You said: ^@ was constantly being printed withou pressing any key, this suggests driver problem.
lsmod | grep wmi
If peaq_wmi is present do with sudo:
modprobe -rv peaq_wmi
If it works properly become permanent by adding to blacklist:
nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist peaq_wmi
I had symptoms similar to yours regarding keys but not touchpad.
The solution I found was from Fixing Keyboard repeat problems in Kernel 4.13. Check it out to find a more comprehensive guide and explanations.
Writing showkeys
in a terminal showed that keycode 213 was being pressed and unpressed about once every second, explaining why keys held were being interrupted.
This is caused by the PEAQ WMI hotkeys
module, that I see you have running too.
So to fix the keyboard
I typed in a terminal
sudo rmmod peaq_wmi
and verified that this fixed my problem temporarily. To keep the setting after the computer is restarted, I typed
gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
and added the following to the file
#spams ^@
blacklist peaq_wmi
(Note: I do not know if this module was important to the functioning of my computer in any way. I will personally make a note that if something on my pc doesn't work I can try to re-enable it. I'll also check in a month or two to see if I can re-enable it because an update has fixed the issue.)
To fix the touchpad
according to the post you can try similarly
sudo rmmod psmouse
sudo modprobe psmouse
and if this fixes the problem until next time you restard, you can do
gedit /etc/rc.local
and add these lines
/sbin/rmmod psmouse
/sbin/modprobe psmouse
Best Answer
Many have reported problems with Kernel 4.13.0-26
Around January 11, 2018 many Ubuntu users began reporting problems with Kernel 4.13.0-26 automatic update:
These are issues reported over the last few days. Not all of these issues have been verified as caused by Kernel 4.13.0-26.
January 27, 2018 Update: Check your Intel Microcode
The Intel Microcode Update 2018-01-08 to address speculative execution branching security holes broke some systems. This effected many Ubuntu systems from January 8th to January 21st. On January 22, 2018 Ubuntu released an update that puts back older Microcode from 2017-07-07.
If you experienced problems with updates, reinstalled Ubuntu and turned off updates between 2018-01-08 and 2018-01-22 you may want to try Ubuntu automatic updates again. Check the link in the preceding paragraph for more information.
How to find out your kernel version
Open a terminal using Ctrl+Alt+T. Then type:
Since the terminal is open already, get your Ubuntu release using:
To close the terminal use:
Easiest solution boot with older Kernel
When you boot your computer at the Grub menu select Advanced Options then select an older kernel to see if you problems go away. If so keep regularly updating to newer kernels as they are offered in Ubuntu LTS and check them until one works. Make sure you don't run
sudo apt auto-remove
which could make your working older kernel disappear.Fixing Keyboard repeat problems in Kernel 4.13
With the introduction of Kernel 4.13.0-26 Ubuntu LTS update around January 11, 2018 and old bug from September 2017 resurfaced. The developer recommended trying Kernel 4.14 (described in the next session) but a quicker fix seems to be disabling PEAQ WMI Hotkeys.
Verify PEAQ WMI Hotkeys is loaded
As discussed in Unix & Linux the first step is to ensure it is loaded:
Note the last line above
If you have it loaded you can disable it with an
xinput
command but we'll use the work around suggestion in the bug report above:Disable PEAQ WMI Hotkeys for current session
Disable PEAQ WMI Hotkeys Permenantly
Using your favourite sudo editor, edit
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
. At the end of the file insert two lines:Save the file and exit.
Fixing Synaptics Touchpad in Kernel 4.13
Temporary Fix
According to this Debian Bug Report a short term fix is to use:
Try this in the terminal and then test your Touchpad.
Permanent Fix
If the temporary fix works then edit the file
/etc/rc.local
with sudo powers. Add the following lines:From now on when you reboot the fix will be permanent.
Note this hasn't been tested yet when resuming from suspend. If you have any problems in that department post a comment below.
Install newest mainline / stable kernel 4.14.xx
It's been confirmed that 4.14.13 improves Touchpad and Keyboard for users of Kernel 4.13.0-26. However as of January 20, 2018 4.14.14 is now the newest kernel and it includes Spectre support but runs 2% slower.
January 23, 2018 - Kernel 4.14.15 released. January 31, 2018 - Kernel 4.14.16 released.
In the bug report above a developer recommends trying the most current mainline (stable) kernel. In some cases an OP wants to go to a higher kernel number rather than a lower one. This section focuses on how to move up to the latest mainline (stable) kernel.
There are instances going back to August 2017 where the touchpad didn't work that is unrelated to Kernel 4.13.0-26 automatic Ubuntu LTS upgrade but one of the answers still require Kernel 4.14 anyway: Touchpad not detected on Lenovo Ideapad 320 with Kubuntu 17.04.
On January 10, 2018 the latest stable mainline kernel was
4.14.13
. If you choose to manually install it you should know:sudo apt auto-remove
command. You need to follow this: How do I remove old kernel versions to clean up the boot menu?sudo update-grub
and then Ubuntu's latest LTS kernel will be the first option called Ubuntu on Grub's main menu.Now that the warning are out of the way, to install the latest mainline kernel (4.14.13) follow this link: How to update kernel to the latest mainline version without any Distro-upgrade?
Periodically watch the LTS kernel updates you missed
If you have updated to the latest kernel it's important to see the older kernels you've missed using this command:
When you see a newer supported kernel offered by Ubuntu Kernel Team you should install it and test it. For example to see what to install for
4.13.0-32
use:Most users won't need all these packages. Usually just
headers
,image
,image-extra
andsigned-image
.