XPS 15Z trackpad never really shut down when using usb mouse

YES!  This worked for me perfectly.  I had the Laptop for 8 months or so, no issues.  Recently when typing emails or typing in forum posts focus was getting stolen from the active window.  Viewing the task manager I noticed that trackpad drivers consuming CPU time - even when I told them to turn off when I had a mouse connected.

I reimaged the machine using the built in image on the hard drive (great feature for easy reimaging) and and was very careful about what software I installed.  I updated a few drivers - and bam - the problem came back.  I was about to reimage again (I am not an IT person, I bought the PC in the US, I live in Japan, I am S.O.L. really) - and then I stumbled upon this thread.  

Following both of these steps worked for me - 100%.  I have typing this entire email with no loss of focus or window flickering - and my trackpad is active.  I do wonder what the real fix is - I wonder if it really was the light sensor control all along because of the lighting in my office?  Who knows - I am not touching a thing - it works fine now.

An update -

I am running the 15z A05 driver. It is the LAST one in the series of updates that will disable the touchpad when a bluetooth mouse is connected. I have also tried ALL newer drivers and the 2.5.0.52 driver from the XPS 13 page and they do NOT disable with a bluetooth mouse. (Although the newer ones have more 'stuff' in the options menu such as palm rejection, etc.) But the palm rejection is rather hit and miss in my experience. Disabling with a BT mouse is a BIG feature!!

(The older dell 1640 I have with the synaptics touchpad recognizes and disables properly, and suffers no battery life penalty)

One reason I keep using the BT mouse is that despite the newest drivers, the touchpad is still a bit erratic.

I also note (as previously mentioned in the threads) that the power consumption increases quite a bit with the cypress drivers. In particular, with the screeen always on but on the lowest brightness and the pc at idle with wireless, etc 'on', the windows battery life monitor says about 10 hrs with a full charge. When I install the cypress drivers, that drops to about 6 1/2 to 7 hours. Removing the cypress driver restores the 10hr reading, etc...

Feedback to Cypress/Dell as they update win 7 drivers and prepare for win 8 -

Can we get the new drivers to recognize a bluetooth mouse and disable the touchpad as A05 does?

And can we get the power consumption under better control?

im running win 8 and there is no cypress driver for win 8. any updates?

EDIT:

found this thread: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19473174/20282052.aspx#20282052

fixed my issue.

Also, I found that the driver released for the Dell 321x works very well. It is version A04 dated Jan 9, 2013. It installs on Win 8 without any drama or special installation process and has the updated look to the cypress option screen that I have seen on the newer cypress drivers.

It has options, as installed, for things like 4 finger swipe, palm rejection, etc.

Power usage is lower than the A05 driver for the 15z as well.

And, it does disable with a Bluetooth mouse, which the 15z A06 driver would not do.

As always, be SURE to uninstall any existing cypress drivers first.

I'm having issues with the touchpad on my 17R 7720 that's 4 months old.

I've never been able to disable the touchpad—it's ALWAYS active, and is extremely irritating when typing (as your wrists swipe the pad).  I've downloaded and reloaded drivers all to no avail.  Fn + F3 is NOT working.

That there's now 22 pages of complaints re these touchpad problems leads me to believe that DELL have an inherent and as yet unsolved issue with these machines.  I'm extremely disappointed with this laptop at $1300 as there's several other annoying glitches with it as well that haven't yet been solved.

Not good enough.

Thanks, Ken. That driver does work far better than any of the previous Cypress drivers I've tried. In the end, though, I've gone back to the built-in Windows mouse driver along with Touchpad Blocker, because I'm still more happy with the edge scrolling there than with the two-finger scrolling in the Cypress driver.

UPDATE:  24 Jan 12.  My touchpad problem has now been successfully resolved by DELL support team member Sandeep.  :emotion-2:

Fn + F3 now works as intended to enable and/or disable the touchpad.  The indicator light is also now functioning correctly.

I too am very disappointed as a first time customer of Dell laptops (XPS-15Z i7) on two issues that have already been mentioned in these posts.

The first and prime one in the touchpad. I have spent a considerable length of time seeking a resolution to this matter but have been left with no alternative than to use a remote keyboard. This alone will have a significant effect upon my future buying choice. I always buy a top of the range laptop and spend a lot of money on it as I use it for business purposes. The requirement to carry an additional keyboard with me is ludicrous. The touchpad does not seem to be able to be disabled in any way and interferes constantly when I am typing. It is to all intents unusable if typing text into documents etc. Clearly this is a big mistake on Dell`s part as many people have this problem and they are incapable of doing anything about it. It would seem to be a crass example of stupidity that something so simple has been neglected, clearly lacking in professionalism.

Secondly, I agree about the quality issue with the fake metal trim. Paying over £1,200 for a laptop and finding it has a pathetic plastic non-durable imitation chrome trim loses me as a customer. Of course, buying over the phone meant I could not actually handle the product before purchase.

And actually there is another issue, all my colleagues find it extremely annoying that the machine is so noisy. It gets very hot, and the fan runs at high noise levels constantly. So I will be migrating from Dell to another manufacturer asap.

IanGD, give Touchpad Blocker a try. While it doesn't entirely solve the problem, it does make the machine usable, and should do away with the need to carry an external keyboard. I've tried all the Cypress drivers, including those for other makes and models, but I always go back to the built-in Windows mouse driver plus Touchpad Blocker. It keeps me from wanting to throw the laptop out a window.

Something must be wrong that your machine is hot and noisy, though. I've had my 15z for about 16 months, and mine runs very cool and quiet.

Despite its flaws, all-in-all I'm still satisfied with my 15z. I have to remember that although there are better options available now, at the time I bought it, it was one of only two or three machines available that met my requirements.

Thanks csx321, I have installed Touchpad Blocker and hope that will stop this nightmare.  I had previously tried 'TouchFreeze' but that doesn't seem to do what's needed. The CPU's are running at 67, 68 & 68 degrees at the moment according to my Windows 8 'PC Monitor App', although I have seen them up in the high nineties. It says it's using 29% CPU. Yes, I was very pleased with  the specs hence the purchase... I hope this will eliminate that irritation with the touchpad anyway....thanks...