Yeah, I have tried the diagnosis utility on the cd, and it passes the test everytime. The cursor can still move around to some degree. While running the utility the last time, I also noticed that whenever I just tap on an area of the touchpad the cursor moves from its location (I usually disable tap clicking anyway, but this would have messed things up alot with tap clicking enabled).
Just to throw in my new input since I'm having the same problem.
I've been bouncing between A25 and a28 BIOS revisions and there is a noticable change in the effect it has on the touchpad. With either driver though I get the same erratic behavior but the touchpad seems more responsive under the older BIOS. In fact at this point if I could go back to the revision A01 BIOS I would love to. I don't know if the BIOS change was the culprit but I had no problems before swapping to the newer one and the only reason I changed my BIOS was to try to fix a video issue which turned out to be hardware related.
I haven't tried the Diag utility yet, I will when I get home and let you know how it works out.
Good luck. Monitor it and post again after a few weeks of use of the new palmrest. Our problems didn't show up again until after a week or two of use of the new palmrest.
Hope it works. If it does, I will be next in line on Dell Tech-support hold.
I have tried three different bios levels and two different driver sets, and a clean install on a fresh disk (not related to touchpad problem, just upgrading disk) and nothing has worked. Called tech support today and they are going to replace the palmrest. I'll post back whenit is done.
Tim
btw, mine works much better in the areas where it still feels "rough" - not shiny and smooth where my finger has polished it with use.
Ok, I ran a FULL Dell Diagnostic on the system. While it said that it reset some settings when it came to the Touchpad, it didn't really seem to do anything. The touchpad was also working at it's absolute worst in the diag utility behaving very erratically. Afterward however it did seem to behave a little better in Windows.
One other thing I have noticed is that my right scroll region on the touchpad has gotten significantly smaller and I had to widen the region to get it to work. I used the defaults fine when it wasn't behaving horribly.
Touchpad drivers do nothing (original and new). Bios revisions have a definite effect. A25 is worse than A28, but A28 there is noticable problems.
Just got my new palmrest and it works great - just like new. BTW there is an application in the Synaptics program folder called SynMood. if you click on it in file Explorer, it will bring up a graphical app showing the tracking areas that you are touching on the touchpad. Mine showed a "V" on the right side, even when I dragged straight down the edge. There was also a big dead spot right where my finger usually rests. The new touchpad shows just as I touch it, no dead spots, and is totally accurate. I'll post back after using it for a couple of weeks but you who are fighting the problem should use that app and look at how yours is actually reating to your touch.
Yes, I have noticed that as well. It seems the touchpad doesn't sense anything along the edges correctly. This is what my MoodPad image looks like:
Along with not going all the way to the edge, it senses in strange patters. I made the above pattern by moving my finger along the outside of the touchpad, in straight lines along the edge. The cursor mimicks the pattern seen above.
Hopefully the new palmrests work. We are on our second one now, but maybe they fixed them now. We'll see. Thanks.
Well I haven't gotten mine replaced yet, but I definitely have noticed that it's gotten worse on my touchpad. At some points, if the system has been running and the touchpad not active for awhile, it won't even pick up regular movements on the touchpad. I'm waiting on calling in the replacement until I have my new desktop (my own build I won't touch Dell for desktops).
5150LOCO
9 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 14:00
orrinrule
28 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 14:00
Yeah, I have tried the diagnosis utility on the cd, and it passes the test everytime. The cursor can still move around to some degree. While running the utility the last time, I also noticed that whenever I just tap on an area of the touchpad the cursor moves from its location (I usually disable tap clicking anyway, but this would have messed things up alot with tap clicking enabled).
At this point I am just ready to give up.
5150LOCO
9 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 14:00
orrinrule
28 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 14:00
DELL-BobT
3.1K Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 15:00
orrinrule,
What does updating the touch-pad drivers do, does this fix the issue?
orrinrule
28 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 15:00
MistrBlank
52 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 16:00
Just to throw in my new input since I'm having the same problem.
I've been bouncing between A25 and a28 BIOS revisions and there is a noticable change in the effect it has on the touchpad. With either driver though I get the same erratic behavior but the touchpad seems more responsive under the older BIOS. In fact at this point if I could go back to the revision A01 BIOS I would love to. I don't know if the BIOS change was the culprit but I had no problems before swapping to the newer one and the only reason I changed my BIOS was to try to fix a video issue which turned out to be hardware related.
I haven't tried the Diag utility yet, I will when I get home and let you know how it works out.
-MistrBlank
orrinrule
28 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 19:00
Good luck. Monitor it and post again after a few weeks of use of the new palmrest. Our problems didn't show up again until after a week or two of use of the new palmrest.
Hope it works. If it does, I will be next in line on Dell Tech-support hold.
Orrin Edenfield.
parkerti
610 Posts
0
December 15th, 2003 19:00
Tim
btw, mine works much better in the areas where it still feels "rough" - not shiny and smooth where my finger has polished it with use.
MistrBlank
52 Posts
0
December 16th, 2003 17:00
MSPaint also seems to work well to tell what it's sensing.
-MistrBlank
MistrBlank
52 Posts
0
December 16th, 2003 17:00
Ok, I ran a FULL Dell Diagnostic on the system. While it said that it reset some settings when it came to the Touchpad, it didn't really seem to do anything. The touchpad was also working at it's absolute worst in the diag utility behaving very erratically. Afterward however it did seem to behave a little better in Windows.
One other thing I have noticed is that my right scroll region on the touchpad has gotten significantly smaller and I had to widen the region to get it to work. I used the defaults fine when it wasn't behaving horribly.
Touchpad drivers do nothing (original and new). Bios revisions have a definite effect. A25 is worse than A28, but A28 there is noticable problems.
-MistrBlank
parkerti
610 Posts
0
December 16th, 2003 17:00
Tim
orrinrule
28 Posts
0
December 16th, 2003 17:00
Yes, I have noticed that as well. It seems the touchpad doesn't sense anything along the edges correctly. This is what my MoodPad image looks like:
Along with not going all the way to the edge, it senses in strange patters. I made the above pattern by moving my finger along the outside of the touchpad, in straight lines along the edge. The cursor mimicks the pattern seen above.
Hopefully the new palmrests work. We are on our second one now, but maybe they fixed them now. We'll see.
Thanks.
Orrin
orrinrule
28 Posts
0
December 26th, 2003 17:00
Anything new on the touch pads? Has anyone who has gotten his or hers replaced noticed degradation yet?
Thanks.
MistrBlank
52 Posts
0
December 26th, 2003 18:00
Well I haven't gotten mine replaced yet, but I definitely have noticed that it's gotten worse on my touchpad. At some points, if the system has been running and the touchpad not active for awhile, it won't even pick up regular movements on the touchpad. I'm waiting on calling in the replacement until I have my new desktop (my own build I won't touch Dell for desktops).
-MistrBlank