Inspiron 1520 TouchPad Troubles :\ Please Help!

Chignik,

 

This issue is specific to the Inspiron 1520 and Vostro 1500. It has something to do with the specific AC adapter rev on some of those systems. Your issue is unrelated, and should be raised on a new thread.

 

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To all on this thread,

 

I need to ask a favor of you all. If I or tech support have replaced your AC adapter, could you please send me a Private Message with your service tag? I have been asked to provide service tags of affected systems wherein the AC adapter has been replaced. I apologize for not maintaining the records upon dispatching the parts, but I did not forsee a need to do so at the time. My mindset was to just get the parts out and resolve your issue. Apologies for any inconvenience, and thank you in advance for your PM's.

Bummer.  I received a A03 to replace my A00, instead of the presumably much more advanced A04, but it seems to have solved the problem so far.

I'll give it a few days before I send the old one back.

Lol, probably doesn't matter if the wattage is the same. I could tell mine was good just by holding my finger on the touchpad. The task bar display stays constant now and the mouse doesn't flash all over the place trying to raise my blood pressure :)

Hi Bill,

I have a brand new Inspiron 1520 that is exibiting this problem, and from reading other posts in the thread I'd like to try a new power supply.

FYI, I was able to get my cursor to stop behaving erratically by uninstalling the Dell Touchpad application and installing the driver from synaptics web site all in safe mode.

This didnt COMPLETELY solve the problem. I still had to do a lot configuration adjustments. I've now had the machine running 24/7 for almost a week, switching between battery and power supply, and it seems to be working okay (not perfectly... the cursor will still jump, just rarely now where it was almost constant before).

I'm really hoping this will take care of the problem because for one otherwise this has been the machine of my dreams (the Nividia graphics are GREAT for work.... like having two monitors), and of course I was pretty exasperated and disappointed when after setting the machine up the pointer kept jumping all over the place.

 

 

"of course I was pretty exasperated and disappointed when after setting the machine up the pointer kept jumping all over the place."

If you want some fun, trying playing chess with an erratic pointer.

Good times....

Unfortunately it looks like I also have the floating pointer problem on my brand new Inspiron 1525. The label on the power adapter reads: CN-0YT886-73245-7CH-3479
REV A00

 

I tried adjusting the touchpad sensitivity, but that didn't help at all. A couple days ago I downloaded and installed the ALPS Pointing Device Driver (whatever that is) from the Dell Updates page, but it doesn't seem to have helped much. I haven't been able to determine exactly what triggers this weird jumping and floating behavior with my pointer -- it isn't happening all the time although when it does happen, it is maddening. I almost alway use my laptop with the power supply plugged in.

To test what is going awry, Bill B. has suggested that I try running my 1525 just on battery which I'm doing right now (at 82%) with no problem. Then I will try running it with the power adapter plugged in and presumably recharging.  Finally I will remove the battery and just run it on the adapter -- a challenge as I have never removed a laptop battery before!  I'll keep you all posted on the outcome of my experiments.

 

Is anyone else having this problem with the Inspiron 1525?

 

- Nanokismet

 

Inspiron 1525

2 GB Memory

Intel Pentium Dual CPU T2330, 1.60 GHz

Windows Vista Home Premium

 

For everyone that is having a problem with your Touchpad. Now with your Inspiron 1520 is your operating system all Windows Vista because I have heard from many people that Vista has a lot of problem. My solution would be to get a copy of Windows XP because that is what I run though I do have a Inspiron 9400 and never had a problem with it. Try XP and if that resolves your issue then either keep XP or see if Dell or contact Microsoft to see if they have some kind of patch to fix that problem for you.

I am using XP Home. And, a previous poster I think mentioned using XP with the same problems. I do have a Vostro but it is basically the same thing. Just send Bill a PM with your service tag and he will send out the new adapter to you and you send your defective one back in the same box. They even include a shipping label. All free of charge. Check out page 4 of this thread to confirm he wants you to send a PM to him to get a new adapter which so far seems to have solved the mouse going insane problems.

@bporter27:

 

The problem isn't vista specific I ordered my 1520 w/ windows xp and it is happening here also.

 

Didn't mean to create an impression. It's just that so far, every single replaced adapter has resolved the issue. Investigating ESD factors is up to the failure analysis guys who had me request whole unit captures- of which I was able to beg my way to 2, even with upgrades offered. Hopefully that will be enough hardware for them to do what they do. In the meantime, I am going to do what I do, and replace the part that seems to be correcting the issue on every single case reported to me here so far.

 

Did you try your HDD in a can? Did you get a replacement adapter and put it on top of the touchpad to test, or did you just prove one side of the theory?... Curious to know. And as far as vacuum cleaners, they are not regulated to pass any ESD testing with PC's that I have ever heard of. They are notorious for causing ESD issues and have been since the inception of the PC.

You guys should go back and read message #55 --

 

I am totally convinced that the TouchPad problem is a matter of its susceptability to electrical "noise", or interference.  My situation (identical symptoms that everybody is reporting) was due to an old SimpleTech external hard drive in the vacinity of my wife's desktop.  Someone else reported these symptoms when in the vacinity of an old vaccuum cleaner whenever it was turned on. 

 

You people who are changing power adapters are merely changing one that generates enough interference to make a different to others that don't. 

 

Try placing the power adapter module as far away of your computer as possible, and/or stick it in a metal cannister, and see if that makes a difference.

 

This is a horribly frustrating problem until a way is found to fix it -- I'm just suggesting that Dell experiment with additional shielding of the TouchPad, and not create the impression that this is due to "faulty" power adapters. 

 

 

I have this problem with my vostro 1500.  It did it right out of the box.  I have not had the problem with the arrow while the touchpad is not in use, however when you are using the touchpad, it will all of the sudden jump half way across the screen from where it was, and registering random clicks. (almost like someone was trying to pull the cursor away to the side)  I played with the sensitivity settings but it didn't matter what it was set on.  I experienced the problem in both Windows Vista and OpenSuse Linux 10.3.  I noticed that it normally did it at home, and not while I'm in class during the day, and It wasnt until I found this thread that I realized that when i'm in class i'm using the battery (minimal touchpad problems) and when i'm at home i'm using AC (many touchpad problems).  I've contacted Bill for the adapter fix, so hopefully that will resolve most of my problems.

I just recevied the 65 Ac adapter and it seems to fix the problem for the time being , the only problem I face is that, my system tells me that 65 Ac adapter is being plugged , so that system would take more time  charge and may run slow , I guess we just have to deal with this prompt , instead of having the curser moving  drastically

 

I couldnt find the link ,I read that pdf file  day before yesterday ,in that a engineer found out why the problem is occurring , I don’t know If I Am wrong ,but it depends on the sin wav theory (can hardly remember what he wrote )…will try to look at at again and will post that link here  

 

Satwick,

 

The 65 Watt adapter was ordered by mistake. The agent who ordered just happens to be a friend of mine. I contacted him and asked him to send you a 90 Watt adapter. He's doing it right now, and you should get it Monday. In the meantime, you will be ok with the 65 Watt-er for the weekend. Just use the return label to ship it back. Sorry about that. It was human error in choosing the wrong part  number.