Laptop dying? Issues with touchpad

[GreekGodX]

My laptop is about 5 years old now, a Dell Inspiron 8600. Every time I touch the touchpad now there is the system error beeping and chaos happens on my computer screen. Sometimes it dims and brightens the display, disconnects the wireless card, changes language of my keyboard etc. Anybody experience this before? I read up on some other sites and people talked about the motherboard going out. All the computer people please help a brotha out!!

[RGD.]

Originally Posted by GreekGodX

My laptop is about 5 years old now, a Dell Inspiron 8600. Every time I touch the touchpad now there is the system error beeping and chaos happens on my computer screen. Sometimes it dims and brightens the display, disconnects the wireless card, changes language of my keyboard etc. Anybody experience this before? I read up on some other sites and people talked about the motherboard going out. All the computer people please help a brotha out!!

My daughters 2 year old HP laptop was doing something very similar to this. I did a format (she also had a few other problems) with the install disks that came with the laptop - i.e. return it to factory - and that solved the problems. You could just try replacing/updating/re-installing the touchpad drivers and see if that helps.


Ron

[GreekGodX]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have mentioned that I did that already. That did solve my problem for a few weeks but after that it went back to doing the same thing.

[RGD.]

Could be a bad pad then - I would doubt it's the complete motherboard if that's your only issue. Try an Ebay search for a replacement pad. I've gotten some great deals on laptop parts from there. It seems a little daunting at first to take one of those apart - but just do a search to find the directions and you will be good to go.


Ron

[dunng]

Here's the Service Manual - LINK

Not sure if it would be the touch pad considering the other issues...

[mosesbotbol]

Try flashing the BIOS and try just using Microsoft's version of the touchpad driver, not the ALPS or whatever Dell uses.

[GreekGodX]

I'm gonna try flashing the BIOS.. See how that goes...

[mosesbotbol]

I had an issue on my Dell laptop that the curser would go to the bottom or left of screen and could not be moved. I think it was an IRQ error, but hardware related and ended up disabling the device and just used a mouse... Kind of shitty solution, but if it's hardware related, not much you can do; either replace hardware or disable device.

[SeanGAR]

I've replaced a few touchpads over the year on Dells but the other things going on make me think that something else is awry with your computer. Have you done thorough antivirus and spyware scans?

One way to discount hardware is to boot a live CD from one of the Linux distributions ... Ubuntu is a good one to try. If you run a live cd, you don't have to install it so you can run linux from the cd itself. If the live cd runs fine and you dont have any errors when using the trackpad under linux, it is likely a software driver/virus/spyware issue rather than a hardware issue.

Also you may be able to disable the trackpad in the BIOS and use an external mouse.

[RGD.]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

. . .
Also you may be able to disable the trackpad in the BIOS and use an external mouse.

On my daughters HP - simply plugging in a USB mouse disables the touchpad.

Ron

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

I've replaced a few touchpads over the year on Dells but the other things going on make me think that something else is awry with your computer. Have you done thorough antivirus and spyware scans?

One way to discount hardware is to boot a live CD from one of the Linux distributions ... Ubuntu is a good one to try. If you run a live cd, you don't have to install it so you can run linux from the cd itself. If the live cd runs fine and you dont have any errors when using the trackpad under linux, it is likely a software driver/virus/spyware issue rather than a hardware issue.

Also you may be able to disable the trackpad in the BIOS and use an external mouse.

AWESOME suggestion!!!

[mosesbotbol]

WinPE or BartPE are too Windows based CD operating systems that load basic drivers for the touch pad. You may want to uninstall the software for your touchpad and see if basic windows drivers does it or not.

[floydp]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

I've replaced a few touchpads over the year on Dells but the other things going on make me think that something else is awry with your computer. Have you done thorough antivirus and spyware scans?

One way to discount hardware is to boot a live CD from one of the Linux distributions ... Ubuntu is a good one to try. If you run a live cd, you don't have to install it so you can run linux from the cd itself. If the live cd runs fine and you dont have any errors when using the trackpad under linux, it is likely a software driver/virus/spyware issue rather than a hardware issue.

Also you may be able to disable the trackpad in the BIOS and use an external mouse.

I have a Dell 8600 as well, while not having your specific issues. I was getting the blue screen of death within minutes of booting. Reformatted a couple times to no avail . Almost chit canned it but like Sean suggested I installed PC Linux OS(Linux distro) and its been fine ever since. Grandson uses it just about everyday. Ubuntu is an excellent choice.

[GreekGodX]

I will have to give the Linux OS a shot. I did a virus/spyware scan and nothing came up. I'm currently using a USB mouse but occasionally I will accidentally touch the pad and it either works or doesn't.

[SeanGAR]

Originally Posted by GreekGodX

I will have to give the Linux OS a shot. I did a virus/spyware scan and nothing came up. I'm currently using a USB mouse but occasionally I will accidentally touch the pad and it either works or doesn't.

Hmm .... thinking this might be hardware. You can unplug the touch pad from the motherboard if it is a hardware problem (and you can't shut it off in the BIOS) and then use your external mouse without spending a cent.

I don't know that specific model, but most trackpad connections are available once you take the keyboard off. Sometimes, this is a few screws on the bottom of the laptop. Some makers have coded screws so you know exactly which ones need to be removed to take the keyboard off. On some Dells I have opened (D400, D420, D620 C640), there is a long strip on top of the keyboard that needs to be carefully pried off from the right, then 2-3 screws up there removed to get the keyboard off. The keyboard will normally have one ribbon cable to the MOBO and the trackpad another (much smaller) ribbon or white 2 prong micro connector. I'd check the BIOS first ... you may be able to simply turn it off there. Normally, press F2 or delete on boot to enter bios (should get a screen with that info for setup or BIOS when booting). Shoot me a PM if you want to chat while doing anything.

Sean