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Touchpad Inspiron 15-5547 many issues!!!
I have been experiencing so many problems with the touchpad on my laptop (inspiron 15-5547). The problems occur very sporadically, and though I have been on the phone with premium support countless times, the issue that was "repair" always returns. I am hoping that maybe someone can give me a little insight into what the problem(s) could be. If it sounds like a hardware or software problem...
Some of the issues the touchpad has are:
1. Unresponsive
-freezes
-disappears entirely
-only moves a short distance at a time
2. Overly responsive
-jumping around
-moves on its own
-jumps across screen
-moves when I lift my finger off the pad
-Randomly highlights and selects things that I should be simply hovering over
4. Turns on tap-to-click randomly
5. Clicks when I tap even though it is turned off in the settings (this has been happening A LOT lately.. it is so annoying. It will select things when I am just moving the cursor over them!!)
6. Touchpad won't respond to changed settings, or only responds for a short period of time
7. Won't 2 finger scroll (even though it is enabled in the touchpad settings)
8. Won't click & drag (this has also been happening A LOT lately. When I click, it is unresponsive to the second finger moving)
Please let me know if you have any suggestions about how I should go about addressing these issues I've been experiencing. Thank you!
jcgc
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May 2nd, 2015 18:00
I purchased mine in Nov 2014 and have some of these same issues. Primary issue is pad will become unresponsive to left click.
Also, cursor will disappear and two finger scrolling stops working.
Restarting the computer is the only thing that solves these issues and then only temporarily.
So far, have worked several times with customer service. Drivers are up to date and the last thing done is they replaced the touchpad. Not an easy job on this model. Essentially requires complete disassembly.
Wish someone had a solution.
pelosap
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May 5th, 2015 01:00
The only solution is to place a phone screen protector over the touchpad. Buy one at the 99 cent store, trim it to fit the touchpad, and you will never have another issue.. Thanks,
EngineerPak
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May 7th, 2015 14:00
Also have the same issue, Dell should give a driver update or any other solution of this problem
jcgc
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May 7th, 2015 17:00
Since my previous comment I have picked up an external mouse and plugged it in when the touchpad started acting up. The external mouse works fine.
I'm with you that the problem is likely software but Dell doesn't seem to be listening. I emailed the last customer service rep with the info regarding the external mouse and received a canned reply that didn't address the comment. It is sadly typical of customer service in these days.
What I expect is for this kind of information to be directed to the techs who can look into and fix these issues. However, based on these kind of replies I have come to look at tech gear as disposable. They can't or won't be fixed so donate or dump them and move on to another brand.
pelosap
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May 7th, 2015 19:00
The reason DELL cannot fix this is because it is not a software issue. If you browse around the DELL forums you will find out that with a plastic cover the issues go away for good. If you keep on reading you will find out that owners had their touchpads replaced only to experience the same issues. This is why I did not ask for another touchpad. I definitely know that the motherboard has nothing to do with this as DELL replaced it due to a diff issue. I believe that DELL needs to provide a better touchpad, one with a thicker cover or whatever it takes to act similarly to a cover - seems that even tape on top of the touchpad ( which is extremelly thin) will resolve this issue. The protective phone screen cover works perfect. An of course DELL will not work on a different touchpad as this is now an older model so all they recommend is to install the latest drivers which of course you have :-)
pelosap
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May 7th, 2015 19:00
en.community.dell.com/.../19615708
jcgc
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September 2nd, 2015 08:00
I have tried this solution and it didn't work. Apparently not enough people have this problem for Dell to get involved and fix the problem. I agree with the first poster that this problem is a software problem.
For instance, even though tap to click is turned off it is actually on and no matter how many times I try resetting it always comes back on.
pelosap
58 Posts
1
September 30th, 2015 20:00
Hardware
Finally resolved this issue by installing myself another touchpad which I ordered from China. The instructions on how to replace it are shown in detail on youtube. It has been over a month now and zero issues. I purposely wetted my hands several times to see if it would behave erratically and am happy to report that it works great - finally!!!
pelosap
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October 1st, 2015 09:00
If you follow the video step by step you can do it yourself - it is very easy as long as you follow everything on the video. Took me about 30 minutes.
Dell Inspiron 15 (5547) Palmrest Touchpad How-To Video Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMljfcwD0L4
jcgc
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October 1st, 2015 09:00
Just curious if you are talking about the same model Dell? I watched the tech replace my touchpad which required the entire disassembly of the laptop and after watching that I would never attempt it.
Could you provide a link to the youtube video?