XP-Pen Tablet issues - Pen cannot move cursor anymore

General system Kernel, boot, graphics & hardware
1

Hello all, posting here out of pure desperation. I hope I’m using the right tag.

Does anybody else here use the XP-Pen Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2) and have the issue that the pen will update the mouse position to the nib’s placement, but moving the pen doesn’t do anything afterwards? Mouse mode is off.

This started at like 1am today/yesterday (22 hours ago as of writing this). We have been trying to fix it all day. There is no error message anywhere. The driver package is xp-pen-tablet on the AUR.

We have tried:
Reinstalling the drivers (including cleanbuild)
Using the legacy drivers (xppenLinux-v3)
rebuilding my kernel with yay
using a different DE (I usually am on KDE, we tried MATE)
using a different compositor on KDE (I usually use X11, we tried Wayland)
a gajillion reboots
Removing the driver as a whole

None of these have changed anything, the cursor updates to where I set the pen down, but then moving the pen won’t do anything else.

I have ruled out it is a hardware issue, I plugged it into my debian computer I use to run a minecraft server this morning, installed the drivers and krita, and boom, works. So it can’t be the tablet or the pen hardware, since they work fine on another computer.

It is also not krita, my art program, because it also does this on the desktop or on other applications, though here it’s just with the eraser side of the pen.

Genuinely if you have any more suggestions or if you are also experiencing this, anything, please hit me with it. I am at my wits’ end and completely out of ideas. I have nothing to go on anymore. It worked completely fine before now. I don’t even really remember what could’ve triggered it, I know I noticed it while updating last night, but I don’t know if the issue started before or after. It may have started after updating my kernel last night but I genuinely do not know.

Please hit me with whatever ideas you have, I genuinely have no idea what to do and I just want to draw. Thanks in advance

ETA: added more details

2
  • Try another kernel. If you’re using the current (latest) kernel, try the LTS. If you were already using LTS, try the current kernel then.
  • If you have neither installed, install the LTS, update fully, and reboot into it.
  • If you have some specific reason to use some specific kernel, still install another to use it for now, and wait for an update to the one you were using before.
  • If you don’t want to use another kernel for whatever reason, you can temporarily downgrade the one you have installed, but this is not recommended.
  • Lastly, report it to upstream for faster fixes.
1 Like
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Hi, thanks for the reply! You probably got mail of my old reply, but yeah, I spoke to soon. I switched to the LTS, it seemed like it was solved at first, because it was working fine on my desktop, brush and eraser side, but then I opened krita and an art file, tried to use the eraser side and nope, same problem. The front tip still works, for now, who knows when it’ll start bugging, but now I genuinely don’t understand anymore.

I thought it was KDE adding its own support conflicting, but it isn’t apparently since the option to configure drawing tablets isn’t present in the system settings here. I could try downgrading to another LTS, but ugh.

How would I report this to upstream comprehensively? I really don’t know what’s causing it now, it works fine on up-to-date debian, which is miles behind arch of course but that means the hardware can’t be broken. I also don’t know technical terms or anything…

I don’t wanna leave EOS, especially because I don’t wanna go through the hell of finding another nvidia-compatible distro, but if I can’t draw… I’m frustrated lol

5

Let’s address this first: There’s no need to have any loyalty to any one specific distro.
This isn’t Apple or Microsoft. Use what works for YOU based on YOUR needs.

KDE will probably be back to its best in another year or two of updates and enhancements, but for now, things will break because lots of changes are being made. This is not the case on a static release distro like Debian/Debian-based.

Example: https://www.davidrevoy.com/article1030/debian-12-kde-plasma-2024-install-guide

For me, I use Archcraft with Openbox as my daily driver and MX Linux with KDE.
In other words, I use an environment that won’t break even on a rolling release and the best DE known to man on a static release.

As far as reports are concerned, don’t worry so much about doing it the “proper way” that you don’t do it at all. Worrying solves nothing.

That said, here’s some info: https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Issue_Reporting

1 Like
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It’s less about loyalty and more that I just hate moving. Backing up files, hunting down every last program I had, figuring out what the graphical installer wants from me, reorganising my files on the new distro, redownloading everything, hunting down my customisations, figuring out the new system language, change as a whole… it’s just usually more stress than it’s worth. Even worse because I use a Nvidia GPU so my options are limited. I think the only other distro I could have luck with is Fedora, but I’ve never used anything red hat before and don’t know anybody who does, so even more stress.

I’d LOOVE to go back to debian, I was on debian-based distros for ages and started out on this computer with debian, but it just does not work with nvidia and will crash and burn randomly, which is waaay worse than whatever arch is doing to me right now. Even if Nvidia and the debian devs say it works now, the last few experiences were so bad I don’t think I’ll be trusting that for another year lol

Thinking back I don’t think it’s KDE. It made sense in my last reply because I forgot I’d tested MATE and had the same issue. Ugghh I don’t know what’s going on or why it doesn’t work anymore, if the kernel, hardware, driver, DE and compositor aren’t the problem, what on earth is left…

I don’t even know if KDE can do anything with the bug report if it’s not the problem, I’ll post one anyway just in case.

Sorry for this ramble, I’m super frustrated and lost because at least when nvidia does weird things I know it’s nvidia

7

I understand the ramble. It’s fine.

As far as hardware/drivers are concerned, what’s the output of:

inxi -Fxxc0z

Maybe it’s your BIOS firmware that isn’t compatible with the drivers/kernel.

1 Like
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Oh my BIOS is ancient. I’m terrified of bricking my motherboard so I have not once updated it. Somebody else noticed this on here a while ago and said I was 18 updates or so behind, it’ll probably be like 20 or so by now since that was months ago.

Output of inxi -Fxxc0z:

System:
  Kernel: 6.6.72-1-lts arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.2.5 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM
    Distro: EndeavourOS base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU UEFI: American Megatrends v: 0812
    date: 02/24/2023
CPU:
  Info: 16-core (8-mt/8-st) model: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700KF bits: 64
    type: MST AMCP arch: Raptor Lake rev: 1 cache: L1: 1.4 MiB L2: 24 MiB
    L3: 30 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1100 min/max: 800/5300:5400:4200 cores: 1: 1100 2: 1100
    3: 1100 4: 1100 5: 1100 6: 1100 7: 1100 8: 1100 9: 1100 10: 1100 11: 1100
    12: 1100 13: 1100 14: 1100 15: 1100 16: 1100 17: 1100 18: 1100 19: 1100
    20: 1100 21: 1100 22: 1100 23: 1100 24: 1100 bogomips: 164088
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA AD104 [GeForce RTX 4070 Ti] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia
    v: 565.77 arch: Lovelace pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none
    off: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2 empty: DP-2,DP-3 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:2782
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.4
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2280 s-dpi: 91
  Monitor-1: DP-1 mapped: DP-0 note: disabled pos: primary,top-right
    model: AOC 24G2W1G3- res: N/A dpi: 93 diag: 604mm (23.8")
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-0 note: disabled pos: top-left
    model: VY249 res: N/A dpi: 93 diag: 604mm (23.8")
  Monitor-3: HDMI-A-2 mapped: HDMI-1 note: disabled pos: bottom-r
    model: MD140FH res: 1920x1200 hz: 60 dpi: 82 diag: 611mm (24")
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia gbm: drv: nvidia
    surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 565.77 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.303 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    driver: N/A device-ID: 10de:2782
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:7a50
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD104 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:22bc
  API: ALSA v: k6.6.72-1-lts status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-S PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:7a70
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I226-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igc v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:125c
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX211 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-14:11 chip-ID: 8087:0033
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.3
    lmp-v: 12
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller Intel
    driver: vmd v: 0.6 bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:a77f
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 9.55 TiB used: 2.03 TiB (21.3%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB
    speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 38.9 C
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: Expansion SSD size: 465.76 GiB
    type: USB rev: 3.2 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 serial: <filter>
  ID-3: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD80EDAZ-11CEWB0
    size: 7.28 TiB type: USB rev: 3.1 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.79 TiB used: 534.02 GiB (29.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 977 MiB used: 24 MiB (2.5%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 52 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Info:
  Memory: total: 64 GiB available: 62.61 GiB used: 8.15 GiB (13.0%)
  Processes: 510 Power: uptime: 1h 51m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1552 Compilers: clang: 19.1.7 gcc: 14.2.1
    Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.37
9

Well, until you update your BIOS firmware, we will never truly know if this issue is as a result of not being fully up-to-date or something related to your DE or Nvidia.

Simple advice: Back up externally before attempting a BIOS update. No, not to a separate partition. Back up to an external device or the cloud.

Firmware is basically software that lets the kernel and/or software communicate with and access your hardware. They also help with general security. They are essential.

1 Like
10

I’m honestly more worried about the financial aspect. I don’t really have the option to buy a new mobo if I end up bricking this one. File backup is natural, ofc, but I’m a bit screwed if I don’t have this PC functional.

I know I’m kind of backed into a corner here, I’d like to not do it unless I’m dead certain this will fix it, but what other thing is there to try? It’s not like I have any other options, besides maybe “Denial”.

I might even be blowing my fear of BIOS updates out of proportion entirely. my dad does software professionally and has never updated the BIOS on his motherboard because he doesn’t want to risk bricking it. He is in his mid 50s. This is where my fear stems from, and I don’t know if it’s accurate or if we’re both being silly lol.

Do you have a guide handy on how to figure out go about to do this?

Also I wanna like. Genuinely thank you for the patience and kindness about this, I know I’m probably frustrating and being silly about this

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You’re welcome, and it’s all good.

Yes, it is silly. But it is not entirely irrational. :sweat_smile:
A BIOS update can indeed brick your system, but if you are unable to use other hardware that you find essential due to an outdated BIOS, then, you know… :person_shrugging:

Also, no, there is no guarantee that it will fix this issue. You may get an update tomorrow, and all of a sudden everything is fine and dandy. Or you may install another distro and things just work as expected.

All my suggestions are speculations until you rule out them out one-by-one.

Ultimately, you decide how you go about it.

For updating your BIOS, you can follow the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux

You could also use Windows to update it if you have that installed. Or another distro, like a Debian-based one which probably updates your BIOS for you in a system update.

And yes, it shows the warning, but all the above still applies.