Hi there. Try to check your power options settings. You can check the settings on your power plan settings. Try to change your power settings to advance. Just go to control panel and open Power options in Windows 7. :emotion-1:

Thank you for your response.  Which setting do you think I should change in the advanced power settings? There are no options that pertain to the touchpad.

Open power options and open your power plan settings. Click on change advance power settings. Once you open that you can change the settings under "sleep",try to play with the settings and try to simulate it. Put your computer to sleep and try to wake it up using your touch pad. I hope it works.:)

Thank you very much for your input.  My problem isnt actually trying to wake the computer with the touchpad, the problem is that after I wake the computer with the power button, the touchpad is unresponsive about 50% of the time.  In order to get the touchpad to work again, I have to use the keyboard to put it back to sleep then re-wake it, or do a restart.  The mouse will not move at all and the mouse buttons will not work until I do so.  Seems like some sort of driver issue but I have the most up-to-date drivers currently so I don't know what else to try.

Did you ever find a solution?

I am having the same problem, and my touchpad was replaced when still under warrenty!

So you had the problem before and after you had the touchpad replaced? If so then that just solidifies what I originally thought which is that it is a software problem and not hardware.  I had my motherboard replaced under warranty and the problem persisted after also (Really wishing I hadn't bought a Dell).  I have tried everything to no avail. Most up-to-date drivers from Synaptics as well as older driver versions. Complete system format.  I even had the problem on 2 different operating systems...Vista and now 7.  Very frustrating to have to put the computer back into sleep and wake it back up several times just to get the touchpad working!!!

Not quite...

The touchpad was intermittent, then packed up completely. I was made to run the diagnostics utillity and it proved that the device was faulty, and was subsiquently replaced by a dell technician.

It has worked fine for about 6 months, then it started this intermittent fault with sleep.

I would reinstall windows to see if it makes a difference, but at the moment it is not practical.

I have the exact same problem. Mine began acting up about a month ago. Same laptop, Windows7 64-bit, updated everything. Please advise!

Wish I could but Dell tech support was no help (shocking). Pretty sure your just going to have to deal with it just like I do.