My laptop locks up and freezes when I use the touchpad, but never freezes when I use the attached mouse
Hi, I’ve been experiencing lock-up or freezing problems with my laptop for about 6 months. The model is Satellite A55-S306. I’ve spoke with a few repair shops and they insisted I must have a virus or adware. My antivirus is up to date and detects no virus, also I’ve downloaded Spybot Search and Destroy and it detects no adware. Here is the odd thing we’ve noticed the last few days. I always use the touchpad and my fiancé always uses an attached mouse. The laptop never freezes up when using the attached mouse. The last 2 days I’ve attached the mouse but continued to use the touchpad—-no freezing for hours. Detach the mouse instant freeze???? Does this make sense??? Have you ever come across this problem before or any ideas??
Yeah, that’s a very odd problem. I think that if it would be a hardware problem, then the laptop would freeze up regardless the attached mouse. It’s possible that you have some kind of software problem. Not necessary a virus or an adware, may be just a corrupted driver or corrupted system file. But it doesn’t make any sense why the touchpad works fine when the external mouse attached.
Here’s what I would try to do to troubleshoot, detect and eliminate the problem:
1. Go the Device Manager and locate Mice and other pointing devices entry. Click on “+” to expand it and uninstall PS/2 Compatible Mouse. Restart the laptop and see if the problem is fixed.
2. Restart the laptop in Safe Mode by pressing F8 key as soon as Toshiba logo appears on the screen and selecting the Safe Mode line. If the touchpad works fine in Safe Mode, then you have a piece of software that conflicts with the touchpad in Normal Mode. Go to step 5.
3. Another troubleshooting step (more advanced) is to boot laptop with Knoppix CD (live Linux CD). This OS runs directly from the CD bypassing Windows installation on the hard drive. If you still experience the same problem in Linux then the problem is not related to Windows. Knoppix CD will boot the laptop into a Windows like environment where you can use the touchpad.
4. I would also try to reflash/upgrade the laptop BIOS.
5. The final step would be reloading the hard drive back to original Toshiba defaults. You’ll have to boot the laptop from the recovery CD and follow the wizard. Reloading the hard drive will erase all your personal data, so do not forget to back it up before you run the restore CD/DVD.
If re-flashing the BIOS and reloading the hard drive doesn’t help, then you might have a hardware related problem.
September 21st, 2006 at 9:13 am
The touchpad on my A60 1591s has stopped working. What can I do to, first, make sure it’s a hardware problem, and second, if it is, replace the thing myself. Some water spilled on the keypad about two months ago, but the touchpad didn’t quit until just now.
Thanks
September 21st, 2006 at 10:10 am
John,
Try to press Fn+F9 key combination. This key combination enables/disables the touchpad. Try it first.
September 21st, 2006 at 10:59 am
Nope, not that. Also, under the hardware tab on the mouse properties section of the control panel, there is no mouse listed, so I think it’s a hardware problem. But I really don’t know much.
Thanks for the reply.
September 21st, 2006 at 11:15 am
John,
You can remove the keyboard and check if there are any corrosion spots on the motherboards.
To eliminate a possibility of software issue, you can re-image the hard drive using a factory recovery DVD. If the mouse doesn’t work even after you re-image the drive, it’s a hardware issue.
You can also boot the laptop from a Knoppix (Linux on CD). In this case you will not have to reinstall Windows, because Knoppix runs from a CD. Knoppix has a GUI interface and the mouse should work. You don’t have to know Linux to test the mouse. I just tested my Satellite A60 with Knoppix v3.9 and touchpad is detected and mouse works fine (BTW, v5.0.1 locked up the laptop).
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:41 am
Same problem here on a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo K 7600.
The touchpad and the keyboard freezes when tocuhing a key.
If I open the device manager I can find a “Microsoft Natural Keyboard PC 101/102″ driver detected (not installed, there is a “!”in front of it).
From Linux (SUSE 10.0) it works just fine (oddly enough, without even having configured anything, it just works out of the box), thus a HW problem has to be excluded.
I tryed disabling this device, letting the driver there but disabling the device on the hardware profile does also not work…
I am 100% sure that there are no kind of malware on my box (Spybot, Hijackthis, Clamav AV, Windows Defender, Windows Baseline Security and some more stuff I use for a living).
I will now try removing the PS/2 mouse driver, just to see what happens.
I can keep you informed if you want
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:03 am
Runlevel0,
If the touchpad and the keyboard work fine in Linux but not in Windows, then it must be a software issue. Try to uninstall the driver in the device manager (right click – uninstall). After that restart the laptop, Windows should find and install the driver automatically.
November 24th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
The left mouse key on my touchpad is loose. It works but jiggles when touched. Is there anyway I can fix this to avoid having to send it in? It is a HP Pavillion dv8000t. The right mouse key is fine.
November 25th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
Holly,
To fix the problem it would be necessary to dismantle the laptop and remove the top cover assembly, as it shown on the page 135 of the maintenance and service guide. It’s possible but I’m not sure if you want to do it yourself. According to the picture of the top cover I found in the maintenance guide, the touchpad buttons could be a part of the top cover and if the button gets broken it’s necessary to replace the whole top cover assembly.
December 16th, 2006 at 9:53 am
I have a similar problem. Every once in a while my mouse becomes very slow. I have to push down very hard on the mouse pad in order for it to move. Also, when this happens the left and right click buttons do not work until it eventually catches up with the computer. Once this happens, I need to restart inorder for it to stop. Unfortunately, when i restart it, most of the time it starts up with the mouse frozen in the middle of the screen. In order to get it back to normal, I must shut the computer off for several minutes. I am still under warenty, however, whenever Icall Toshiba they just have me install drivers, but a week later it will happen again. Does anyone have an idea of what could be wrong so i could tell toshiba and send it back??
December 16th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Andrea,
It’s hard to say if your problem is hardware or software related. If it’s a hardware failure, Toshiba will cover it under warranty. If it’s a software issue, it will not be covered. Here’s what you can try before you ship it to Toshiba. Back up all personal data on the hard drive, and re-image the drive using the recovery DVD you got with your laptop. It will load original factory software. If you still experience the same problem then you have a faulty hardware. Call Toshiba and explain that you re-imaged the drive but it didn’t help. After that they should accept the laptop for repair.
December 16th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Andrea,
What I did, was simply an “administrative reinstall” of Windows: Install and when prompted select “repair existant Windows installation”… It worked like a charm w/o having lost _any_ software or data.
On the newer laptops and with vendors like Toshiba, Dell, Packard Bell etc… there is an option to do this from the so called “recovery environment” (normally using a function key during start up) in 10-15 Minutes.
Good old Window´s System Restore can also be a good option, the only thin it needs is some attention from time to time. It really works and comes quite handy.
December 25th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Try to press Fn+F9 key combination. This key combination enables/disables the touchpad. Try it first.
I read this after hours trying to solve and OK !!!
Congratulations and thank you !
December 29th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
I have an issue with my Averatec laptop. If you linger too long, wherever the cursor is acts like you pressed the mouse button. I’ve looked everywhere in the Control Panel to shut this option off, but I can’t find it anywhere! Please help!
January 1st, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Hello,
I have a dell 600m Inspiron which bought 2 ys back. For last 2 weeks, the touchpad hangs after i have been working on my laptop for 20-25 mins. I can navigate using keyboard fine, but touchpad does not work at all.
If i restart, the touchpad again works fine for 15-20 mins and again same problem.
Could you please help me troubleshoot this ?
Thanks,
Vishal
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Wow! Have I stumped the laptop freak with my cursor question of 12/29?????
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Jeff,
Getting swamped. Could you please explain what you mean by “If you linger too long, wherever the cursor is acts like you pressed the mouse button”? What if you boot the laptop into safe mode (press F8 on startup and chose safe mode), the problem still exists even in safe mode?
No you haven’t, I just don’t have enough time to answer all incoming questions on time.
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Vishal,
I think it could be a software related issue. Test if the same problem appears in safe mode, does it?
January 3rd, 2007 at 6:00 am
I haven’t tried it in Safe Mode, but I will. By way of further explanation, where ever the pointer is on the page, the blinking cursor will jump to that point.
I seem to remember on a different machine an option to turn this function off, but I can’t find it on my current machine.
I’ll let you know if it does it in Safe Mode as well…
January 5th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I have basic to no knowledge of computer hardware/drivers. However, I am having an issue with the ‘tap’ on my touchpad. I am able to use the touchpad and drag/move my mouse. But, I can no longer select/double click the mouse. I uninstalled the mouse driver and when it restarts it works fine. It then prompts me to restart again (because it had completed the install) and then it restarts for a second time and the ‘tap’ does not work again. I can not recall if any updates were made to my windows – which was suggested. If it is due to a windows update, where to a find another to fix the problem?
Thanks in advance for you help.
PS. Great Site!
January 8th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Chantelle,
I believe you can control “tap” option in the control panel. You can enable or disable the touchpad “tap”, probably right now you have this option disabled. I don’t have a Windows machine if front of me right now and cannot confirm this. Go through the mouse/touchpad properties in the control panel.
January 10th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Hello,
I see that you have a lot of experience with Toshiba laptops. So I hope you can help me with this problem:
I’m having some difficulties with a touchpad from a Toshiba Satellite M30 which I want to repare. It is connected to the mainboard through an 8-pin connector named PJ3201, which is common to other Toshibas. If you have any information about the pinouts for these connectors, or you know where to find it, it’ll be of great help.
PS: I think they work with serial protocol, but I’m not sure.
Thank you.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Hi–great site, thanks. My son’s A85S107 Toshiba was fine and suddenly, no response from touchpad. Ran and bought USB minimouse and it works fine. Tried: system restore, safe mode, remove and reinstall keyboard and alps drivers. Toshiba notebook maximizer system info lists touchpad status with “Error”. Have cheapo Yahoo online protection (McAfee expired). Recently used with iTunes 7 and new Shuffle. Son visits mySpace a lot. Soooo don’t know if hardware or software issue. Do touchpads just quit like that? We had to send it in twice thru Office Depot extended warranty for the AC power adapter looseness (they didn’t quite fix it first time). Hate to send it again, but maybe should since it’s free. Not quite sure how to back up everything for system redo–couldn’t figure how to do administrative windows install mentioned above. Help! I’m just a mom trying to save her teenager’s laptop! Thanks in advance for any advice. K.T. in Austin, TX
January 10th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Sorry Sesar,
I have some experience with Toshiba laptops but I do not work on the component level.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
KTAustin,
Try Fn+F9 key combination to enable/disable the touchpad. Press down Fn and tap on F9. You tried system restore or system recovery? Did you reimage the entire drive using the recovery DVD? That’s would be the next step.
If Fn+F9 and system RECOVERY will not help, probably you have a hardware related issue.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Just wanted to follow-up on response of January 8th, 2007 at 6:12 pm .
I can not find the ‘tap’ option in control panel\mouse properties. There are many other controls (click speed etc.) However, none that pertain to the ‘tap’ option.
Any other thoughts?
January 11th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Thanks so much for the quick reply. Yes, Fn/F9 was first thing I tried. I have also reloaded the utility that loads in the system tray to do the same thing. I will try system restore further back. I did try to reload alps driver, got an error code 39, and later an error 10 and indication of something that looked like a failure to init. Maybe the device just isn’t talking to the rest. Nothing shows up in device manager that says alps pointing device or touchpad. I am still confused as to which driver the touchpad uses and how it connects to the computer. Is it a USB inside, or seen as a PS2 mouse? None of the troubleshooting utilities seem to address touchpads. Can you point me to something that tells me how to back up data? Should I go buy Norton or something? I can reload all my programs, and all my files are legitimate. I just don’t want to miss copying stuff. I don’t know how to save the music my son bought through itunes. If I do a full wipe and recovery do I have to reregister the computer and Windows, etc? Sorry I am so ignorant. Thanks again.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
KTAustin,
Satellite A85 comes with a DVD/CD-RW burner and there should be a software that allows you to burn Data CDs (I believe it’s called Sonics). You can burn all personal files on a CD.
I would prefer this method. Buy an external USB hard drive, connect it to the laptop and transfer all personal files to a new drive. This method is good if you have a lot of data, for example tons of iTunes. When you back up iTunes music, just transfer entire folder to an external hard drive, and later, after you reinstall the operating system, you can move it back to the laptop. It’s always nice to have an external hard drive, so you can make regular data backups.
You cannot backup applications already installed on your laptop, you’ll have to reinstall them from scratch. You backup only files like spreadsheets, word documents, pictures, music, etc… but not installed applications.
You are correct. The restore process erases everything from the hard drive and loads factory defaults. Check if everything is backed up before you run the restore.
January 12th, 2007 at 5:25 am
Ok — I’m back and I may have a problem bigger than a jumping cursor. Each time I try to restart my laptop in Safe Mode, I have problems. What happens is that I get to the screen that give the option to start in Safe Mode and I select that, then it asks for my operating system and I pick Windows XP (the only choice). Then the screen fills up with a lot of info about drivers and freezes up. I turn it off and then try to restart and it gets to the blue screen with the blinking cursor and then shuts down. If I wait long enough, when I restart it boots up normally.
One thing about my original question I noticed is that it only does the ‘jumping’ when typing in AOL. Very weird — HELP!
Jeff
January 12th, 2007 at 10:06 am
I had the same problem. In my case, the keyboard driver was corrupted. I went in Control panel, Keyboard, Hardware, then properties for the keyboard then pressed the Driver tab, and pressed the ‘Roll back driver’.
That solved the problem for me
January 12th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Another touchpad problem…
Have a month old LG Notepad and since two days ago, the synaptics touchpad is giving me a nervous breakdown!
- It works during starup but freezes when booting is finished
- Freezing can be prolonged by moving the cursor but will eventually freeze (strange)
- Mouse workes in safe mode
Any suggestions out there? Have of course guarnty but has recently moved to another coutry making support to a hazzel
Thanks
Gustaf
January 13th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Jeff,
I think you might have software related issue. In cases like yours, I usually reinstall the operating system first. I’m not sure if it’s going to help you, but you can try.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Gustaf Engstrand,
If the touchpad mouse works in safe mode but doesn’t work when you load Windows normally, most likely you have a problem with software. Reinstall Windows, it should help.
January 15th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Otto — were you responding to my question about my touchpad? Do I need to roll back the drive on that or the keyboard?
Jeff
January 27th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Another touchpad/mouse problem. I disassembled my Tecra M2 tonight to check connections. When I put it back together, the touchpad and mouse no longer work. The keyboard works fine, but not the pointer mouse or the touchpad. I don’t have an external mouse to try and see if that works. Should I take the computer apart again?
January 27th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Jennifer,
You’ll have to disassemble the laptop again and make sure the ribbon cable is properly connected to the touch pad.
The touch pad connects to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable. Most likely during disassembly process you accidentally pulled the cable from the touch pad. Right now the touch pad cable is not connected to the touch pad. I’ve done this mistake with Tecra M2 notebooks before.
But before you jump in, try to enable the touch pad with Fn+F9 key combination, may be it’s just disabled.
January 28th, 2007 at 4:39 am
Thank you so much for the quick reply! I did try Fn/F9 last night, so it must be the ribbon. Before I take it apart, do you know where the touchpad ribbon is? I only remember seeing the keyboard ribbon. And does that ribbon also affect the pointer mouse? Thanks again!
January 28th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Jennifer,
You can see the touch pad ribbon cable on the step 9 in this disassembly guide for Tecra M2 notebook. It’s on the left side from the keyboard cable, bellow the RTC battery connector. The touch pad connector is small and can be easily overlooked during the notebook disassembly process.
You asked if the ribbon cable can affect the pointer mouse. You mean the pointer on the keyboard, right? I do not remember exactly, but I think it might affect the pointer.
January 31st, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hi
I have a compaq laptop, and my touchpad broke. How do I replace it?
February 5th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
related to Jennifer’s problem, comments 34-37 — Touchpad not working after reassembly
I did indeed reattach the touchpad ribbon cable, yet the touchpad is not working. There were never any problems or unusual behavior with it before. I’ve tried disconnecting/reattaching it at least two dozen times today (always gently to avoid breaking anything).
The three LEDS that are on the same circuit as the touchpad (on/standby, HD activity, and battery charging) are working erratically; right now the first two are fine and the battery one is not working.
An external PS/2 mouse works fine. Fn-F9 doesn’t do anything.
On previous occasions I’ve successfully disassembled and reassembled the laptop, including the touchpad ribbon cable. I remember that getting the ribbon all the way in is tricky and usually took a few attempts.
Some possible explanations, none of which are solutions, unfortunately:
1. I’m just not seating the ribbon cable right despite countless attempts. Unlikely since in the past I’ve been successful.
2. Something software or driver-related…is that possible? Isn’t this circuit something separate from the OS and software? And if the problem was the touchpad driver, how could that affect the LEDs?
3. I physically damaged something such as the thing you stick the ribbon into, but the damage is invisible, i.e. nothing appears loose or broken.
Thanks for a great site.
Mine is a Compaq Presario 2100, XP [is this site for Toshiba only? at any rate, most of the info seems transferable]
February 7th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Richard K,
Enter the BIOS setup and try setting it to defaults. Check if there is enable/disable touchpad option in there. I’m not sure if Compaq notebooks use the same shortcut (Fn+F9) to enable/disable touchpad, it might be something else.
That’s right. All notebooks are similar and usually fail the same way. In most cases general troubleshooting steps will be the same for all notebook models.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
>Enter the BIOS setup and try setting it to defaults.
I followed your suggestion, went into BIOS setup, made sure the touchpad enable/disable was set correctly, and also did ‘Set all to defaults’. Touchpad still not being recognized.
Posted the question at HP’s ‘Business Support Forums’, but not holding my breath…the forums seem kinda lifeless compared to here and others such as daniweb, which is my next stop. Will report back if I solve the problem.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:27 am
My mum wants to use my laptop instead of the other computer which isn’t laptop but since a laptop has a touch pad i attached an optical mouse instead but the touch pad is quite sensitive. is there a way to lock my touch pad TEMPORARILY!!!!!?
February 12th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Stevieboi241,
What brand is your notebook? On a Toshiba notebook you can temporarily enable or disable the touchpad by pressing Fn+F9. On other models you can try enabling/disabling through the BIOS settings. Some models also have a special touch pad software installed witch you can use.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I just bought a new Toshiba A-100 and have the exact same problem. The touchpad lights up, usually within 5 minutes of booting up. The keyboard and all other controls work fine. I can reboot and solve the problem, but discovered it’s just easier to buy an external mouse at Target and live with it. Totally sucks after spending $1100 on a new machine, but oh well.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
I just read post number 2, right after my post. Tried pressing the fn and f9 keys in tandem, [the fn key is a blank key on my keyboard], and it unfroze the touchpad. Thanks.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Hi laptop freak, I’m so glad I found your site! I’m having problems while viewing webpages or even say going through folders on my computer because when I use my touch pad to move the cursor right or left, every once in a while it will send me to the previous page (when I move it left) or forward to the next one (if I move it right). I am getting so frustrated with this because if I just finised entering any information I have to redo it all. Is there a way to turn this off? It’s been doing this since the day I bought it. It doesn’t do this every time but it does it enough to make me want to pull my hair out, please help! Thanks!
~Lori~
February 22nd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Lori,
I think there is nothing wrong with the laptop, you just have some kind of advanced settings enabled in the touch pad/mouse management utility. Access touch pad/mouse settings in the control panel and disabled advanced functions (probably tapping). I’ve published your question here.
March 3rd, 2007 at 1:36 am
Hello,
Yesterday my little cousin got a hold of my laptop and stood on the keyboard. My sister found him there and when i tried to use the mouse it would not move. Everything else works just fine on my Toshiba A20 except for the mouse. However, an external mouse works and i cannot figure out how to get the laptop mouse to begin working again. Is it a hopeless cause or can i get my mouse to work again?
March 5th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Besma Hersi,
Maybe the touchpad somehow got disabled? Try enabling it by holding down Fn key and at the same time pressing F9.
March 19th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
hello, i’m having problems doing double click with the touch pad it work when i logg into the system but when i am in i have to use the left button to click or double click…what i can do? thank’s
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Luis,
Check the touch pad settings in the control panel. I think you’ll have to enable the tapping options in there.
May 27th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Hi
I am having problems with my touchpad on a compaq presario notebook. It was working fine and now is not responding at all. I tried to uninstall and reinstall and also fn/F9 but still nothing. Is there anything else to try?
June 12th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Hi, i’m having a touchpad issue with a sony vgn laptop, it just works on a small part of the surface of the touchpad, the other part it’s just like turned off, i thought it was a software error but i’ve tried under windows xp, windows vista and ubuntu linux and the result is the same… what could be wrong?
June 18th, 2007 at 11:02 am
i’m having a problem with my touchpad on my laptop, it doesn’t work. it’s a synaptics pointing device, i have to use a mouse which i plug into a usb port now. how do i make the touch pad work, i’v tried pressing Fn and F9 together, whixh is supposed to disable and enable it, but it hasn’t worked. my computer is an acer model- Aspire 1642ZWLMi, and is a windows XP, who should i contact for help if the problem cannot be fixed?
please help
thankyou
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:25 pm
I have a compaq presario 2100 notebook purchased in June 2003. Initially I was getting only a blinking cursor….ie the Windows logon would never appear. I tried some things like taking out the battery, using the chkdsk with /R option and now it boots up. But the touch pad and keypad are both blocked. Installing an external mouse solves this problem but I cannot get in as I cannot type the password.
1….How can I bypasss the password and get into my system…that way I could then use the windows keyboard application with my mouse and get onto the web at least to see my email.
2…Why is the key pad and touch pad getting locked. Tried the fn F8 button but it did not work.
Would appreciate a reply on this website and my email. Would be very grateful to anyone who can resolve this problem
June 26th, 2007 at 7:31 am
my dell latitude c840 laptop was overheating so i took out all of the screws at the bottom & tried taking it apart to blow dust out. i couldnt get it apart so i put it back together & started it up. on start up the windows screen was alot smaller than usual also on the login & wallpaper screen. the time & date were all wrong
my touchpad wasnt working & to top it off my virus & spyware programs are telling me they are out of date. what the hell have i done? i have tried changing the date and time & going back to restore points 48hrs previous but nothing works. i just want it back to the way it was before i tried to open it up. please help.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
My wife’s Toshiba laptop had a problem with a frozen curser from time to time and pressing the Fn (function key) and F9 unfreezes it. However, I did notice that when the McCaffee PROTECTION Prompt comes up and catches the curser in the middle of the screen it freezes the mouse. Since we didn’t register for the McCaffee software, I removed it and will have our choice of virus scans put in(one that doesn’t cost big bucks and works just as well and doesn’t freeze cursers).
July 17th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
hi my problem is when i start my laptop in normal mode, the touch pad lets me move my curser round the screen ok. but when i want to select a item by tapping the touch pad to open it does’nt work. in safe mode it lets me. i’m really confused
July 24th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
My ACER Laptop touchpad and keyboard “only works” in safemode and not in normal mode. attaching a mouse doesn’t work either. I even restored the computer to factory settings a few times, it works for a bit then doesn’t work again. what should i do?
September 18th, 2007 at 10:05 am
Hi there,
Another touchpad problem here – I stupidly spilt a drink over the touchpad and keyboard on my Toshiba Satellite A60 a few days ago, and since then the touchpad isn’t responding. I switched the computer off straight away after the spill, and opened it up to check it was dry inside and that there was no corrosion damage. There was no damage visible, and very little liquid inside the machine (just a few drops on the black plastic underneath the keyboard, but nothing on the motherboard itself as far as I could see).
Once I powered it back up, however, the touchpad wasn’t working at all, though the keyboard and everything else seems to be working OK. I checked the connection (which was a bit loose) and reattached it, but no luck. The lights at the front of the computer near the touchpad work fine. Any suggestions as to what the problem could be? Is it possible to replace the touchpad if all else fails? Fantastic site, by the way!
September 18th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Catherine Wilson,
You’ll find my suggestion in this post: Touchpad stopped working after I spilled a drink on it
October 5th, 2007 at 6:13 am
My accer laptop work properly when I format it the touch pad and it keyboard of my laptop is not working would you help me please
October 5th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I have an HP 6100 – I use this for work and keep it in my truck – I have it connected to the AC power outlet – when i connect it to this outlet my touchpad mouse goes crazy and will not stop “moving” wildly until i disconnect the power? Anyone know of anything that could be causing this?
November 12th, 2007 at 9:22 am
i have DELL XPS m1330 Laptop with windows vista home edition installed as factory setting. its working fine. but i wanted to install windows XP and same time i wanted to preserve my Windows vista copy too. so i bought a new internal HDD and just replaced the original internal harddisk with new one and installed windows Xp Professional on this new HDD. but now problem is after working for few mins my laptop just freze.i have macafee installed and it doent show any viruses or edware or any malacious stuff.so i guess its some software issues with my WINDOWS XP copy or touchpad problem.i tried to work in safe mode and touchpad and keyboard works fine in safemode but not in normal mode. attaching a mouse doesn’t work either. I even reinstalled the WINDOWS XP quite a few times,but same problem persists it works for a bit then doesn’t work again.
i guess as my system works fine with windows vista and even with windows xp in safe mode, its not hardware problem.
i get problem when i work in windows Xp normal mode, so i guess should i try with different copy of windows XP ?what should i do?
November 13th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Vishal,
Make sure you have the latest BIOS version installed on your laptop. Update the BIOS if needed. I’ve published your question here and started a new thread.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
my laptop keypad mouse is frozen. even when i use my external mouse, it will not do anything
November 30th, 2007 at 11:45 am
three weeks ago i purchased a hp G7010EA laptop and it’s been absolutly fine untill yesterday when the touchpad and keyboard froze, meaninig i have no option but to click on the power button and but it into sleep and then click it again to awake it, this sometimes works (meaning the touchpad and keyboard unfreeze) but not all the time, meaning i have to turn of so it restarts. however its not very long (sometime less than 5 minutes before it happens again and i have to repeat the above process) funny thing when i connect my usb mouse the cursor moves again, but the keyboard still remains frozen. any help will be gratefully appreciated
December 1st, 2007 at 6:33 pm
The HP Pavilion VD4150US I am using right now has an issue with the areas on either side of the touchpad where you rest your wrists while typing… The computer often freezes unless I am putting pressure on these areas. Sometimes when I turn the power on, the BIOS screen doesn’t even come up unless I press on these areas. It started with sometimes when I was typing the letters would not show up until I touched the pad, then they would appear (kind of the opposite of “Hide cursor while typing”). I opened the laptop yesterday (got the service manual at HP.com), and re-seated all the internal cables. This helped a bit, but I still have to apply considerable pressure at times. I’m not sure if replacing the touchpad/case is a cost-effective solution (it’s over 2 years old).
Last year at work we had a Dell laptop that would totally turn off (like removing the battery without shutting down) when we barely touched the wrist rest areas. I suspect maybe the thin plastics they use between components may lose their insulating abilities (not sure if due to environment or use or some other reason) over time.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Hi
I rather stupidly took apart my Toshiba Tecra M3 to clean the heat sink. Upon reassembly the touchpad was frozen, upon which I discovered that the touchpad cable was not connected. It is connected to the motherboard but I cant seem to find where it attaches on the touchpad end?
Regards
December 5th, 2007 at 12:43 am
Jon,
I’ve done the same mistake before, I accidentally pulled the touchpad cable from the touchpad.
I published your question here: After I took apart Toshiba Tecra M3 the touchpad stopped working.
I think other people can experience the same problem with their Tecra M3 and Tecra M2 laptops.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:29 am
my Acer laptop it work properly before i format it
After that its keyboard and touchpad do not work but still it will work in save mode
December 24th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Hi,laptop freak. Am using a compaq presario v2000 laptop. The os is windows vista. Few days back i installed an external mouse on my laptop. Since thn my keypad and mousepad arnt working.I cant acess anythng witout them. Plz help.Thnx in advance.
December 26th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Hii guyz, well im using the acer travelmate 2310 laptop. The keyboard n d taouch pad freezes, right after i plug in the battery, if i took the battery out, it works perfectly, what could be the reason? I also tried by formating the laptop, yet it remains the same, plz i having a big time prob here, kindly i need help from all of you… Thanx guyzzz…
January 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
when i am typing away on my compaq laptop it will sudenly stopp and jump to where the curor is, think i have a sensity touchpad does anyone know how to fix this
thanks in advance
January 12th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Ive got a hp6325 notebook and the touchpad has gone bonkers, its either over sensitive or doesnt move at all and if you put your finger on the pad and dont move the pointer shakes and moves across the screen slightly.
ive used the supplied software and adjusted various settings but nothing, in fact if you set sensitivity to half or more it wont move at all!!!
any ideas??
January 13th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Aaron,
I think it jumps to the cursor because you have the touch pad tapping enabled. Disable the touch pad tapping option.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I have a Toshiba m45 s229, I bought cheap on ebay for parts for because it would shut down after 5 minutes, The person who had it before took it apart and applied more grease to the heat sink, which fixed the problem, but when he put it back together he could not get the touchpad cable back together, so i bought it like that. but any way I took it apart and hooked up the mouse cable, computer works but touchpad was funny, it moved all of the place and then after a couple of minutes it would freeze and lock up, works fine with a external mouse. but I need the touchpad to work. put a fresh install of the orginal operating ststem, no go, so I changed the whole top base which had a touchpad and cable with it, did the same thing so i bought a used motherboard for this system, put the board together did the same thing, I was thinking this was software I downloaded new drivers form the website. After all of this I found out something, if I booted it up on the battery the mouse would work great, but as soon as I plug the a/c adapter in, it would act funny I could not contol the mouse it would not move right, on the mousepad icon on the bottom of the screen in the toolbar it would say that I was applying pressure but i was not, and after a couple of minutes it work freeze up and quit working all together, worked fine on battery power, the buttons worked fine the whole time, the mouse did not move as long as i did not touch it. I Checked in device manger and it says there is no problems and drivers are installed correct. seems funny I know, changed every part. but a/c adapter, tried on a another machine and works great. Does any one have any ideas or know how to fix this problem.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
James Dunn,
Did it come with the power button board (7 button board) or you transferred this board from the old cover? I know that in some cases this board might cause some very weird problems with the keyboard. I’m just guessing that it can affect the touchpad too.
This is really strange problem. You replaced motherboard, top cover, touchpad, reinstalled OS ans still experience the same problem with the touchpad? Weird!
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
hi
my laptop has a touch pad (of course) but i want to use a USB mouse instead . i no how to disable the touch pad but cant get the USB mouse to work
any ideas??
February 24th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Frances,
Did you check if the USB port is working properly? There shouldn’t be any problem using an external USB mouse, usually it’s detected by the operating system and the driver is installed automatically.
Find out if you have any touch pad utility in the control panel. Go through the settings. I believe on some laptops you can enable or disable internal/external pointing devices. Make sure the external pointing device is enabled.
Check the BIOS setup menu, it’s possible that you can find settings for the external pointing device in there.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I have an HP Pavilionzv5000 & sometimes the touchpad freezes. After I reboot it starts to work again. Any suggestions as the keyboard freezes as well.
Thx
Dave
February 25th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I have a major problem. My spyware remover conducted a scan and I followed the paths on the scan report
to see if I can delete some of the infected files.
The problem is that i deleted some of the files
in the folder “c:system 32/drivers”. I know I deleted
the synaptics file. Which i think has caused my
touch pad to stop working. I connected an external
hp mouse to my laptop but it does not work. so I cant move my pointer in no possible way!!
whats going on and what can i do? I have tried
pushing the little button on top of the touchpad,
I tried pushing fn+f9, and connecting an external mouse. I have also tried starting the laptop in all the forms of safe mode and clicked on the “last good configuration” option. nothing works. help.
my laptop is a hp pavilion ze4600. thanks
March 13th, 2008 at 5:59 am
For anyone with problems on the tecra m2, curser jumping, i have the same problem and couldnt figure it out until we dislodged some crumbs underneath the “end” key, stupid, but it worked
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I have A-Note laptop which working fine until recently. Synaptics touchpad only working when I run on batteries. When I plugged AC cord, touchpad is freeze (but touchpad button was working fine). When I unplugged AC cord, touchpad was ok again. Does anybody have solution?
May 14th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Hi,
I have a Satellite u305-s5077. The touchpad stopped working once I started my laptop. The external mouse works and when I checked my control panel about the mouse, the touch option is not available.
May 14th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Melissa,
Maybe the touchpad is simply disabled? On Toshiba laptops you can enable or disable the touchpad if you hold down Fn key and at the same time press on F9. Try this first.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Hi
I touch the pad: the pointer moves randomly with the power pluged, it’s ok on battery.
I select ‘power savings’ and reduced brightnes as when it’s on battery; did not help.
Is it clearly enough a a hw issue? (internal power supply, adaptor, touchpad). Or I should still reinstall the driver? (I’ll look for an adaptor too)
Thanks for sharing your expertize.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Hi Guys,
I have a Presario 2500 lap top and I placed a new hard drive 1 month ago at one of the computer technicians in my area. It has been now 1 week which it freezes on a particular web site such as domain.com.au
Any suggestions I will much appreciate.
Thanks Klodi
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
The reason why the Acer Aspire laptops freeze is the update right after SP3 , not for sure which one but that is the reason why it freezes !!
August 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I have a dell inspiron 4000 laptop. got it off ebay. The mouse sometimes is erractic…it needs a good bang on the cover to stop it moving all around…any ideas what is causing this?
August 14th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
nick,
If the cursor moves on its own, most likely there is a problem with the blue pointer in the center of the keyboard. In this case you’ll have to replace the keyboard.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
thanks for the prompt reply, really appreciate it. I suspect you are spot on. Is it major to replace the keys? Or is it poss for me to attempt it on my own (keeping in mind i havent done that before). thanks.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Hi I have a laptop ACER ASPIRE 5315-2326 I bought it a month ago and I noticed (since I bought it) that when Im typing for a long time and I try to use the mouse the mouse is frozen it will not move, I can style type and even when I press CTRL ALT DEL I get the little endtask window, but I cant move the mouse, its like if it falls asleep or something; I have to lower the screen like Im going to close it, then It will start working again, What is the problem??
September 10th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 5100-3949 (out of warranty)and my dog chewed into the AC adapter/charger thereby creating a small break in the wiring. It will still function somewhat if wiggled but I also have had arcing thereby making it possibly dangerous to continue to use.
That being said, I have tried to purchase replacements from sources like EBay and had each seller confirm that it was compatible with my specific laptop.
I have had to return them because they made my touchpad act erractically (i.e., cursor not responding, cursor only moving in certain directions, etc.) however once operating on either battery or original adapter the touchpad acts normally.
I have checked Acer’s website and the model adapter/charger that seems to be compatible is out of stock.
Any ideas on what would cause this behaviour and what to look for, in terms of specs, to attempt to avoid the problem on the next purchase.
Thanks in Advance,
September 10th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Bud,
Really weird problem, I’ve never seen something like that before.
Make sure your new AC adapter outputs exactly the same voltage. The amperage could be the same or higher. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you. Really weird.
Please let me know if you can figure it out.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Hello, I’m trying to fix my roommates laptop Toshiba Satellite – A30 – PSA30C-00YS5.
One of his old coworkers wiped the drive in the process of trying to fix it for a months ago, now I’m trying to get it working again. My problem is that the ALPS touchpad will freeze up after 10 seconds of being inactive or if a new window pops up, so I continue moving the on the touchpad it will keep going.
I tried booting in safemode and it will not work at all, so I don’t know if it may be an internal problem or software issue.
Any help at this point would be greatly appreciated.
December 1st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I got the same problem with my acer travelmate 2310 , it freezes when I try to use mouse but does not happen if I boot with the battery out. I think it could be a problem with the battery application. Will investigate further. My batter is not great (only 20 mins power) but I noticed if I leave it in Bios till the battery goes flat it actually took about an hour to run flat. I expected a few more minutes due to more processing even when windowss is idle but not that much. Maybe the voltage is not stable and the program for the battery is getting fluxtuating readings. Not worth buying a battery as it costs half what the laptops worth and I use it on the table, never round the house.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:56 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro L300. When I plug the ac adaptor in, my ‘Synaptics’ Touchpad freeze’s. When you try to move it, the cursor just goes mental, and quite often flies off in a complete different direction.
Does anybody have any idea’s as to what is causing this. Its getting to be a pain now. Also i have tried and external PS/2 Mouse, but this has the same problem????
Please Help!
Woody
March 4th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I had a similiar problem with an Acer Aspire 5100 that occured when I attached a new power adapter to it.
It turned out that the voltage and/or the polarity were not compatible with my model.
If you have recently replaced your power adapter that may be an issue.
April 19th, 2009 at 2:50 am
i have the same prob…but only happen after 2-3month after i bought the universal charger….so what trigger the problem
June 1st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I recently work on a toshiba laptop m35x-s109 the cursor/ mouse/touch pad kept freezing up seconds after the computer booted up. I went to toshiba. com and download file after file download nothing.And many other sites nothing, i even disable features in device manager 0 zip nada. Then it dawned on me http://www.logitech. com I installed the software from a disk i had and, it worked. my buddys laptop works great. after going to logitech.com click on, go support center search by name/ mice , next scroll and click cordless optical mouse for notebook click search and download the file and reboot good luck
September 4th, 2009 at 5:58 am
I would definitely say screen and keyboard are the most important buying decision for me as the specs are fairly standard across brands anyway.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite X205-S9800 and have the same problem. Every time I boot up my computer my mouse freezes. It’s more of a complication rather than a problem because it only occurs during boot-up and I simply restart my computer via Start -> Arrow Keys and the problem is solved, but I just want to know what I can do to stop this from happening.
Any ideas?
September 20th, 2010 at 1:56 am
I have an HP G60 laptop an my problem is similar as well. The “scroll” on the touchpad causes my cursor to freeze on the screen. It displays a frozen tiny scroll bar on my screen with the cursor attached. I can’t get it to snap out of it. It has nothing to do with adapter on mine. Or program I’m using. It happens when I happen to crossover into the “scroll” area on my touchpad. Odd thing is that when I plug in my mouse, it snaps out of it’s “coma”. What can I do?
September 29th, 2010 at 8:22 am
The left control button (just below the touchpad) on my Toshiba M110 Satellite laptop appears to be broken. Do I need to replace the complete top part of the laptop or can I replace just the left button please?
Thanks.
September 29th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
charles,
You’ll have to replace the top cover.
Follow this guide: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-M115/remove-top-cover-1.htm
September 30th, 2010 at 6:57 am
I suspected that I’d need to replace the top cover. Many thanks for your help.
October 24th, 2010 at 4:13 am
Laptop Pointer.
I’m having trouble w/ my pointer on my laptop. I will turn on the computer and right from the get go it will not do anything. It just sits in the middle of the screen, and sometimes I can’t even type in my password to get onto the computer in general. I’ll have to shut it on n off about 10 times (literally). Then when it does start workin, I’ll be in the middle of something and the cursor will just stop, and I’ll have to shut the thing down again (or threaten to throw it in the streets). The weirdest thing about it all is that 1) I don’t use an external mouse, and 2) when I look at the icon for the pointer at the bottom of the screen it still has the green dot showing where the cursor is at. Now that doesn’t make sense b/c if it’s not in use then there is no dot, but yet if the thing decides to just freeze then there is a dot. Anybody know what causes this foolishness?