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latpood

7 Posts

92611

June 1st, 2006 16:00

Touchpad blues: Pointer jumps, moves erratically on new Latitude D620

Hi, 
I've turned off my touchpad because the pointer is so wildly unstable, but I prefer using a touchpad to a trackpoint/stick.  Any tips on what to do?  Dell, are you ever going to provide a touchpad driver that can make this thing work properly?  Thanks!

Steve1077

173 Posts

June 2nd, 2006 20:00

As it's new you should send it back, there must be a problem with the pad, or is it just too sensitive?

latpood

7 Posts

June 2nd, 2006 20:00

Thanks for the idea.  I don't know what to think--I sent back a less expensive model for the same reason, and Dell had told me that one needed a new palm rest.  On this laptop, I've tried to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad, but it either is so slow that it's impossible to use, or so erratic that it's also impossible. I've turned it off now.  Maybe I'll have to contact Dell support on this one, too, but I really don't want to send back my computer.  I love it otherwise!

latpood

7 Posts

June 5th, 2006 15:00

Success!  I turned off the "inertial movement" option, and all's well.  The touchpad pointer is working just fine now.  I hope Alps fixes the inertial movement option in its next driver--it's terrrible!  (And it's turned on by default in the pre-load.)

shaunf

9 Posts

June 23rd, 2006 20:00

I have this same problem on my D620. The touchpad seems to be more prone to acting up after resuming from standby. Dell sent me an entire replacement and the problem happens on this one too.

I can't seem to find this "inertia" setting. Where is that? I disabled the "assume there's a mouse wheel" setting on the ALPS device itself, and disabled the pointing stick & buttons too.

latpood

7 Posts

June 23rd, 2006 21:00

Well, I spoke too soon, and my happiness with turning off the inertial movement thing didn't last long, and that setting didn't help much.  However!  I did get a lot more relief from turning off something called "Fast Initialization" in the mouse settings.  Changing this setting also decreased the number of tabs and options available in the mouse settings control panel, so now I can't tell you where the inertial movement option was.  I suggest you skip to opton B, below, but if you want to keep hunting for inertial movement, I *think* it was here:

Option A: Inertial movement (maybe):  Control Panel-->Mouse-->Pointer Settings tab.  I also turned off "Enhance Pointer Precision" there.  If Inertial movement is not on that tab, look for the tab that has a mock up of the touchpad with yellow right angles in each of the corners--I think it may have been there. 

But here's the better solution (although it won't get you the touchpad of your dreams, unfortunately, or I should say, the touchpad we paid for):

Option B:  Turn off Fast Initialization: 

Control Panel-->Mouse-->Hardware tab-->click on Alps touchpad in Hardware tab->Properties-->Advanced Properties Tab.  In that window, make sure Fast Initialization is *not* checked.  You might also use the Help button (?) to get advice on increasing or decreasing the other two options.  I now have mine set to 200 sample length and buffer rate of 300.  OK your way out of there.  I think you may have to restart after this, but Windows will tell you.

I hope this helps! Please post if you find something even better!

shaunf

9 Posts

June 27th, 2006 21:00

Disabling Fast Initialization on mine just made the pointer incredibly sluggish, and it still isn't as responsive as it should be. I move my finger in circles on it and it seems to ignore what I'm doing for about 1/4 second every few seconds. Also, before disabling this setting, I held my finger in place on the touchpad and watched the mouse pointer jump up & down on the screen within about a 2 inch area, apparently at random. I rebooted the laptop & it appears to be working OK now. I have no idea what's going on here. The problems are random, which usually means it's a hardware problem. But this is my 2nd D620 and it's doing the same thing as my first one. I think there's something wrong with this particular model of touchpad. It just doesn't seem to be sampling the pad correctly.

latpood

7 Posts

June 28th, 2006 15:00

You're probably right that this is a hardware problem. I hope Dell does a recall.  I would definitely trade in my touchpad if a usable one came out.  Just curious:  is fast initialization on or off now on your computer?  I also adjusted tracking speed.  But it's terrible to have to make these adjustments to get a touchpad that works so badly. 

Papichulo

9 Posts

July 3rd, 2006 18:00

Well I am still having this problem for a while now and have yet to resolve it. I did however switch a known good mouth path to my laptop and it still have the problem, my guess now it might just be a motherboard problem until Dell says otherwise. I will keep looking to solve this problem.

Papichulo

9 Posts

July 3rd, 2006 19:00

I read a thread today to try a plastic bag under the keyboard to solve this problem, while this was not yet verify to solve this problem, i did however took an used keyboard that i had previosly replace because of bad keys and i saw that under the pointer it had a piece of plastic tape over the wire, while the pointer on my computer did not, so i remove the plastic tape from the bad keyboard and put it on my, now i just have to wait and see if the problem persist. so far so good.

latpood

7 Posts

July 3rd, 2006 20:00

I'm not sure I followed what you say about the plastic bag, but I'm pasting in what is, I think, the relevant posting from another thread.  I think the person suggests using the plastic bag, not as a fix, but as a way to quickly re-create the root problem--electrostatic build-up.  Here goes:

 

"The Crazy Mouse effect seems to be an electrostatic problem.

 

I tried the following with a Dell Latitude C510 (Synaptics Touchpad V5.7) Driver v7.0..  BIOS A12

Rub the laptops palmrest with a plastic bag. The housing gets charged with electrostatic energy. When the electrostatic energy reaches a certain level the mouse starts going wild. Then discharge the laptops surface by groundig it (One Hand on the surface of the Laptop, the other on electrical ground (PE) after a few seconds (bodyresistance slows the process down) the pad works fine. I tried this with all our Latitudes (8 pcs.) and it worked the same way. I assume that by typing on the keyboard the housing gets charged after a while, and then the effect takes place.

Please try that and tell me if it worked for you.

Ing. Holger Weiss

IT Departement

Ascom Austria GmbH

 

 

Message Edited by Holger Weiss on 04-29-200310:20 AM "

Papichulo

9 Posts

July 3rd, 2006 22:00

It was actually an antistatic bag but anyway sometimes while my computer is on, if I pick it up from any of the front corner the mouse would start to move away from the screen, well I did that while I was typing this thread and I can assured you that my problem have been fix by replacing the missing tape on the pointer wiring.
The cause of the erratic function, I can not tell you, but the tape did fix it.

latpood

7 Posts

July 4th, 2006 00:00

How did you find the wire?  Did you take the battery out to get to it?  You're also working with a Latitude D620?  Thanks

Papichulo

9 Posts

July 4th, 2006 04:00

Actually i was working on a c610, however the keyboard for the d620 looks very similar to the c610 and it also has the pointer device on the keyboard.  If you remove the keyboard, under the pointer device should have a plastic tape or protector, on my c610 the plastic tape was missing.  I am not sure what material it is made of but I replace from another keyboard that I had and it has been working fine.

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