Alienware 17R3 Touchpad Auto Disables

Hi,

Can you connect an external mouse to confirm if the same thing happens with the mouse? Is this is an out of the box issue or it was working fine at first?

It did not start out of the box.  It has no effect on the mouse.  The mouse works fine.  It seems to have occurred sometime after I attached a wireless mouse.

Hi,

Can you try booting to Safe Mode to confirm if the same things happens in Safe Mode?

I restarted in safe mode and it works fine.  The fn-11 works and I can plug-in and unplug the usb mouse connector and still use either one.  But when started again regularly, the same problem occurs and the touchpad auto-disables and cannot be restored.

Hi, 

Thanks for confirming this. Did you make sure to delete all of the software that came with your wireless mouse?

i found a fix that works.

Uninstall Synaptics application in Apps and Features and

Uninstall synaptics driver from device manager under System Devices not Mice and other pointing devices.

Once i did that its been working flawlessly for the past 2 days.

if you delete the touchpad software and device driver in system devices. after restart the touchpad works

I uninstalled the mouse software and now it works when I remove the usb connector for the mouse.  I doubt this is how it was intended, but at least I can use the touchpad now.  I just cannot access all of the features of the mouse.

I uninstalled the mouse software and now it works when I remove the usb connector for the mouse.  I doubt this is how it was intended, but at least I can use the touchpad now.  I just cannot access all of the features of the mouse.

Glad you got it working. Make sure your system update doesnt re-install software. If it does just uninstall Touchpad application again. *** cant use gestures.

There's an option under the mouse hardware settings that you tick to turn off the TP if a usb mouse is connected, and most likely, you have it ticked.

In regards to the uninstallation of Synaptics Drivers that made the TP work again... this would only occur when you install the improper version of Synaptics drivers for your device.  With Alienware, and I'm not sure why, you cannot utilize drivers downloaded from Synaptic and must utilize drivers from your downloads and support page only. 

• The only drivers you can't download directly from the manufacturer are TP drivers, HDD shock sensor drivers, and Chipset/IMEI drivers [exception being card reader chipset).

That option is not ticked on my machine. Even when turning machine off and unplugging usb mouse then booting doesn't make touchpad work.

Then it's most definitely a TP driver issue.  Try downloading the synaptics driver from the downloads and support page for your device, installing it (both drivers should show as installed, and if only one does, please let me know), and then rebooting afterwards.

You mentioned about FN+F11 not working, can you clarify which of the following you meant:

• FN+F11 doesn't allow you to disable/enable the TP at all
• FN+F11 allows you to disable and enable the TP, but does not work to enable the TP when the issue occurs.

That option is not ticked on my machine. Even when turning machine off and unplugging usb mouse then booting doesn't make touchpad work.

No problem at all =]  Glad you got it fixed

everytime I uninstall the driver and reboot. it automaticly installs the 19.0.15.15 driver which I keep uninstalling.

I do have automatic updates off too. even when I install the driver from support page. it still don't fix the issue. The Synaptic Gesture Suite doesn't start up either.