Touchpad stopped working

[Guest]

i have a compaq presario 1720us and my touchpad does not work. i have talked
with compaq multiple times before and recieved no help at all. everything i
was told to do, i had already done, several times, but i did them again
anyway, and it did not work. i have downloaded the drivers several times,
from their site, and even once from synaptics site just as a long shot, just
to be sure that i did not get a corrupt file, i have uninstalled the drivers
and reinstalled them several times.... but nothing works. the device was
working just fine one day, and the next it was not.

in an effort to figure this out, i have noticed one thing that must be the
problem, i just can't figure out how to get it changed. here it is.

in the control panel under the hardware device manager, i click on
properties for my synaptics touchpad and under the "general" tab, the "device
usage" area at the bottom where you select "use this device (enable)" or "do
not use this device (disable)" is grayed out. i cannot select anything
there. It says the device is working properly but it's not. I think this
"grayed out thing is the answer somehow.

on my other devices, it is not grayed out and i can select whether to use it
or not.

i really need this fixed.... as this notebook is pretty useless as a
"mobile" unit without the touchpad working. i can plug a mouse in and it
works ok, but that's not very practicle when you are on the move.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Sharon F]

i have a compaq presario 1720us and my touchpad does not work. i have talked
with compaq multiple times before and recieved no help at all. everything i
was told to do, i had already done, several times, but i did them again
anyway, and it did not work. i have downloaded the drivers several times,
from their site, and even once from synaptics site just as a long shot, just
to be sure that i did not get a corrupt file, i have uninstalled the drivers
and reinstalled them several times.... but nothing works. the device was
working just fine one day, and the next it was not.

in an effort to figure this out, i have noticed one thing that must be the
problem, i just can't figure out how to get it changed. here it is.

in the control panel under the hardware device manager, i click on
properties for my synaptics touchpad and under the "general" tab, the "device
usage" area at the bottom where you select "use this device (enable)" or "do
not use this device (disable)" is grayed out. i cannot select anything
there. It says the device is working properly but it's not. I think this
"grayed out thing is the answer somehow.

on my other devices, it is not grayed out and i can select whether to use it
or not.

i really need this fixed.... as this notebook is pretty useless as a
"mobile" unit without the touchpad working. i can plug a mouse in and it
works ok, but that's not very practicle when you are on the move.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Have you checked to see if the touchpad is enabled/disabled in Control
Panel> Synaptic Touchpad? From your description it sounds like it has been
disabled. This was a recommended setting on my old Compaq laptop whenever a
mouse was present.

 

[Guest]

Is there any setting in the BIOS for pointing device? I have seen laptops
where you have to change a setting to use the touch pad or pointing stick. Or
you just might have a faulty touchpad.

Jeff S
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Guest]

Have you checked to see if the touchpad is enabled/disabled in Control
Panel> Synaptic Touchpad? From your description it sounds like it has been
disabled. This was a recommended setting on my old Compaq laptop whenever a
mouse was present.

If you'll notice in my original post, the enable/disable funtion seems to be
the problem. here it is again.

" in the control panel under the hardware device manager, i click on
properties for my synaptics touchpad and under the "general" tab, the "device
usage" area at the bottom where you select "use this device (enable)" or "do
not use this device (disable)" is grayed out. i cannot select anything
there. It says the device is working properly but it's not. I think this
"grayed out thing is the answer somehow.

on my other devices, it is not grayed out and i can select whether to use it
or not.

Thanks

 

[Guest]

mtjoyhero,

I did look at the BIOS after i posted this, and there is nothing there that
says anything about the touchpad or a PS/2 device. I was really hoping that
would be it after I read about this.

I am trying to not have to reinstall win xp just to fix this problem.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Have you tried the XP System Restore feature? You said this worked one day
and then suddenly stopped. XP's System Restore takes the system settings
back to a designated time when things were working assuming you have a
restore date that goes back that far; Start\All Programs\Accessories\System
Tools\System Restore.

If that doesn't resolve it, here are a few other things you can try short of
a fresh XP install:

First, be sure your antivirus software has the latest definitions and run a
virus scan.

Second, download, install and run Ad Aware:
www.lavasoftusa.com

The following assumes you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a restore CD or
restore partition supplied by your PC manufacturer.

Go to Start, type sfc /scannow in the run box and press enter. Note, there
is a space between sfc and the forward slash. You will be asked for your XP
CD. Be aware, upon inserting the CD the XP setup screen may appear, this is
not a part of sfc /scannow, rather it is being invoked by autorun. Simply
minimize the screen and allow sfc to continue.

If the above fails to resolve the issue, try a repair install as follows:

Be sure you are well backed up in case there is a problem from which you are
unable to recover. NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data
files intact, if something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be
forced to start over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your
data backed up, you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive, boot with the XP
CD in the drive. If it isn't or you are not sure, you need to enter the
system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually has
instructions that if you wish to enter setup press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence. Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will reboot.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

 

[Sharon F]

[9 quoted lines suppressed]

If you'll notice in my original post, the enable/disable funtion seems to be
the problem. here it is again.

" in the control panel under the hardware device manager, i click on
properties for my synaptics touchpad and under the "general" tab, the "device
usage" area at the bottom where you select "use this device (enable)" or "do
not use this device (disable)" is grayed out. i cannot select anything
there. It says the device is working properly but it's not. I think this
"grayed out thing is the answer somehow.

on my other devices, it is not grayed out and i can select whether to use it
or not.

Thanks

I wasn't talking about the enable/disable in Device Manager. I was talking
about the controls offered by the Synaptic drivers and software. These
usually add an extra control panel icon where you can control the touchpad.
It's been a while since I've had a laptop (use a tablet PC nowadays) but
have also seen the software incorporate its settings into the main Mouse
control panel applet (Control Panel> Mouse: check through settings).

That enable/disable is greyed out in Device Manager might be significant
but it could simply be an indication that other software (Synaptic) is in
charge of this device being available or not.