Synaptics touchpad driver keeps breaking

Chronia · 16 Jun 2014

Hi There,

I have a synaptics touchpad driver installed on my laptop it is listed in my mouse options under devices settings as "Synaptics Pointing Device - v25.0.4" and under devices in the same tab the name is listed as "Synaptics touchpad v7.2".

The problem I am having is that in the devices settings tab I have checked the box that says "Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing devices is attached" because frequently the mouse cursor will jump around the screen when typing and mess up what I am doing. Problem is that when I want to use the touchpad and unplug the mouse, the touchpad will work fine until I shut down the computer. On startup (whether clean boot or restoring from standby) the touchpad will no longer work (with or without a mouse connected). When this happens I have tried a fresh reboot of the laptop, but the problem remains. I have tried reconnecting my mouse before shutting down or closing the lid of my laptop but the problem persists. Some times when using the touchpad the power cord on my laptop unplugs and when I plug it back in the touchpad no longer works, yet when I unplug the cord it will work again. I don't get any error messages when any of these things happen, they just happen without warning.

When I go into my mouse settings and go to the device settings tab, the devices list is now empty and all other options are greyed out, including the check box to disable the touchpad when a mouse is connected. It's like the touchpad is not even installed anymore. The only way to fix it is to completely uninstall and reinstall the synaptics driver which is easy to do but still very frustrating that I have to do it.

Any suggestions on how to fix this issue so that I can still have my touchpad disabled while an external mouse is connected and so that when I do need to use my touchpad I won't have to uninstall and then reinstall my drivers when I am done? This problem has been bugging me for some time and I have just had to live with it, but I do not believe this is a normal issue. I am running windows 7 home premium.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Berton · 18 Jun 2014

because frequently the mouse cursor will jump around the screen when typing and mess up what I am doing

That's a fairly common issue and my wife and daughter solved it by getting Toshiba Notebooks that have a switch between the touchpad and the keyboard to turn the touchpad off, both use a external mouse. The problem stems from the sensitivity of the touchpad and where a person's thumbs want to rest while typing. Adding to the problem is the type of touchpad that has the vertical and horizontal scroll areas.

I'd go into Device Manager and uninstall both instances for the touchpad and reboot, should install the drivers again, handy when an installation gets corrupted.

Chronia · 19 Jun 2014

Berton said:

I'd go into Device Manager and uninstall both instances for the touchpad and reboot, should install the drivers again, handy when an installation gets corrupted.

I am not sure what you mean by both instances of the touchpad? There is only one touchpad and one touchpad driver and I have had to uninstall it and reinstall it several times to temporarily fix the problem.

You are correct that my cursor jumps around because of where my hands rest while typing, I had known that previously which was why I used the option in the settings to disable it while I have an external mouse connected since, when I am at home, I always have a mouse plugged in. Unfortunately I cannot afford to get a new laptop at this time that has a fancy, albeit useful switch

Berton · 19 Jun 2014

I have a synaptics touchpad driver installed on my laptop it is listed in my mouse options under devices settings as "Synaptics Pointing Device - v25.0.4" and under devices in the same tab the name is listed as "Synaptics touchpad v7.2".

That's what I meant about both.

Chronia · 19 Jun 2014

Berton said:

I have a synaptics touchpad driver installed on my laptop it is listed in my mouse options under devices settings as "Synaptics Pointing Device - v25.0.4" and under devices in the same tab the name is listed as "Synaptics touchpad v7.2".

That's what I meant about both.

Even though there are two different listings in the mouse options device settings tab there is only one driver actually installed both in the add/remove programs list and in device manager. There is however in device manager a listing for "HID-compliant mouse" which I believe is my external mouse, unless I am wrong?

Chronia · 01 Jul 2014

Bump!