Pairing a logitech touchpad to a Logitech Unifying Receiver does not make it act as a pointing device

Question

I have been using a standalone Logitech touchpad with my Ubuntu desktop, and trying to pair another one to my backup desktop I learn that both of the Logitech touchpads will not function as a pointing device after being paired, at present time on my Ubuntu 20.04 machines. Not even on the desktop machine where it worked till I unpaired them to narrow down the problem. They are just not acting as pointing devices anymore after pairing/re-pairing them.

I am using Solaar for the pairing.

Here's my solaar output when both touchpads have been re-paired:

$ solaar show
Unifying Receiver
  Device path  : /dev/hidraw1
  USB id       : 046d:c52b
  Serial       : 08C4950C
    Firmware   : 12.10.B0032
    Bootloader : 02.14
    Other      : AA.AA
  Has 2 paired device(s) out of a maximum of 6.
  Notifications: wireless (0x000100)
  Device activity counters: 2=17

  1: Wireless Touchpad
     Codename     : Wireless Touch
     Kind         : touchpad
     Wireless PID : 4011
     Protocol     : HID++ 2.0
     Polling rate : 8 ms (125Hz)
     Serial number: DCBF0037
     The power switch is located on the base.
     Battery: unknown (device is offline).

  2: Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650
     Codename     : T650
     Kind         : touchpad
     Wireless PID : 4101
     Protocol     : HID++ 2.0
     Polling rate : 8 ms (125Hz)
     Serial number: E6CBD4AB
     The power switch is located on the base.
     Battery: unknown (device is offline).

This output is after it has been supposedly paired, as one can see from the "Unpair" button on the solaar GUI:

$ solaar --version
solaar 1.0.1

To reiterate, these are touchpads I had successfully acting as pointing devices until un-pairing and re-pairing today.

I got one unifying receiver dongle per each of those touchpads, so I tested all combinations and the problem is the same when trying each of the two unifying receiver dongles. The problem seems consistent across the two touchpad models (one being a T650 the other a built older to recognize now), two logitech unifying receivers and two Ubuntu 20.04 machines.

How would you approach fixing it up so that they actually work as pointing devices after pairing them?

(I'm using X11 and Gnome Shell as the windowing system, on Ubuntu 20.04 with its latest updates installed, in case it matters).

What version Solaar? Do you have Windows? Is the `solaar show` output when the Logi T650 is connected? It doesn't look right. Is the firmware in the T650 up to date? — heynnema, Mar 14 '22 at 20:47
I do not own a copy of Windows, and don't know whether the firmware (of the T650) is the most current one, I have probably never updated the firmware of neither of the touchpads given that updating the firmware may only be available on a Windows machine. I updated the question to include the missing info, sorry about that. — matanster, Mar 14 '22 at 21:19
Please see my answer. If it's helpful, please remember to accept it by clicking on the checkmark icon that appears just to the left of my answer. Thanks! — heynnema, Mar 14 '22 at 21:30

heynnema · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-14T22:29:21.700

Your version of Solaar is antique. You have 1.0.1 and the latest is 1.1.1.

Update this way...

The easy way to install/maintain/upgrade Solaar is to use a PPA.

Add the repository...

See https://launchpad.net/~solaar-unifying/+archive/ubuntu/stable

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:solaar-unifying/stable
sudo apt-get update

Install Solaar...

sudo apt install solaar

Note: If you already have it installed, Software Updater can be used to upgrade it.

If you don't wish to see the popup window at startup...

See https://pwr-solaar.github.io/Solaar/

Solaar’s GUI can be started in several ways

--window=show (the default) starts with its main window visible,
--window=hide starts with its main window hidden,
--window=only does not use the system tray, and starts with main window visible.

For more information on Solaar’s command-line interface use the help option...

solaar --help

Extra credit

Touchégg is an app that runs in the background and transform the gestures you make on your touchpad or touchscreen into visible actions in your desktop.

See touchegg at https://github.com/JoseExposito/touchegg

Enable GNOME Shell multi-touch gestures on X11 with this extension.

See X11 Gestures at https://github.com/JoseExposito/gnome-shell-extension-x11gestures

The desktop application to configure Touchégg

See touche at https://github.com/JoseExposito/touche

Note: This requires X11, and won't work in Wayland.

Update #1:

firmware updates

Some starter info...

You might try upgrading the firmware in the Logitech unifying dongles. See https://community.logitech.com/s/question/0D531000055gw8YCAQ/logitech-response-to-unifying-receiver-research-findings for instructions and the firmware.

You might also check the USB settings in your BIOS. They may need to be set to USB 2.0, or legacy.

Lastly, you might have to plug the dongle directly into your computer's USB port, instead of a hub (if you're using one).

Update: https://community.logitech.com/s/question/0D531000058b3B7CAI/logitech-response-to-research-findings

Update: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/update-your-logitech-wireless-dongle-right-now.htm https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360032078393-Logitech-Response-to-Research-Findings

Update: https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360033207154-Logitech-Unifying-Receiver-Update https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035037273

Thank you. This is super helpful. I still get the same outcome though even one restart later. They get paired as per solaar, but the desktop ignores them altogether (clicking and touching them has no effect at all). I should probably troubleshoot this [at a different level than that of solaar](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingTouchpadDetection) now. (I'll sure try Touchégg after the devices seem to be actually working at the basic pointer device level). — matanster, Mar 14 '22 at 21:53
E.g. I don't think I'm seeing anything about the touchpads in the `xinput --list` output nor with `cat /proc/bus/input/devices` — matanster, Mar 14 '22 at 21:58
@matanster Do you have `xserver-xorg-input-all` and `xserver-xorg-input-libinput` installed? Do `dpkg -l *xorg* | grep ii` to check. — heynnema, Mar 14 '22 at 22:00
Yes, I do (versions 1:7.7+19ubuntu14 and 0.29.0-1 respectively). Maybe the devices are rejected because Solaar says that the wireless link is not encrypted. — matanster, Mar 14 '22 at 22:04
@matanster Ah! There you go. You need to update the firmware in your USB dongles... and probably the touchpads too. — heynnema, Mar 14 '22 at 22:05
Through a [Windows/Mac machine I assume](https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035037273) (just for the record, the pairing per-se is _not_ rejected and the battery levels are shown in Solaar despite the encryption status warning). — matanster, Mar 14 '22 at 22:07
@matanster See Update #1 in my answer for firmware info. Also, try booting to a Ubuntu Live USB 21.10 and see if the T650 works. — heynnema, Mar 14 '22 at 22:10
Upgrading Solaar and then switching from USB hubs to the computer's USB port solved it (without upgrading the dongle/device firmware). And thereafter, it works even when moving the dongle back from the computer's USB port to the USB hub! — matanster, Mar 14 '22 at 22:32

Pairing a logitech touchpad to a Logitech Unifying Receiver does not make it act as a pointing device

1 Answers1