Pavilion dm4-1160 touchpad erratic bis

I changed the parameter BottomEdge with the value 3500. The right click is now emulated by a short tap on the botton and right edge of the pad ( a small area of 1/2 inch on the bottom-right corner ). The script is below:

#! /bin/sh
#Configure synaptics divers, must be run at each session
PROG=synclient
echo edges
$PROG LeftEdge=1750
$PROG RightEdge=5200
$PROG TopEdge=1620
$PROG BottomEdge=3500
echo Finger Press
$PROG FingerLow=24
$PROG FingerHigh=29
$PROG FingerPress=255
echo taps time
$PROG MaxTapTime=180
$PROG MaxTapMove=220
$PROG MaxDoubleTapTime=180
$PROG SingleTapTimeout=180
$PROG ClickTime=100
$PROG FastTaps=1
echo emulate
$PROG EmulateMidButtonTime=75
$PROG EmulateTwoFingerMinZ=280
$PROG EmulateTwoFingerMinW=7
echo scrolling
$PROG VertScrollDelta=100
$PROG HorizScrollDelta=0
$PROG VertEdgeScroll=1
$PROG HorizEdgeScroll=0
$PROG CornerCoasting=0
$PROG VertTwoFingerScroll=0
$PROG HorizTwoFingerScroll=0
echo Pointer speed
$PROG MinSpeed=0.1
$PROG MaxSpeed=1
$PROG AccelFactor=1
$PROG TrackstickSpeed=0
$PROG EdgeMotionMinZ=29
$PROG EdgeMotionMaxZ=159
$PROG EdgeMotionMinSpeed=1
$PROG EdgeMotionMaxSpeed=401
$PROG EdgeMotionUseAlways=0
echo scrolling flags
$PROG UpDownScrolling=1
$PROG LeftRightScrolling=1
$PROG UpDownScrollRepeat=1
$PROG LeftRightScrollRepeat=1
$PROG ScrollButtonRepeat=100
echo Touchpad Mouse one/off
$PROG TouchpadOff=0
$PROG GuestMouseOff=0
echo dragging
$PROG LockedDrags=0
$PROG LockedDragTimeout=5000
echo corners
$PROG RTCornerButton=0
$PROG RBCornerButton=2
$PROG LTCornerButton=0
$PROG LBCornerButton=1
echo tap
$PROG TapButton1=1
$PROG TapButton2=2
$PROG TapButton3=0
echo click
$PROG ClickFinger1=1
$PROG ClickFinger2=0
$PROG ClickFinger3=0
echo Circular
$PROG CircularScrolling=0
$PROG CircScrollDelta=0.1
$PROG CircScrollTrigger=0
$PROG CircularPad=0
echo Palm
$PROG PalmDetect=1
$PROG PalmMinWidth=10
$PROG PalmMinZ=199
$PROG CoastingSpeed=0
echo Grab
$PROG GrabEventDevice=1
$PROG TapAndDragGesture=1
echo Area
$PROG AreaLeftEdge=0
$PROG AreaRightEdge=0
$PROG AreaTopEdge=0
$PROG AreaBottomEdge=0
echo Jumpy
$PROG JumpyCursorThreshold=60


Pavilion dm4-1160 erratic touchpad solved with a script

I wrote a simple bash script to solve the erratic touchpad of my notebook HP dm4-1160us.

A left button click is emulated by a fast tap on the touchpad. The vertical scrolling is a narrow area on the right edge of the touchpad. Now, two fingers can touch the pad without any erratic jumps of the pointer. It's possible to grab and move a window too; just move the mouse pointer on the top area of the window, then double taps quickly and keep the finger on the pad while you grab the window. Unfortunately the right button still doesn't work. (Check my next post - October 19 - the right button is emulated too!)

The script is below.
- Copy and past the code in gedit, save it as touchpad.sh for instance.
- Make it executable.
- Start it automatically with gnome ( System->Preference->StartUp Applications->Add and provide the command ).
Of course, you can run this script from the console, just to check it.
If you find some improvement, let me know!

#! /bin/sh
PROG=synclient
echo edges
$PROG LeftEdge=1750
$PROG RightEdge=5178
$PROG TopEdge=1621
$PROG BottomEdge=5000
echo Finger Press
$PROG FingerLow=24
$PROG FingerHigh=29
$PROG FingerPress=255
echo taps time
$PROG MaxTapTime=180
$PROG MaxTapMove=220
$PROG MaxDoubleTapTime=180
$PROG SingleTapTimeout=180
$PROG ClickTime=100
$PROG FastTaps=1
echo emulate
$PROG EmulateMidButtonTime=75
$PROG EmulateTwoFingerMinZ=280
$PROG EmulateTwoFingerMinW=7
echo scrolling
$PROG VertScrollDelta=100
$PROG HorizScrollDelta=0
$PROG VertEdgeScroll=1
$PROG HorizEdgeScroll=1
$PROG CornerCoasting=0
$PROG VertTwoFingerScroll=0
$PROG HorizTwoFingerScroll=0
echo Pointer speed
$PROG MinSpeed=0.1
$PROG MaxSpeed=1
$PROG AccelFactor=1
$PROG TrackstickSpeed=0
$PROG EdgeMotionMinZ=29
$PROG EdgeMotionMaxZ=159
$PROG EdgeMotionMinSpeed=1
$PROG EdgeMotionMaxSpeed=401
$PROG EdgeMotionUseAlways=0
echo scrolling flags
$PROG UpDownScrolling=1
$PROG LeftRightScrolling=1
$PROG UpDownScrollRepeat=1
$PROG LeftRightScrollRepeat=1
$PROG ScrollButtonRepeat=100
echo Touchpad Mouse one/off
$PROG TouchpadOff=0
$PROG GuestMouseOff=0
echo dragging
$PROG LockedDrags=0
$PROG LockedDragTimeout=5000
echo corners
$PROG RTCornerButton=2
$PROG RBCornerButton=3
$PROG LTCornerButton=0
$PROG LBCornerButton=0
echo tap
$PROG TapButton1=1
$PROG TapButton2=2
$PROG TapButton3=3
echo click
$PROG ClickFinger1=1
$PROG ClickFinger2=3
$PROG ClickFinger3=2
echo Circular
$PROG CircularScrolling=0
$PROG CircScrollDelta=0.1
$PROG CircScrollTrigger=0
$PROG CircularPad=0
echo Palm
$PROG PalmDetect=0
$PROG PalmMinWidth=10
$PROG PalmMinZ=199
$PROG CoastingSpeed=0
echo Grab
$PROG GrabEventDevice=1
$PROG TapAndDragGesture=1
echo Area
$PROG AreaLeftEdge=0
$PROG AreaRightEdge=0
$PROG AreaTopEdge=0
$PROG AreaBottomEdge=0
echo Jumpy
$PROG JumpyCursorThreshold=60


Solving the erratic pointer of the touchpad Pavilion dm4-1160

I experimented another solution that makes the Touchpad of the HP Pavilion dm4-1160 less erratic. It uses the program synclient (in command line) to modify on the fly the parameters of the synaptics driver.

In the console, type this command:
synclient MinSpeed=0.1 MaxSpeed=1 AccelFactor=1 JumpyCursorThreshold=60

You can type sysclient -l to check the parameters in use.

The parameter to calm down the pointer is JumpyCursorThreshold=x; lower is the value x and more lazy the touchpad will be! I found the good value is around 50 and 100. You can enter the new value with synclient and immediatly check the result.

This solution is not perfect, for instance, it's not possible to click with one finger and to move the second finder to resize a window. The other problem is synclient doesn't save the parameters. So, you will have to redo it at the next boot. I will explain how to modify the configuration file.

Ubuntu 10.10 on HP Pavilion dm4-1160 - erratic pointer solved

Finally, I solved the erratic pointer with these parameters added at the end of the line of parameters passed to the kernel: i8042.nomux=1 et i8042.reset=1

From the Ubuntu 10.10 livecd, when the cd starts booting, press F1 to display the menu and F6 Other Options, press esc to remove the options box, and at the end of the line, add the options above:

Boot Options: file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash-- i8042.nomux=1 i8042.reset=1

synclient MinSpeed=0.1
synclient MaxSpeed=1
synclient AccelFactor=1
synclient JumpyCursorThreshold=60
r

I discovered the solution below doesn't work, but I found an alternative solution with synclient (it will be described in my next post)

If Ubuntu is already installed, edit the menu /boot/grub/menu.lst and add the options i8042.nomux=1 i8042.reset=1 at the end of the line kernel /boot/vmlinuz ... quiet splash !!!Doesn't correct the problem

Ubuntu 10.10 problems on HP Pavilion dm4-1160

I just received today my little 14'' notebook HP pavilion dm4-1160. $700 after rebate for an Intel i5 - M450 at 2.4GHz, 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB at 7200 rpm; it's a good deal regarding the performances. The only regret is the chip Intel HD Graphic and the screen resolution 1366x768 pixels.

Of course, Windows 7 Home edition 64bits is preinstalled and it's not possible to refuse it (just to get an extra discount). To finish with M$, the DVD of the OS is not provided. The Microsoft totalitarianism...

Anyway, I decided to try the new Ubuntu 10.10 in Live CD; I changed the boot sequence to boot first on the DVD rom, I placed my CD with Ubuntu 10.10 and turned on the computer. The CD started to boot, the first line indicating the kernel version appeared briefly (isolinux 4.01....) and nothing else! The screen returned to black while the DVD drive worked.

I tried Ubuntu 10.10 64bits and 32bits, Ubuntu 10.04 32bits, all of them loaded without any success and then I dicovered the backlight was turned off automatically during the initialization. The solution is to press the key 'f3' when the screen turns black to switch on the backlight, and then Ubuntu 10.10 works almost perfectly. The wireless is painless. The only problem is the touchpad which is erratic when 2 fingers are on the pad. The solution is to keep just one finger. The touchpad freezes sometimes for a while and restarts. The best solution is to use an external mouse connected to the usb port.

Funny thing: I discovered that in accessibility mode, the touchpad works almost correctly!

I tried Fedora 11, the graphic card worked correctly and the backlight did not turn off. I had a big problem with the touchpad too, so I plugged a simple mouse on the usb port and then almost everything worked perfectly. In fact, the main problem is the wireless connection. Fedora 11 is pretty old; I will try Fedora 13 the next week and I will post my results. Check my post of Nov. 5, I tested Fedora 14 Livecd.