Inspiron 1545/Windows 7 -- how do I disable the (ultra-sensitive) touch pad?

Did you check the Mouse section of control panel? That is where the touchpad is listed. Do you have Dell Quickset installed? Try typing Windows Mobility Center in the Start Box and see if Dell's version of mobility center comes up. You can adjust or turn off the touchpad there.

Royan: thank you for replying.   There is no touchpad image in the mouse section of control panel.  So I have to install the touchpad drivers.  But .... what is my "service tag"????

Thanks.

Mary G: Thank you so much for answering.

The touchpad is not listed in the mobility center.

In the Mouse section of Control Panel, there are two mice listed: One is the "HID mouse" and the other is the "PS/2 Mouse". I see options to disable them, but it's not clear which one, if either, is actually the touchpad.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 with the same problem. My solution ended up as:-

Cover the keypad with 2 cotton wool pads - cover that with some sort of plastic - seal the edges with insulation tape.

It works perfectly for me.

If I or someone else wants to revert to the crummy touchpad, just pull off the tape.

Please, please, please .... doesn't ANYONE know what is wrong with my Dell Inspiron? There are no references at all to touchpads in any part of Control Centre.

It's not usable as it stands ... I can't type anything without stopping every ten or fiteen seconds to move the cursor back to where it should be.

How can Dell sell something like this?????????? I've always bought Dells -- for the last twenty years -- because they are reliable. But here is a problem, and there seems to be no solution -- except the cotton pad and tape solution, which I suppose would make a nice photo (for a competitor). But there must be some way to disable to touchpad.

Is the touchpad shown as one of the two mice in Control Panel? One is PS/2 and one is HID, whatever that is. Should I try disabling one of those????

HELP!!!!

Your touchpad should work fine even if you do not install Dell drivers.Installing the driver gives you additional control over the touchpad like adjusting sensivity etc. - you might want to install the driver and see if it fixes the problem.....

In devicemanager under section "mice and other pointing devices" you should have an entry "Dell touchpad"

To find out if you have a hardware or software problem you have 2 options:

Option1:

1.Press F2 at power up which will open the BIOS menu which is completely independent of any OS

2.Try moving the cursor with the touchpad - if you can do that without problems then the hardware should be ok and it is a problem with Windows

Option 2:

Test the touchpad with Dell Diagnostics

You need to install Dell's touchpad driver.

You need the Quickset Utility. Download it at Dell here: www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

I have 3 Inspiron 1545 laptop.  They came with Vista Home.  With the original OS I was able to disable the TouchPad when I hooked up a USB Mouse.  4 weeks ago I wiped the OS and Installed Windows 7 Pro.   Since them have not been able to disable the TouchPad wan a USB mouse is hooped up.  I have checked Control Panel.   There is nothing at the root of Control Panel about Mouse or TouchPad.    I looked  Under "Windows Mobility Center" - nothing about mouse or TouchPad.  I also looked at 'Devices and Printers' - I found "Mouse" but ther is nothind under it concerning TouchPad

Hmmm - that's strange - I have an inspiron 1545/Win7 and my touchpad can only be disabled if Dell's touchpad driver is installed.The Quickset utility doesn't offer any option at all to control the touchpad or mouse - at least on my machine.

Nope! same problem. I have all the drivers. Uninstalled and re-installed them... tried them one at a time and just for kicks, tried having all installed at once... Nothing.. no mention of a touchpad anywhere. It's like it doesn't exist... Re-installed Win7... Nothing..

I'm begining to think this is not possible to switch it off on the Dell inspiron 1545.. which is ridiculous.. no point in a huge keyboard if you can't use it because the touchpad wont turn off... grrrr!

 I'm so pissed I'm taking mine to a field along with some bats and golf clubs! POS (c: after that, I'm buying a Mac on the way home.. I know it's $2500 but it's worth not having the headache.. ..I mean, what's not gonna be compatible next? It's like playing jenga (c:

Your touchpad should work fine even if you do not install Dell drivers.Installing the driver gives you additional control over the touchpad like adjusting sensivity etc. - you might want to install the driver and see if it fixes the problem..... In devicemanager under section "mice and other pointing devices" you should have an entry "Dell touchpad" To find out if you have a hardware or software problem you have 2 options: Option1: 1.Press F2 at power up which will open the BIOS menu which is completely independent of any OS 2.Try moving the cursor with the touchpad - if you can do that without problems then the hardware should be ok and it is a problem with Windows Option 2: Test the touchpad with Dell Diagnostics

that's all very well, but I think what we're trying to figure out here, is how to turn the touchpad off.? and no it isnt in all the obvious places listed in the many other posts in this thread. drivers are fine. still no reference to the touchpad anywhere..? Is this an impossible task on the Dell inspiron 1545?.. I'm beginning to think so. )c: time to trade in for a  Mac I think.

As I already mentioned in a previous post I do have an Inspiron 1545 and I have NO trouble at all with my touchpad

It is possible to enable or disable the touchpad via Dell's touchpad driver.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/ie/en/iedhs1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E9s8bslYkE

I feel sorry for wasting your time and I sincerely hope that your problems will be fixed soon.