Why does my touchpad quit working.

Question

My touchpad stops working on its own. I'll be moving the cursor arrow around in a game, wordpad document or just selecting icons on the desktop and it will quit. When it quits, I can still use my touch screen or a wireless mouse, but nothing brings the touchpad back until I restart the laptop. Then the touchpad works fine until it goes dumb again.

I've tried logging the dates and times in a Notepad file and the going through the Event Log files to see if anything corresponds to those logged times, but those logs are quite extensive and I've not found one that matches my logs.

I've tried loading drivers and deleting touchpad drivers to no avail. I'm very sure it is NOT a hardware problem because rebooting the laptop brings the touchpad back to life.

I'm using a DELL Inspiron 7415 2-in-1. The touchpad is a Synoptics touchpad.

Universal DELL up date installed.

Answer 1

Kyo.Y - MSFT | Microsoft Community Technical Support 

        I've gotten part way through your suggestions.

1.  No way to do recovery or undo updates as this problem has bugged me for many months.

2.  Did the  DISM & SFC stuff and all came back showing no problems.

3.  Tried to do the STARTUP/SAFE MODE thing, but couldn't get it to work using the somewhat confusing method described in your suggestion. I will try that SAFEMODE another way when I have time.

4.  No other users on my DELL laptop, so no help there.

5.  Drivers: Gads, I've reloaded, deleted and rebooted and dug DELL, MICROSOFT, & SYNOPTICS for drivers. One of them had a hundred drivers, but I couldn't determine which one to try. 

6. Following your directions regarding Driver updating:

In the Update Drivers window, select Browse my computer for drivers. 

Next, choose Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer. now. I did find a possible thing when I followed your directions on updating the driver. 

I found two HID touchpad drivers listed. I selected the one that was not highlighted and installed it. As I was writing this text, the touchpad quit. Redid the procedure using the other listed driver, but still had non-operating touch pad. I'll reboot and see what happens.

Reboot, and that included a Windows up-date. I doubt it will have any effect on my touchpad issue, but if it does, I'll let you know.

01/06/25

This driver update didn't solve the issue. I tried it several ways and nothing worked.

Also tried clearing the "Fast Start Option", but it still quits and only comes back on reboot.

My only suspicion is some sort of interrupt conflict, but don't see any warnings regarding that.

Please give me any other ideas to try.

Answer 2

Hi RogDogNY, Welcome to Microsoft Community. We're sorry to hear that you're experiencing unusual touchpad behavior on your device.

We understand your frustration. It prevents you from completing your work or entertainment experience smoothly.

Just some things to share with you before dealing with the problem together.

• We (members of the Answers community) are not developers or direct maintainers of any service or product, we are just regular support staff. We try to provide support based on our limited experience and available information, and limited test equipment.
• You may notice that the information we provide is sometimes complex and “All-in-One”, because we need to eliminate unnecessary interferences as much as possible to narrow down the scope of the problem analysis.

When a problem occurs with a device, restoring the device to a relatively early state to minimize the impact of potential software environment changes is always the preferred option.

To open System Restore, Use the keyboard shortcut Windows +R, type rstrui.exe and press Enter.

• In the Restore system files and settings box, select Next
• Select the restore point that you want to use in the list of results. If you don’t see the restore point that you want to use, select the Show more restore points check box to see more restore points.
• Optionally, select Scan for affected programs.
• Once you find the proper restore point, select Next > Finish.
• After the restore point is applied, Windows restarts automatically.

To uninstall an update,

• In the Settings app on your Windows device, select Windows Update> Update history> Uninstall updates.
• On the list that appears, select update you want to remove, and then select Uninstall.
• **Note:**Some updates cannot be uninstalled.

SFC is essential for diagnosing and fixing issues caused by damaged Windows system files, which can lead to crashes, performance problems, or unexpected errors. By scanning the integrity of these files and automatically replacing faulty ones, SFC probably helps restore system stability.

Steps to Use System File Checker 

• Press Win or Win + S, type Command Prompt, right-click it, and choose Run as administrator.
• Enter and execute the following commands (please enter one after the other)
• You can copy a single command using a shortcut key and right mouse click in the Command Prompt window to quickly paste the copied command. If a single copy fails, you can repeat the copy operation. 

  	DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth <br><br><br><br> DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth <br><br><br><br> DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth <br><br><br><br> SFC /scannow

• Please note the space before each "/"), and then press Enter. (**Note:**Every step may take a few minutes to start and complete.)

Safe Mode starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and services, making it easier to identify problems caused by third-party software or settings changes.

• When you restart your PC, press and hold the Shiftkey while you select Power> Restart.
• The device will boot into Windows Recovery Environment.
• Once in Windows RE, select Troubleshoot> Advanced options> Startup Settings> Restart.
• Select Restart, once the device reboots, in the Startup Settings screen pick one of the available options, or press Enter to boot Windows normally. 

A local account provides an independent user environment on your device.  Observing under a different user profile helps to understand if the problem is specific to a corrupted user profile. Using Command Prompt ensures you can bypass user interface issues. To create a new local account via Command Prompt: 

• Press Win or Win + S, type Command Prompt, right-click it, and choose Run as administrator.
• Execute the command to create a new account, replace <Username> with the desired username, and <Password> with the desired password.  

  	net user "<Username>" "<Password>" /add

• Execute the command to promote the account to admin level, replace <Username> with the desired username. 

  	net localgroup Administrators "<Username>" /add

For some hardwares, the driver may contain several different types and versions of files.

In some cases, you can try to check and switch drivers. To check if the computer has different types of drivers listed. 

• Press Win + X and select Device Manager from the menu, or type "Device Manager" in the search bar and select it from the results.
• In Device Manager, locate the category that includes the device you want to update or check, and expand it by clicking the arrow next to it.
• Right-click on the device you want to update or check and select Update driver.
• In the Update Drivers window, select Browse my computer for drivers.
• Next, choose Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
• You will see a list of compatible drivers for your device.
• If you see multiple options, you might choose the most recent or appropriate one for your needs, and click Next.
• Then follow the instructions to install it.

The power state policy may unexpectedly cause incomplete driver initialization, resulting in strange problems.

In the system, fast startup is an option that may be related to the power state.

If you want to disable the S4 state(fast startup) in Windows 10, follow these steps.

• In search box, type powercfg.cpl and press Enter.
• Select the Choose what the power buttons do link.
• (Optionally) Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
• Clear the Turn on fast startup (recommended) check box.
• Select Save Settings.

Another option related to the power behavior of the hardware is Modern Standby.

• Why is the power management tab missing? I have windows 11 home - Microsoft Community To start a command prompt as an administrator, click the Start charm. Type cmd, right-click the Command Prompt tile, and then click Run as administrator.

In some of the earlier threads, anomalous behavior of the touchpad or changes in settings may have been affected by specific registry entries.

• Windows 10, Synaptics touchpad settings lost on logout/reboot - Microsoft Community

Disclaimer: Generally, modifying registry subkeys or work group is intended for advanced users, administrators, and IT Professionals. It can help fix some problems, however, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For further protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, clickHow to back up and restore the registry in Windows - Microsoft Supportto view the article.

If I misunderstand your situation, feel free to correct me and share the information.Best Regards,Kyo.Y - MSFT | Microsoft Community Technical Support