Precision M6500 touchpad jumps left a few inches when moving finger right

Hey all,

I am just following up from my last post on 10/16/2010.  So far, I am problem free.  For refresher, they changed the mother board and two daughter boards, plus the touchpad and palm rest.

All still seem to be working.

I am not going to say it's fixed yet as per dbongard, but  like a 12-step program, I'm taking it one day at a time.  For now, I'm good to go.  If you are new to this thread, reference this thread when you call Dell Tech Support.  That's what sent them out to me right quick.

Thank you all for doing your diligence and contributing to this thread.

Now it's off to solve my other issue -- random freezing (http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19336090/19710708.aspx#19710708)

I decided to better document the steps I've used on a couple systems: 1. Download and install the latest A04 BIOS from HERE, unless it is already installed. (Make sure you reset BIOS defaults either way to clear NVRAM.) 2. Once in Windows, download the latest touchpad driver HERE. Do not install it yet. 3. Open MSCONFIG. On the Services tab, put the check in Hide all Microsoft Services. Uncheck the 2 Dell ControlPoint entries. Click Apply. 4. On the Startup tab, find the 2 Dell ControlPoint entries. Uncheck them. Click Apply, then Close. DO NOT restart.   5. Uninstall the touchpad driver software from Add\Remove Programs or Programs and Features. Reboot. 6. Install the latest touchpad driver you downloaded. Reboot.   Test on reboot. If the issue is not present, follow these steps.   1. Click Start, in the Run\Search box, type MSCONFIG. Press <Enter>. 2. On the Startup tab, click Enable all. Perform the same steps on the Services tab.  3. Click Apply and Close. Reboot. I've had good success with these steps.  =)

Ok,

As I see it, this thread really is dealing with multiple issues, some are hardware related and some are software related. That makes it very confusing.

Hardware issues: palm rests and touch pad will freeze the cursor, cause the cursor to jump, or cause a button to click inadvertently. Cursor operates pretty normally when there is no pressure on the palm rests.

Software/driver issue: Machine freezes up or the touch pad freezes after use, and requires a reboot to correct it.

I've just discovered an interesting software/driver issue and was wondering if anyone else has seen this. With the A06 (not A05) Drivers for the touch pad, with touch pad scrolling enabled, the touch pad will completely freeze up when using Firefox, after you attempt to scroll with the touch pad. This does not happen with Internet Explorer. Only a reboot will fix this.

Any thoughts?

The freezing touchpad also occurs with Thunderbird email client - another Mozilla product (along with Firefox). Whenever either it or Firefox is the focused application and you try to scroll using the gesture function of the touchpad the touchpad freezes/locks up, and I can only reset it by restarting the machine 

If the single and double finger gestures are turned off, then the touchpad will not freeze up in those two applications. Hmmmmm

Those are the only two applications that I have been able to instantly cause a touchpad freeze/lockup using the scroll function with the A06 drivers installed.

i deinstalled the dell driver and installed the manufactures driver. for a month now no problems with the touchpad.

manufacturers drivers do not have JOGFUNCTION though... ,-(

Just another -- and my last -- follow up since my last post on 11/12. 

My touchpad has been problem-free since the hardware replacement.  For those who continue to have problems, I highly recommend referencing this thread to your Dell tech support person and asking for touchpad replacement.  Again, for refresher, more than just the touchpad was replaced in my case.  They replaced the mobo, two daughter boards, the touchpad and palm rest.

To sum:

1.  Follow the steps outlined by dageezerus HERE (or as above via Mena.Ermy)

2.  If you still have trouble, leverage Dell tech support, open a case, reference this thread indicating touchpad replacement has worked for some of the members.

On that note, there dosen't seem to be as much activity as there was earlier in the month, so I'm hoping that means your difficulties are being resolved.

Good luck,

rrr..... I am on my third new laptop... yep... they are sending me another one... I missed it in FedEx today... should have it up by early next week... I will let you know how it works.... I was told they have upgraded the hardware... we shall see???

Hi same problem here... tried the fixes noted in this forum - there was a very slight difference when disabling all touchpad functionality... I've actually found that the problem definately occurs with even the slightest pressure to the left palm rest, just above the buttons and up to two centimeters away from the pad.  When leaning on the palmrest the pointer either stops completely or behaves eratically exactly as other members have noted on this forum.  Sometimes even without touching the palm rest I get the problem Today an engineer came to fix the problem.  He brough with him a new palm rest / touchpad.  Tried two brand new ones - and a variety of drivers - a completely new instalation of Windows 7 32 bit instead of the 64 bit version.  Absolutely no difference whatsoever.  He informed Dell that he believes it to be a design fault as the plastics are extremely thin around the touch pad. Dell told him they believe it to be an electromagnetic problem which we both laughed at!... I made sure though.  No sleeves, and away from anything electrical and running on batteries... exactly the same problem, but I think that was to be expected! Dell have emailed me to say to say that they will call me tomorrow to run me through a firmware update that might fix the problem.  I fail to see how this will fix what is obviously a physical problem - but i am willing to give anything a try. The engineer today told me that he had to replace the track pad / palm rest on two M6500's today! On my machine the palm rest is slightly raised at the front of the machine, in fact so is the replacement... The engineer said the other one he looked at today was the same.  Mine doesn't appear to be physically built to particularly high measurement tolerance! These are very expensive laptops and on the whole, have so much going for them - I hope Dell read this forum and sort the problem out... I mean I have three years of next business day warranty on mine - which I will obviously be making good use of until the fault is fixed... Personally I feel the problem is the hardware.  I'll keep this forum posted with the results of the firmware update.  Has anyone else had a firmware update to the touch pad?... UPDATE: I had an email from Dell with a link to the firmware update.. it is actually a bios update revision A02!! my current version is A04 - so they are actually suggesting that I downgrade my bios... this doesn't make sense to me... I have asked them to call me to clarify... Again - I can't see that a bios update will fix a physical fault with the touchpad or why they even suggested it... UPDATE AGAIN! I tried the bios downgrade Dell suggested - on opening it it told me that it did support my laptops hardware! I can see this story going on and on...!

Hi to all out there who still have problems with your m6500's touchpad.

I had issues with my tochpad too! I had the equipment changed just one time, but before that, the replaced the touchpad like a 10 times.

So, i made them return my money.

The thing is I FOUND A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM (at least, the damn tochpad have not been behaving weird since last night)

So here is what you have to do:

- Uninstall the Synaptics/Dell driver you have installed previously

- Restart

 - Install the Dell Tocuhpad Driver 14.0.19

Now, the tricky part (more or less): 

- Go to the C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\  --> You will find the next file: SynTPEnh.exe 

- YOU HAVE TO RIGHT CLICK ON SynTPEnh.exe

- SELECT "PROPERTIES",

- Click on COMPATIBILITY

- Select "Run as administrator"

Restart

Of course, you'll have to accept the bloody thing everytime you boot windows, but the touch wont behave weird anymore

Give it a try and let me know!!!

To all still having trouble. I was reading notebookcheck, and I saw several people with problems as well. But near the end of the 500 pages thread for the 6500 one guy mentioned (while talking about something different) that ok, the Dell drivers are really bad so using Synaptic's instead (Synaptic website). Now, I had had my touchpad replaced once. I have tried several things as well, including most of the things on this thread. Using the microsoft drivers (basic) was not good as well. The touchpad would half and I'd need to reboot. The Dell drivers at least didn't freeze the pointer, they just had half the surface working erraticaly (they would accept movement, but not start movement) which was extremely annoying and made me want to return this thing (which works very well besides.

And yes, at least for me, this solved the issue completely.I think it's the Synaptic driver that completely solved this, but will state the things that I did (I am using Windows 7 32bits).

1) Found an Apls driver that was installed not sure why - Uninstalled

2) Found the Dell Touchpad Drivers - uninstalled

3) Rebooted (I think generic driver was used at boot)

4) Downloaded and installed the Synaptic drivers at http://www.synaptics.com/support/drivers

5) Rebooted and configured what I liked

Note: the drivers aren't signed. It prompted if I still wanted to use them and I answered Yes.

With all the options On, everything (except for the Jog Dial) works great. I don't nor like the Jog Dial functionality, but do like the gestures, etc. so this is perfect for me. I've used this for about 20 continued hours, and still not  a problem with the touchpad. Happy!

Federico

This is NOT a software problem - it is a hardware design fault and I can prove it...

I have this problem... and I found what causes the problem... and reported it to Dell.

If you put a slight amount of pressure on the palm rest near to the touch pad on the left hand side (about 0.5cm away from the left side of the touch pad and about 1cm above the buttons) then the pointer behaves erratically.

It is actually worse if you have the Dell or Synaptic drivers installed - probably because the trackpad has a lot of functionality (electronically). If you completely uninstall the drivers and use the default windows driver there will be less problems but also less functonality. This is probably a result of the fact that windows will be ignoring some of the erronous output of the faulty touch pad. The problem will still be there though.

If you really want to test it out make sure you are not moving the pointer when you start - then put a slight amount of pressure in the problem area (about 0.5cm away from the left side of the touch pad and about 1cm above the buttons) - then move the pointer with the touch pad. The most common problem will be that the pointer only goes up or down.

NOW - the erratic behaviour that people are reporting is probably because it depends on when pressure is applied to the problem area. If, like me, you use the buttons a lot - then you will find that you use your thumb on the left button. When you do this your fingers will be resting in the problem area. If you are fast you use those fingers as a kind of pivot for your thumb and as I said earlier - just the slightest pressure by those fingers causes the problems we are all experiencing - especially if like me, you use a finger on the left hand on the touch pad.. Phew - I hope you got that!

If you go into the bios - you will not have the windows drivers in use - yet the problem still exists. Try it - put pressure in the area I mentioned above before moving the pointer.. and now with the pressure applied (about 0.5cm away from the left side of the touch pad and about 1cm above the buttons) move the pointer - it only goes up and down!! Try it for yourself.

The Dell engineer changed the palm rest twice. The problem persists. He reported back to Dell that he believes this to be a design fault.  I contacted Dell support again and the guy on the help desk said he believes it to be the keyboard and sent me a new one and he asked me to fit this as per his instructions. I did this - the problem persists! I knew it would.

Eventually the telephone support guy listened to my diagnosis and after consulting his line manager sent me a picture of the palm rest and asked me to use ms paint to draw on the area I believed to be the problem and send it back to him. I managed to get him to admit he has had to deal with many people complaining of this problem on this model. He said I was the first person to find what was causing the fault.

Now under my warranty Dell have to come to me to fix the problem next working day. The problem is still not fixed about one month later.. and in fact the Dell support even told me off for not being patient two weeks later and that he would get back to me when he has dealt with his other customers!!! He then suggested I send them my laptop and they will inspect it at Dell, but it could take a couple of weeks for me to get it back.

I reminded him that I had a next working day warranty and not a "please don't pester me - I'll get around to you when I can be bothered warranty!"

Dell have now agreed to replace my computer and said the new one should arrive by mid january (so much for Dells next working day warranty) Thank heaven for small mercy's. I am now hoping they send me the revised model (with USB 3) I think I'm entitled to it as compensation - in fact I think I deserve a cpu upgrade too!!... but I'm also hoping that that model does not have the same flaw! Any other views???

I concur with MarkTrayton.

Although there appears to be a software/driver component to the problem for me (I am using the synaptics driver instead of Dell because it seems to work better), the real problem appears to be that the palmrest is not mechanically supported well enough and the touchpad increases in sensitivity to any flexation as it warms up. (Personally, I have the greatest problem with pressure being applied to the palm rest on the left side of the touchpad and only minor problems on the right side.)

If you disassemble the machine and look at the backside of the palm rest, on the left side,there is nothing to stiffen and support the palm rest, keeping it from flexing downward. On the right side there is only a tiny vertical metal rail to stiffen the palm rest. I believe this to be an engineering oversight when designing the case/palm rest.

Without disassembling this, you can apply pressure to the palm rest around the touch pad and see it flex downwards considerably, and the touch pad surface distort as a result.

While operating the machine, when the pressure is applied to the palm rest near the touchpad it distorts the touchpad causing it to behave erratically. This is exacerbated by the fact that the palm rest is SO big and the materials are so thin. 

Then, as the machine warms up (this is NOT a cool running machine), the problems gets worse. Heat seems to cause my touchpad to be more sensitive and also warming the plastic palmrest may cause it to become more flexible.

If you use the computer without placing your palms on the palm rests, everything seems to work OK. I suspect that different people place varying amounts of pressure there, and also different batches of the palmrest/touchpads are better or worse.

BTW - I am on my second keyboard and 4th or 5th touchpad/palmrest. Each of these palmrests have had different sensitivities to palm pressure, some unbearable, others just annoying.

Unfortunately we await Dell to redesign and manufacture the palm rest/touch pad. In the meantime, we need to keep insisting that this be done.

Nato

Hi - thanks for your reply - I've just edited my post - where I originally said right side of touch pad I actually meant left side! I must have been half asleep when making the post...

After three new replacement computers from Dell ... I would like to report everything is working Great!!!