I just installed Mandriva 2009.1 on my Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T and am using KDE 4.
For some reason the mouse is not working properly. For example if I click on the star for the start menu it won't open up. It changes color when I hover over it but just does nothing when I click on it. A few other things work odd. If I load OpenOffice Calc and put my mouse over the cells on the spreadsheet they start scrolling from left to right and don't start even though I'm not pressing anything on the mouse of keyboard.
I don't even know if this is a KDE 4 issue because at bootup if I go over the icon where I choose desktop I also have issues getting that to open.
I tried Mandriva sometime back and thought it was a Mandriva issue but since then have tried Ubuntu using Gnome of course and OpenSUSE with KDE. Both of them had very similar issues.
I am convinced it has to be something to do with my hardware. I'm using the latest 1.10 BIOS but the 3810T has a built in multi-touch trackpad plus I am using a Logitech Trackball.
I have booted without the trackball plugged in and have the same issue. I have also booted with it plugged in and using the button on the keyboard have turned off the trackpad and still have the same problem.
I can't figure out what's going on. I got so desperate I installed Windows XP and didn't have any of these issues but also I am not able to get XP drivers for all hardware so would have to go to Vista or the upcoming Windows 7. I have done everything to get away from Windows. Unfortunately I need this computer for some upcoming projects at work so if I don't get Linux working on it will have to go back to windows.
I am wondering if it could be some type of issue with the kernel or maybe is something to do with KDE 4.2 that the next version of Mandriva or another distro with newer kernels or KDE 4.3 could fix. In a worse case I could use Windows for now and switch back to Linux in Nov. or whenever Mandriva 2010 comes out.
I am a relative newbie to Linux but have used Mandriva and Ubuntu on desktops and netbooks and never had any problems. Any idea of what is causing this? Thank you for your time.