Troubleshooting Steps on How to Fix Laptop Touchpad Not Working Problem

onli7832 answers:

You’re very perceptive. Yes, Windows 8 has touch gestures and you’re hitting the one that pulls up the most recently used app. It’s triggered when you swipe from the left edge of the trackpad to the center and it can be disabled.

Win + I to open the Settings charm > Change PC settings > General > Turn off “When I swipe in from the left edge, switch directly to my most recent app.”

- Dominic

onli7832 answers:

Well. My 3 year old laptop with a 1.4 GHz processor can run runescape, AIM and play music all at the same time.

What I would recommend:

If you would like a high power one for the price, I would recommend the Toshiba M305D-S4829 from Circuit City this week. I just purchased it yesterday, and am typing on it right now. It has a ton of power, like seriously. I was playing BF2142 last night with no problems. It costs $699, but It’ll be running strong for a few years before anything begins to become too demanding for it. The sound quality on this laptop is phenominal. It has Harman/Kardon speakers that are Bose quality. It has 4GB of RAM, an ATI Radeon 3100 processor, which is nearly equal to most mid-range dedicated graphics processors. It support 802.11b/g/n networks. It has a standard webcam and all the other features you need lol. The style on this laptop is phenomenal.

If that is slightly out of your price range though, I would say go to Best Buy and pick up the HP DV5-1002NR. It costs $599, but it is nearly as good as the above laptop with only a few exceptions (it is actually better in some areas as well, lol). The touchpad on it has a glossy feel which is fine for cooler weather, but if its humid out or your fingers are the least bit sweaty, it becomes quite difficult to move the pointer. It has a slightly better video processor – the ATI Radeon 3200 (the main difference is that it has a HDMI output). It has a slightly larger screen at 15.4″ WS. Its half a pound heavier, which isn’t really a big deal to me at all. It also runs the 32-bit OS of Vista which will only support 3 GB of RAM, which is fine for nearly everything.

I hope this helps you in your quest! If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me!

onli7832 answers:

Dell Support http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&ST=dell%20support%20center&dgc=ST&cid=245409&lid=4277914&acd=esIgEXP5B,1094869033,901pdb6671 Dell Spare Parts Department (1-877-717-3355) The links below will help you…

Http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&ST=dell%20support%20center&dgc=ST&cid=245409&lid=4277914&acd=esIgEXP5B,1094869033,901pdb6671

http://dell.to/dU0fpw

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/g…

That is a great question, hope I was able to help. Good Luck…

CompTIA A+ Certified Computer Professional

onli7832 answers:

5.0 out of 5 stars First impressions – excellent, October 28, 2009
By value-post (Homer Glen, IL United States)

Pros:
Thin and light
Quite fast without the noise and heat.
Videos and downloads fast and smooth
Little bloatware (office, mcaffee, 2 web links on desktop, dvd program)
Great screen. 11.6″ is nicer than 10.1″ but just as portable.
Speakers quality above average but not great
No problems with win7-64 bit so far
Touchpad feels great and very smooth
Bluetooth works well

Cons:
Speakers were better on a 14″ timeline model I saw at a membership warehouse
Wifi light blinks when transferring data – a minor annoyance
higher price for the blue model where we bought it

Other Thoughts:
We got it as a replacement for a 12″ dell 700m – battery life, portability, size and speed were our criteria. Haven’t had it long enough to evaluate the battery life, but the other criteria were met quite well. Compared to Samsung NC10 (Atom, 1GB XP) which we also have, this one is definitely better performing.

onli7832 answers:

The first one is much better because it has a dual-core cpu, the second one has only a single core cpu.

The dual-core cpu means your computer will be start-up faster, be snappier when you open programs, and can multitask better (i.e no slowdown when having multiple programs open and trying to get another open or switching between programs). Even though it is 100 MHz slower, these 3 main advantages more than make up for it, and the dual-core cpu also has more cache which is high speed memory on the cpu.

The first one also has a better battery life too and a larger capacity hard drive.

The dual-core system makes more sense when you say you’re gaming because the game will run faster on dual-core system than single-core system. Even if the game doesn’t make use of more than one core, the computer always has many background processes running, so the dual-core for gaming will be a great help. Also, with single-core, when you alt-tab out of a game, there is usually a long wait, but this isn’t a problem with the dual-core.

onli7832 answers:

You got weak specs unfortunately, for instance system requirement for Adobe After Effects CS3 is 2GB RAM. You need a beefier computer and a netbook of yours is weak.

1. Not enough specs
2. Only XP and Vista
3. Not enough specs – 2 Ghz or higher for CPU and 2GB RAM recommended (1GB minimum)
4. Slightly below the specs needed 1.8 Ghz dual-core and 3 Ghz single core
5. Only XP and Vista
6. Only XP and Vista
7. No problem.

onli7832 answers:

Just get a mouse…..

onli7832 answers:

Try refreshing your drivers.

Go to

‘Device Manager’ > Mouse and pointing Devices (as an Administrator)

Uninstall your mouse/mice//touchpad by right-clicking on them.

Restart your computer.

They will reinstall themselves automatically as the computer restarts.

Won’t do any harm anyway.

P.s. Personally I always use an external mouse on my laptops – Just can’t be bothered trying to drag the cursor around on such a small working space.

onli7832 answers:

Processor is OK, and so is the 4GB of RAM (8GB would be better).
The problem is that you only have integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics, run by your Intel Core i3-2350M processor and using borrowed system memory (RAM), and that is not good for any gaming. Integrated graphics are good enough for anything else (DVD and video playback, web browsing, youtube, etc).

For gaming, including Minecraft, you need a laptop with a dedicated (discrete) graphics card, at least a 1GB GeForce GT540M or better.

onli7832 answers:

No, that notebook will leave you very disappointed if you are buying it for games. Both the CPU and the video card are going to be a problem. Here’s 2 good sites to check when shopping for a laptop:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

Do a search in both of those for the video card and processor. I wouldn’t recommend buying anything for gaming with a processor that is outside the top 75, or a video card that is outside the top 100 (if you’re playing medium intensity games) or top 50 (for brand new games). Also, you will need a bare minimum of 4 GB of RAM (make sure its DDR3).

It may be difficult to find a gaming laptop near the price range of the one you listed, but check out :

http://www.koliko.co.uk (use beta code d8ccebe7)

As they do some good price comparisons and might help you find something to better fit your needs. Best of luck!

onli7832 answers:

The touchpad on your laptop is controlled by software. The software, if not installed or configured correctly will prevent the “disable button” from working. The button is probably not broken, esp considering this issue began after a system reload. My thought, the reload is not complete to my standards but it may be complete to theirs. Something to consider when choosing a repair shop is what they consider “a reload”, etc.

You can go download the touchpad software from Dell support site for free and that will allow you to configure your touchpad sensitivity or disable it.

You may also be able to disable the touchpad in the BIOS before windows boots up. This options is only available on certain computers however.

I can not help you with the desire of throwing the computer however, best of luck!

onli7832 answers:

Jessica,

You should have a Touchpad Icon in the lower right hand taskbar. You can right click on this icon and click on the Touchpad Properties. Once you are in the properties click on the buttons section. There should be an on/off switch. Make sure this is set to the on position. If that does not resolve the issue you can reinstall the touchpad drivers back into the system. You can click below to choose your system and click the drivers tab.

Inspiron Drivers Download Page

http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/ProductSelector/Select/FamilySelection?CategoryPath=all-products%2Fesuprt_laptop%2Fesuprt_inspiron_laptop&Family=Inspiron&DisplayCrumbs=Product%2BType%40%2CLaptops%40%2CInspiron&rquery=na&sokey=solink

Thank You,
Dell-Jesse L
Dell Social Media and Communities

onli7832 answers:

Well, to begin with, make sure the mouse (touchpad) settings are correct:
If this does not fix the problem, download the ‘touchpad’ driver and any soft ware from the internet and install them. If this does not fix it replace the pad…
You may email me at mayray40@Yahoo.com

Hey, I enjoyed your question, I have worked as a technician most of my life, I hope I have helped you…

CompTIA A+ Certified Computer Professional

onli7832 answers:

It is a problem with the laptop sensor I believe. You should send it back if you have a warranty. I suggest you buy a Samsung, Dell, or HP laptop. Toshiba has given me problems in the past and I have just wanted to stay away from it. Hope I helped.

onli7832 answers:

Hi there:
I know the problem you are facing – it is common with many big name computer sellers. HP and Compaq have a hidden, proprietary partitions on the harddrive with all the drivers and installation, etc. ” AS OF THE DAY SHIPPED”. I just helped someone with an 80 gig drive that, if “restored” would entirely destroy the contents of the hardrive – just to fix a tiny problem. The companies do not consider ” YOUR ” files to be of any value, and pressing the restore button will, put the computer to ” AS SHIPPED” – the heck with you. On the HP, they refuse to allow you to partition the harddrive to C: and D: to save your valued information on D: – NOPE, the system only works with the whole harddrive, which, now is 120 to 200 gigs of unpartitioned space.
When I asked how the customer was to ” SAVE ” any important data, they said the ” CUSTOMER ” had to immediatedly burn everything on CD or DVD…. So you have 8 or 9 GIGs of proprietary JUNK ( ads, 14 day trials, BUY NOWs, comnercials,
web links to more ads, commercials, trials, and junk ) and
190 Gigs of empty harddrive space that you are not allowed to use – since pressing ” RESTORE” ( F11 ) will erase the ENTIRE
harddrive.
It really makes you wonder about the upper executive of these corporations…. I’d like to go into THEIR offices and press F11….
Whooppeee…..
I went to the DELL website to see what drivers they DO give the customer – you… And the only hope I can see for you is to try the typical UTILITY updates. On the computer I looked at as an example, with the scroll arrows on the touch pad, there was no touch pad driver by itself, but there was a huge 71 MEG download of updates and repairs to the SETUP UTILITIES, that ran most of the laptop hardware. If you were lucky, this utility would reset the ” mouse” driver that runs the touchpad.
Having DELL tell you to erase your ENTIRE harddrive full of YOUR information, just to install a tiny Touch Pad Pointer …. Is…
Corporate America, at its best….
There was another driver in the downloads section that ran the CPU and the motherboard interface , again, you could saftely run this driver, as it would re-write the driver, leaving the rest of the Harddrive alone…

In the future, if you could please state the model number, you may get faster, more detailed help from knowledgeable people.
They can’t help you if you are too vague.

Soooo…. In your browser, type in DELL.com, and then in the search window on DELL, type in the model number- you will go to a page with dozens of options, including DRIVERS, and from there, you will likely get a hundred or two drivers, many duplicated. Scroll through them until you get the UTILITY updates, or the CPU interface updates or whatever else looks like a driver for the motherboard, or the CPU and the interface between them.
If you ” Update” these drivers, you ” MAY ” just get the correct driver for the touchpad going again..
If you DO succeed with these updates, go immediately online to driverguide.com, sign up as a free member, and then use the free trial that they offer of the DRIVER utility that scans your computer to find ALL the drivers for ALL the dervices. You can then store all the drivers on CD of whatever, and use them at will at any time in the future !!! You have x number of days to use the program, but it usually works, and many people I know have used it and were VERY happy with the results. There are other programs that do this, and obviously the ” RESTORE” points in Windows XP are not working for you… – these only work if WinXP is working well in the first place, and when it really crashes ( as hundreds of ASKERS have posted just on the yahoo ANSWERS forum ), the typical boot, hit F8, and scroll down the list of things like ” RESTORE TO LAST KNOWN WORKING ..” points, do not work anyway…
Hope that these suggestions help – otherwise you will have to buy an external 200 GIG, USB connect harddrive, and load everything to it, and in the future, avoid putting anything on the entire laptop harddrive, so that you can press the ” RESTORE” button every time the computer screws up. Many people do this… ( what is the point of having a huge laptop harddrive if you can’t USE it??? )
Email support at DELL and give them heck, and tell them that just because HP and Compaq, and Gateway, and etc. Etc. Do this stupid ” wipe the drive – to heck with the customer ” trick, it is no reason that they should do it too…. They have hundreds of software engineers on staff, and they could re-program the software restore utility to allow a D: drive – in a DAY. Not enough customers complain, so they just ignore the few who do – “fight the future” ( quote from the X-Files )….
Good Luck !

Robin

onli7832 answers:

Well this will also be a problem for ANYBODY that uses a ps2 mouse.

PLEASE NOTE BELOW:
System Restore will NOT solve the problem because it will not uninstall the faulty driver. If you run a system restore it will not fix your problem. For windows XP users (me) you will not find anything to uninstall under “Add/Remove Programs” either.

Trying to uninstall the IdeaCom HID Touch Screen (PS/2) drivers (both under “Human Interface Devices” and “Mouse”) from “Device Manager” will not give you a permanent fix either. The driver will reinstall itself after a reboot. You will notice your mouse working but then Windows will inform you that you have new installations that just finished and to please restart your PC. After the restart your Mouse will be broken again since the drivers will reinstall themselves.

Driver Rollback will not work either, it will only give you a message saying something like “no rollbacks available”.

SOLUTION BELOW:
Renaming/Deleting the “idcphid.sys” file under C:windowssystem32drivers will work apparently.

STEPS:
1. Open “My Computer” and go to the following location C:windowssystem32drivers.

2. Find a file named “idcphid.sys” and rename it to “idcphidMODIFIED”

3. Now uninstall the “IdeaCom HID Touch Screen (PS/2)” driver under “Human Interface Devices” in “Device Manager” (Device Manager can be found under “Control Panel” > “Administrative Tools” > “Computer Management”)

4. Your computer will require a restart. After the restart completes your problem should be fixed.

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION:
If you JUST uninstall the driver under “Human Interface Devices” it will find the driver after the first reboot and reinstall itself. A second reboot will show that your mouse is not working again.

By renaming or deleting the “idcphid.sys” file it can’t reinstall itself apparently.

The approach suggested by J Dubya, Dubya B and AW did not work for me. Maybe my suggestion will work for you.

onli7832 answers:

Well, to begin with, make sure the mouse (touchpad) settings are correct:
If this does not fix the problem, download the ‘touchpad’ driver and any soft ware from the internet and install them. If this does not fix it replace the pad…

Hey, I enjoyed your question, I have worked as a technician most of my life, I hope I have helped you…

CompTIA A+ Certified Computer Professional

onli7832 answers:

You should have no problem running minecraft on that. Minecraft looks like it is from 1994 so it shouldnt be too heavy on your graphics.

onli7832 answers:

Well you didnt say what you want the computer for? Do you want to play games? If so you need a decent graphics card.

But anyway here is what you need to know about the laptops

HP: AMD Phenom II Dual-Core Mobile Processor N640 (2.90GHz, 2MB Cache), 4GB DDR3 ram, 640gb 5400rpm hdd, 15.6 Inch LED Display (1366 x 768), ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Graphics.
And what is unlisted is that the hp has a hp specific row of keys on the left side of the laptop keyboard. Which is bad for gaming or programming etc. And the touchpad/mouse buttons are 1 in the same. The buttons are touchpad not actual buttons. Which i have heard are kind of unresponsive. But of these problems can be solved with external mouse/keyboard though.

Acer: 3.0 GHz AMD Phenom II X2 N660 dual-core processor (2 MB cache), 4GB of DDR3 ram, 500gb 5400rpm hdd, 15.6-inch LED-backlit display (1366 x 768), ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6650 graphics.
I own an acer different older one, but i really like the keyboard it uses (chicklet style keys), but thats just a personal preference. The touchpad is normal seems they have it little bit too much to the left but w/e. And the left/right click buttons are like 1 piece of plastic that kind of does a seesaw type of thing. (but its still better then the hp one lol). Also i would not listen to anyone who trys and say acer is a terrible brand, because they are really ignorant.

Ok so lets compare.
-They both have a phenom II dual core, the acer is 3ghz hp is 2.8 ghz. Acer wins on processor.
-They both have 4GB od ddr3 ram. So thats a tie.
-They both have a 5400rpm hdd (which imo sucks, they should all come with 7200rpms D:) anyway hp has 640gb acer has 500gb. So hp wins on that, but really i have a 500gb hdd and i only have used like 200gb of the space and have lots of music, software, games installed and have 2 OS on it lol. Really idk why you would need more then 500gb but hey w/e
-They both have a 15.6″ diaplay with the same 1366×768 resolution, so again a tie.
-Lastly graphics, acer has the ati 6650 and the hp has the ati 4250… Not even a close match the 6650 is atleast 5x better then the 4250. 4250 is only good for normal internet and video usage. No gaming really. If you even have a slight though of playing a game, acer is a MUCH better choice.

Then just the hp having the stupid hp keys on the left side and terrible touch pad, i would definitly say without a doubt get the acer.

EDIT: @arnold
ok you no nothing about computer hardware if you think the hp is better…..

@adam, that acer you listed is good, but again it comes with that 4250, but i guess if you have no interest in gaming it would be good.

onli7832 answers:

Go into your Mouse utility in the control panel and turn off “tapping”. Most touch pads on laptops have enabled tapping by default. This enables you to just tap the touch pad to left click. It is very annoying, but if you turn this off your problem should be solved.