed to toggle the touchpad on
many Acer laptops. But pressing Fn+F6 or Fn+F7 had no more effect than
anything else I had tried.
But one thing I discovered was that many people have had the
disappearing touchpad problem on Acer laptopns, also on Windows, and
have tried everything around upgrading drivers and even upgrading from
Windows 10 to Windows 11. So this is not a debian or GNU/linux specific
issue.
I am always reluctant to reboot but I decided I had to bite the bullet
and boot into BIOS and see what I could find there.
But I always, before doing anything, I do a quick google to see what I
can find, search string "acer aspire touchpad bios", and there I found
this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AcerOfficial/comments/ug3xks/touchpad_not_working_at_all_for_my_aspire_5_tried/
Specifically this posting:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AcerOfficial/comments/ug3xks/comment/l1iia93/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
So I tried F6 without Fn and the screen went black. One more press on F6
and I had the desktop back.
Then I tried F7 without Fn... aaaand touchpad was back.
I fully supports the rants in the posting linked to above.
Couldn't said it better myself.
Have you considered changing the bios so that the Fn keys need the Fn
key to alter the screen and touchpad and for that matter sound settings
etc accidently. It means the Fn keys will also function what was
considered normally for decades.
--
All the best
Keith Bainbridge
keithr...@gmail.com
keith.bainbridge.3...@gmail.com
+61 (0)447 667 468
UTC + 10:00
