I'm running Fedora natively on a new Acer Aspire AG15-71P with KDE Plasma and kernel 7.2.7-200.fc44.x86_64. The touchpad appears in libinput as an I2C device at /dev/input/event4, but moving a finger across it produces no input events at all. The touchpad is enabled in KDE's settings, and no external mouse is connected. I also booted two older kernels and tried every Fn and function-key combination, but nothing restored it. There is no obvious touchpad icon on the function keys, and the UEFI settings do not include a touchpad option. What else should I check to determine whether this is a software configuration issue or a firmware or hardware problem?
2 Answers
Check whether KDE is configured to disable the touchpad when a mouse is connected. That setting can sometimes cause confusion, although in this case it sounds less likely because no mouse is plugged in. Confirm that the touchpad is enabled in the desktop settings and that the disable-when-mouse-is-connected option is off.
Since libinput detects the device but it produces no events, the problem may be below the desktop environment rather than a KDE setting. Check the laptop’s firmware documentation for a touchpad lock key or hidden function-key combination, and verify the relevant UEFI settings. If the firmware has no touchpad controls and older kernels behave the same way, testing a current live Linux environment or the manufacturer’s operating system can help distinguish a Linux issue from a hardware or firmware fault.
I checked UEFI and there is no touchpad option there. I also tried all the function keys with and without Fn, but none of them enabled it.