XPS 17 9700, left bottom corner of touchpad not working

A Dell engineer has come out to replace the trackpad on my new XPS 17 2020 which suffered from wobble and the left+right clicks not responding properly. I can confirm that after the replacement the wobble is much better however the annoying left + right click problem remains. Whenever I press and hold the bottom left button, it just lets go itself. And whenever i press the left or right bottom buttons, they do not respond 60% of the time... I can confirm that bios seems to be better (its hard to tell with certainty because the trackpad movement in Bios is a little temperamental) so its looking more likely that this is a software or driver issue...

@WMERC :
Yes the same happens to me : drag/highlight window, or move files => this does not work then

Don't get your hopes up since the issue is definately the driver and not the hardware.

@Dellorianer :  Thank you for your comment. I can say that replacing the "touchpad" on my XPS 17 did not help in any way. For me "driver issue" sounds reasonable.

I'm not sure if this is good news or not.  Bad hardware design is hard to fix and swapping won't fix it.  Bad software can be fixed, but the fact that it hasn't been fixed yet makes me think otherwise.  Bad HW design or bad HW quality.  Some on the post say they were swapped and it wasn't fixed.  Ugh, I'd hate to go thru the trouble of trying to return the unit (as I already have setup my software/files just the way I like).  .  Plus, I bought during tax free weekend, so buying a different laptop will cost me plenty!

Been a couple of weeks with the ticket...says they are waiting for a part.  There has been talk that it is a driver issue, which is good and bad...bad designed hardware will never be fixed with a replacement, bad quality, maybe.  Bad driver software can be fixed, but the fact that two firmware updates and it still is a problem is not good news.

My old Surface Book 2 was rock solid on the touchpad (though smaller).  I like the Dell XPS, however, for just under $3K I'm not happy about just living with the problem of a wonky touchpad (for years mind you...you don't spend that much money to buy another next year).

@WMERC :

I had the same trouble. Since I got a replacement for my XPS 17 (the replacement has the same issue), I had to move all settings and files. This took a day.

I recommend two software for moving to new laptop:

1. to keep the original dates an time of the files: copy the files with SafeCopy Free! : https://www.elwinsoft.com/safecopy-free.html

2. There is a Microsoft recommended software PcMover : https://web.laplink.com/product/pcmover-professional/#tabs2

Good advice before the service call to create a reliable image. I used Acronis for this in the past, and actually used to restore my Dell XPS 17 after one of the diagnostic steps caused me to lose the ability to login to the computer (grrrrr).

I had a heck of a time to be able to boot from my recovery drive due to the "secure boot" in the BIOS. Very complicated and the XPS is so new that there were few tips on Google. After about a day of fiddling, I figured it out and was able to do a restore.

I hope changing out a trackpad doesn't require a slicking of my files...I definately woudn't want to send it it...I hate the idea that I might ge a refirb back.

Hi, the same problem here in Spain. Xps 17 9700 left bottom corner of touchpad working only sometimes.

Tried booting the laptop with Linux Mint from the sd card and used the app to test the mouse in that distribution. The problem didnt appear in my tests in linux or at least I wasnt able to reproduce it. From my tests I agree it seems to be a driver issue.

Please reproduce similar tests if you can and posts your results here!

And please Dell, find a solution for this issue because the Xps 17 laptop is great but it is a mess having such an annoying problem. Thanks!

@andrewsams :

I tested MINT LINUX 20 with a USB stick. I had the same problem with the mouse click in left or right bottom corner.

To be more specific this error is more easy to reproduce (both windows and linux mint):

1. you must click bottom left or right corner of the touchpad.
2. error can be reproduced much more easy if you move the mouse arrow with the touchpad before the click. (this means: move the mouse arrow with the touchpad, release the finger from the touchpad, click in left or right bottom corner)

In this way the error can be reproduced nearly 100% of time.

Hi EcoLabel, that's very bad news. However, I have repeated my tests in Linux, and following your instructions, and I had to struggle to reproduce the error there (I think I missed only a couple of clicks in Linux). On the contrary, on Windows it is very easy to reproduce the error. I have recorded videos of both tests WIndows and Linux and I can send them to you if you want if you send me your email (PM?). I'm a little confused now, as I thought that working better in Linux was a good sign and perhaps the solution could come with a driver update. If you say it fails in Linux too, I'm not so sure now about a driver issue. Perhaps it is a mix of both hardware and software. In my tests (yesterday and today) and in my unit (at least), the click at the bottom left corner seems to work a lot better in Linux than in WIndows.

Ok, I got serviced today and got the keyboard and trackpad replaced.  No change and the corners are just as flakey.  It seems clicking in the very corner has an intermittent dead spot, maybe they put in a shim to "fix" the previous loose trackpad issue?  Anyways, I saw the following advice in the link below that this a "feature" to prevent accidental corner presses during typing and instead we should click nearer to the center.  Wow, really Dell?  Sounds like a smokescreen to prevent a general recall of these trackpads due to poor design.  I guess Apple got away with their faulty keyboard design by stonewalling, why not Dell?

I would call it in again, but I am thinking unless they fix the design fault it won't get any better.  Thoughts?

The following is a quote from the support article.  Really Dell?  My old Surface Book 2 didn't have this "corner click protection" feature (i.e. a load of baloney).

"There is a 1 cm x 1 cm area at the bottom-right and bottom-left corner of the touchpad of the XPS. It was engineered to prevent a false touch or button click while typing on the keyboard."

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>.

Seems like this is not an fault, but engineered this way.  I posted a Dell Service Bulletin link.  Basically it seems like they are covering up the design flaw and saying it is a feature.

Just got my new XPS 17 9700 yesterday and I have this exact same issue.  So far from reading this and other threads i'm seeing that having the unit replaced is pointless.  I guess only 2 options are to wait for a driver update(assuming that it is driver) or return the until for refund.  I have to assume this will be fixed soon less they do some sort of mass recall if it's not driver?  This is ridiculous, been reading about this issue a couple months ago thought for sure one bought today wouldn't have the issue.