Inspiron 1525 Touchpad Issue

I would buy a usb mouse until you have the time to send it for repair, you can really cheap ones from shops.

Thanks for the suggestion, I have tried that. But it doesn't work for me, as I am moving around a lot (try using a mouse in the plane! :)) and also I am very used to touchpad, mouse is not nearly comfortable.

Repair advice, anyone?

I have this same problem with my Inspiron 1525.  The touchpad response is erratic.  Sometimes it will not respond at all to finger movement.  Sometimes it gets stuck 'on' (as indicated by the tray icon) whenn its not being touched at all.  But the biggest problem is with its inconsistent behavior when moving.  When moving my finger carefully in a straight line horizontally across the touchpad, the pointer moves vertically in two spots (near the middle of the touchpad).  Likewise, when moving my finger carefully in a straight line *vertically* across the touchpad, the pointer moves *horizontally* in two spots (near the middle of the touchpad).

In a recent online chat with Dell support, they had me upgrade the BIOS on the computer from A11 to A16, but that did not help.  They also had me install Notebook System Software (NSS) but that made no difference either.  I upgraded the driver to version 7.1.1500.2 but that also did not help.  I am convinced this is a hardware issue, perhaps related to ElectroMagnetic Interfence (EMI) (and static electricity or issues with the AC adapters would certainly exacerbate it).  For me, the problems exist with or without the AC adapter plugged in.  Regardless, my AC adapter is also Rev A01 as in the original post.  I did not receive any error codes in Dell Diagnostics, unlike the original post.

Same for me, I have a AMD 1525 a.k.a. 1526 and it is just like that... I also did several Bios Upgrades, nothing would fix... Played around with Touchpad CP with different combinataions and nothing would fix... 

I'm having the same problems. I have a 1525 and all of a sudden the touch pad started being so erratic.  An external USB does work, but the touch pad should wor as well.  The problem exists with and without the laptop connected to the power adapter.

UPDATE:

I had to send it in to dell.  They replaced the touchpad and of course tried to sell an extended warranty.  I've had 4 Dell laptops, this one is the first that I have had to send in to Dell for repair.  I've owned 5000e, XPS m140 and 2 1525's.  The 5000e is long gone.  I'm still using my m140 (works flawless) and the wife and kid have their 1525's.

I have the same problem with my touchpad.  Dell actually reset my computer for factory setting because I bought the demo from the store.  But, it did not work.  I think though that I have noticed that the erratic and uncontrollable movement happens when my computer is upgrading. 

Hi pollybrown, I had the same problem, mine is now working fine. I posted this fix in a couple other places but have had no feedback yet. I wish someone would try this to see if it works for them. It fix my touchpad and scrolling problems.

This turned out to be a very simple fix for mine, with nothing but changing a few settings. This is what I did.

• Go to Start > Control Panel (Classic view)> Folder Options > General (Tab)
• Mark:  "Double-Click to open an item (single click to select)"
• click Apply and then click OK

• Back to Control Panel > Mouse > click on the Pointer Options (Tab)
• The only thing I have ckeck marked is:   "Enhance pointer precison"
• click Apply
• Now look at the tabs at top and click on Wheel (Tab)
• Under....Vertical Scrolling click:  "One screen at a time"
• click Apply and then OK

After I made the changes it worked, I even restarted my computer to make sure it didn't change back. It's still working good, although I'm having to ajust to having a calmer touchpad again :emotion-21:. Hope this works for you too and anyone else that has been haveing to deal with a crazy touchpad!!!  Simple things mean a lot....

I realize this thread is a bit old, but I wanted to say that while I appreciate the very detailed instructions they did not fix my 1525's touchpad problem. The touchpad will behave for periods of time, but then act erratic or freeze randomly regardless of settings. I've even had a technician replace the entire physical touchpad yesterday and the issue persists. Just putting this here so that anyone else with the problem will know their laptop isn't the only one not working regardless of tweaking and settings. Ugh, the laptop is perfect save for the touchpad! So frustrated here.

So where is Dell in all this? I got my laptop in December 2008 and I hate the touchpad. It seemed like it worked ok in the beginning, but now it is making me crazy. I have tried adjusting the settings and it changes it but doesn't fix it. Sometimes the pad won't work at all, sometimes it works very slowly. Sometimes as you move the cursor over something it opens it, drags it, changes it- and then other times it doesn't! Are these laptops defective? And why should I go get a mouse, when I paid for a new laptop with a touchpad as I also travel and a mouse isn't practical. I am going to try the fixes suggested and will get back to you all.

Yikes, depressing. I have been trying to call Dell but their system is down. I have the full full Best Buy warranty, so I suppose I could back it up, throw coffee on the keyboard and get a new laptop, but I really don't want to do that! And anyway, it is only 3 months old, so shouldn't Dell take care of it anyway?? I will keep trying to reach them and will update you guys if I learn anything new, but it sounds like I am not going to have much luck. I will say this- rebooting the computer seemed to make it a little better.

I have tried the fix suggested above as well and it had only a minor impact. I also went down to Best Buy, who handles issues related to Dell's they are selling, they told me that they would send it to Dell's center and turnaround time would be 3 weeks. Since I cannot be without my computer for so long, I didn't bother sending it. The fact that one user's problem persisted even after replacing the touchpad is disappointing though.

I agree with the poster above, where is Dell on this?

This problem has been listed in several forums on the Internet.  At least two of these threads that I've been reading have disappeared.  It is obviously a chronic problem.  My Inspiron is just over a month old and I've spoken with the folks in India three times thus far.  I've upgraded the bios, reinstalled the drivers, uplugged and uninstalled the battery.  Nothing has worked.  The cursor still stalls out and moves erratically.  I think it is a design flaw.  If it can't be fixed  I need it replaced with a model that doesn't have this problem.  This is my fourth Inspiron.  The other three all had problems with the power cord jack.  They assured me that that problem was fixed with this version; the jack is OK, the touchpad is jacked.

After I posted, I ignored the advice that nothing would fix it and have been on the phone with India over 6 hours. To their credit, they were very good about calling me back and trying hard to fix it. As you did, we did new drivers and all the things you mentioned. Now they want me to back up the computer so they can probably have me uninstall third party software to see if that is the problem. I am quite certain it isn't as I hardly have any software other than Spyware and anti virus sofware. I agree with you that it is faulty and reading other posts, no one seemed to find a fix. My big issue is that I can't be without a computer. Does Dell follow these posts and if so, what do they have to say about it? Surely they must know by now that something is wrong with these darn things.

Yet another distressed Inspiron 1525 owner with erratic touch pad problems. My touch pad seems to work ok for short periods and then it will stop working for a few seconds or move erraticly. I never had this problem with my Inspiron 1505. I hope Dell monitors these forums and gives us users some solution for what seems to be a common problem in the 1525.