Intermittant USB Mouse Availability?

[Dan]

First bug report...sorry! 

The bug: This happened on both the live discs for 32bit and 64bit. When I first moved the mouse, there was no action. I looked at the mouse, and the light wasn't on. I clicked the mouse button, and it started working. After letting it sit idle for about 5-10 seconds, it would go dead again. I'd have to click the mouse to get it working again. This happened during the entire time that I tried out both distros. As long as the mouse was active, it would work fine...but let it sit idle a few moments, and it goes dead.

Luckily, I had an old PS2 mouse that I could use on my old computer, and it worked fine without a problem. 

My laptop though...at least the touchpad worked. 

I went ahead and installed the 64bit onto a USB hoping an update might fix it...no luck there. So I just tried to see if I could figure out the problem...no luck there either. I found several web links describing similar problems, but nothing I tried worked...so...I'm at a loss.

I can't remember the brand of mouse I had on the old computer, but I use a Logitech on this laptop. I did see a package in Synaptic for Logitech, but its description didn't sound as though it would be of benefit, so I haven't installed it.

[Dan]

Both machines are AMD...perhaps this is part of the problems that I've heard about Ubuntu 16.04 not working well with AMD?

[billwho]

intel 32-bit cpu desktop

Same problem with usb mouse on lxde r10
on start no light and no mouse tracking
click mouse button will activate mouse

The mouse works without problem lxde f9 same machine

[biffster]

Thanks for the report guys. Its not likely a bug. Its a power saving thing typically with USB devices - HID devices can be "blacklisted" from autosuspending thus keeping the mouse from stopping working when inactive... I have had the same problem with several laptops. There is a setting you can change to prevent the system from turning off your USB ports you specifiy, or HID devices in general.... I will find my notes on it, as I spent the better part of one day in an airport investigating the problem when it drove me crazy and was able to solve.

Thanks, I will try to post instructions Friday (tomorrow) - I am on Pacific Time.

tks,
biff

[teejay]

Perhaps it's related to the usb-autosuspend feature of "laptop tools", in essence a power-saving feature.
You could find usb_autosuspend.conf (or something similar) and toggle that feature to off. 

If you want to retain power-saving generally, but address the usb mouse issue, then try this :
  http://www.hecticgeek.com/2012/06/fix-usb-mouse-not-working-laptop-mode-tools-ubuntu/ 
It's a vintage solution, so there's a chance the relevant config file has changed.  For example, in 
 http://askubuntu.com/questions/80638/how-to-disable-auto-power-off-of-usb-devices-like-usb-mouse   
one user noted "At least in Ubuntu 15.04, this file has been moved to runtime-pm.conf and the line to add the id to is now called AUTOSUSPEND_RUNTIME_DEVID_BLACKLIST="". Strangely, I couldn't get my blacklist to work so I just disabled this module by setting CONTROL_RUNTIME_AUTOSUSPEND=0. "

Or you could keep your hands clean and wait for Biff's notes    

For those new to wattOS, in earlier releases some issues on laptops were found to "magically" disappear when laptop-tools was installed, and not solely power issues IIRC.   So IMO electing to uninstall laptop-tools would represent a risky option.   

[biffster]

See the stickied post on this topic.

[Dan]

Thank you biff. I looked through the laptop tools before I posted the original opening to the thread. However, I neglected to hover the pointer over the items in order to get the description for each item. Sorry to have caused you trouble.

I left the USB (that I installed R10 on) at work, so it'll be later before I'm able to try the fix.

Thanks again.

[biffster]

Thanks Dan, never any trouble reporting a bug or issue. Helps everyone to fix problems

[billwho]

Older Dell wired usb mouse
UN-check the "Enable Module runtime-pm" FIXED the problem.
Thank you.
Is "Laptop Mode Tools Configuration" new to R10?
LXDE R9 did not have the mouse problem.