Fingerprint reader stopped working

Ask Fedora
1

The fingerprint reader on my Dell laptop has been working very well
until fprintd update.

Currently I have the following (updated) rpms:

$ rpm -qa | grep -i fprint
fprintd-1.90.9-1.fc33.x86_64
fprintd-pam-1.90.9-1.fc33.x86_64
libfprint-1.90.7-1.fc33.x86_64

After this update the fingerprint reader does not seem to work at all.
And I cannot enroll new fingerprints.
In GNOME, it starts scanning, but aborts ‘Fingerprint device disconnected’
Same problem from command line:

$ sudo fprintd-enroll
Using device /net/reactivated/Fprint/Device/0
Enrolling right-index-finger finger.
Enroll result: enroll-stage-passed
Enroll result: enroll-disconnected

Looking through logs, I see frequent message:

$ journalctl -u fprintd
Mar 20 11:11:32 - fprintd[1519]: Device reported an error during identify:
                  The driver encountered a protocol error with the device.

Since these messages started appearing mid-January 2021
I had a look at the updates history:

$ dnf history list
ID     | Command line              | Date and time    | Action(s)      | Altered
   184 |                           | 2021-01-19 15:15 | I, U           |  151   
$ dnf history info 184 | grep fprint
    Upgrade  fprintd-1.90.9-1.fc33.x86_64                         @updates
    Upgrade  fprintd-pam-1.90.9-1.fc33.x86_64                     @updates
    Upgrade  libfprint-1.90.7-1.fc33.x86_64                       @updates
    Upgraded fprintd-1.90.8-1.fc33.x86_64                         @@System
    Upgraded fprintd-pam-1.90.8-1.fc33.x86_64                     @@System
    Upgraded libfprint-1.90.6-1.fc33.x86_64                       @@System

I have attempted to downgrade fprintd to earlier available version:

$ sudo dnf --showduplicates list *fprint*
fprintd.x86_64                          1.90.1-2.fc33                   fedora  
fprintd-pam.x86_64                      1.90.1-2.fc33                   fedora  
libfprint.x86_64                        1.90.3-1.fc33                   fedora  

$ sudo yum downgrade *fprint*
Downgraded:
  fprintd-1.90.1-2.fc33.x86_64
  fprintd-pam-1.90.1-2.fc33.x86_64       
  libfprint-1.90.3-1.fc33.x86_64

However this downgrade did not make any difference, it still does not work?

Some details of my system:
Dell Inspiron 7380 Laptop UEFI/GPT triple boot:
— Windows 10 Version 20H2 build 19042.804
— Fedora 33 Kernel: 5.11.7-200.fc33.x86_64 GNOME 3.38.4
— CentOS 8 Kernel: 4.18.0-240.15.1.el8_3.x86_64 GNOME 3.32.2

The details of my fingerprint device are as follows:

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f3:0c01 Elan Microelectronics Corp.

Looking at lifprint — Supported Devices
— USB_ID: 04f3:0c01
— Driver: ElanTech Fingerprint Sensor

I would appreciate any advice on how to diagnose this problem further.

2

Try to boot in a 5.10 kernel to see if there it works.

3

As suggested, booted into previous kernel 5.10.23-200.fc33.x86_64
Trying to enroll fingerprints, and checking journalctl messages.

From command line:

$ sudo fprintd-enroll
Using device /net/reactivated/Fprint/Device/0
Enrolling right-index-finger finger.
Enroll result: enroll-stage-passed
Enroll result: enroll-disconnected
$ journalctl -u fprintd | tail -100
Mar 23 13:39:46 - systemd[1]: Starting Fingerprint Authentication Daemon...
Mar 23 13:39:46 - systemd[1]: Started Fingerprint Authentication Daemon.
Mar 23 13:39:54 - fprintd[3563]: Device reported an error during enroll: The driver encountered a protocol error with the device.

From GNOME:
starts scanning, but aborts ‘Fingerprint device disconnected’

$ journalctl -u fprintd | tail -100
Mar 23 13:45:57 - systemd[1]: Starting Fingerprint Authentication Daemon...
Mar 23 13:45:57 - systemd[1]: Started Fingerprint Authentication Daemon.
Mar 23 13:47:00 - fprintd[3785]: Device reported an error during enroll: The driver encountered a protocol error with the device.

So it does not appear to be the latest kernel problem…

4

Did you get a resolution to this problem?

5

My understanding is it had nothing to do with fprintd updates.
The problem was that I had triple boot laptop, in which case
the fingerprint data is deleted when you switch OS.
Apparently it is a (very annoying) security mechanism…
So you have to decide which OS could use fingerprint
and disable it in the other OSs.

6

Thanks. I’m having a different issue I guess. :grimacing: