Some simple solutions to solve the laptop touchpad problem

If you are working with a laptop but suddenly the touch screen of the laptop or the touchpad (Touchpad) stopped working, try to keep your cool. ; Because it might be possible to solve this problem of laptop touchpad not working. There are relatively simple solutions to this problem. In this article, we try to solve the problem of the laptop touchpad not working in Windows and Mac operating systems.

Is your entire computer system frozen?

Maybe this Stupid question, but it is possible that your entire system is frozen; That means nothing works, neither the touchpad nor the keyboard. In this case, several actions can be taken.

To test this issue, press the Windows button on the laptop keyboard to open the start menu. Then try to open the Windows security screen by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Delete buttons. On a Mac, try pressing Cmd + Space to open Spotlight. This is an easy solution to see if your computer is responsive when using the keyboard. to process After a few minutes, if the computer system is still frozen, you need to press and hold the laptop's power button to shut down the laptop.

Check your keyboard's touchpad button

One One of the most common reasons for a laptop touchpad not working is that you accidentally disabled it with a key combination. In most laptops, there is a button called Fn. Try pressing Fn with F1. If nothing special happens, press Fn with the F2 button.

Usually, the combination of the Fn button with the F series buttons on the top of the keyboard gives special and useful operations. For example, you can adjust brightness, access wireless internet and other tasks easily by pressing two buttons. However, on many laptops, one of these combinations will disable the laptop's touchpad. Sometimes this reason makes you think that maybe your touchpad has been physically damaged and broken.

The exact combination that caused this to happen is different in different laptop models. Typically, however, the F button has a square or rectangular icon similar to a laptop touchpad, with a cross on or around it. In some laptops, there is a small light on the desired F button on the keyboard so that the user is aware of this issue if the touchpad is turned off. For example, in the image below, you can see the HP laptop, where the F5 button has the function of turning off the touchpad in combination with the Fn button.

Remove any external microphones

Another solution to fixing a laptop touchpad problem is something that is out of the ordinary for users. If you have a microphone connected to the laptop via a USB cable, it is better to temporarily remove it from the system. Also, if a microphone is connected to the laptop via Bluetooth, it must be removed from the operating system. When an external mouse is plugged in, they automatically disable the touchpad. Maybe this is the reason why your laptop's touchpad is disabled. To get the best result, first turn off the laptop system. Then remove all peripheral and unnecessary devices connected to the laptop with USB. Finally, turn on the system again.

If you reboot the system and the touchpad works again, the problem is actually from this point. Depending on what your laptop system is, you may be able to keep the laptop's touchpad active even after connecting an external mouse and microphone by fiddling around in the operating system settings.

Touchpad settings in Check Windows

You should check your mouse settings inside Windows. Maybe some of the settings have been accidentally changed. For this purpose, go to Settings> Devices> touchpad in Windows 10. In Windows 11, you need to go to Settings> Bluetooth & devices> Touchpad.

In this section, make sure that the touchpad section is activated. There is also a box in this section that says: Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected. If you want the touchpad to be active forever and in all situations, you should tick this section. Make sure your mouse is behaving properly:

If this menu doesn't solve your problem, maybe touchpad settings are in another place. Go to Settings> Devices> Mouse and click on Additional mouse options. In Windows 10, this is in the form of a link on the side Right there is. If you don't see it, drag the Settings window horizontally until it finally appears. In Windows 11, this item is at the bottom of the list.

In the dialog box, you should see a tab on the right side of Device Settings, TouchPad, or something similar. You can enable or disable the touchpad in this section. It is possible that this section has already been disabled. So by reactivating you can fix the laptop touchpad.

Go to mouse management

If your laptop touchpad is still having problems, you should look for other settings to solve this problem. Right-click the Start button or press Win + X to open another menu. Then click on Device Manager.

Next, open the Mice and other pointing devices category. If you have connected other things to the laptop in addition to the mouse, you will see several things in this section. Double click on one of them and look in the Location section of the General tab. If in this section it says On USB Input Device or something similar, it is not your touchpad.

After you find your mouse, right-click and select Disable device and then Enable device. In the next step, right-click on the existing entry, select Update driver option, and then select Search automatically for updated driver software. It's almost impossible to find a new driver to solve the problem, but sometimes this trick solves a laptop touchpad problem.

If in this section, you see a device with a yellow exclamation mark or a red X On it, there is actually a driver problem. For this purpose, you need to update the Moore Nazar driver. For this purpose, go to the website of the laptop manufacturer and download the latest version of the driver and then install it.

If the manufacturers have included equipment for this purpose in the operating system, you can get help from this tool. For example, in Lenovo laptops, Lenovo System Update is installed, which is effective for updating drivers. If such a tool is not available, you should search the name and model of your laptop along with the word drivers in Google to refer to the website of the main manufacturer of the laptop and install the latest drivers. We recommend not to refer to foreign sites to install the driver; Because their files are suspected to be viruses. By installing the latest update from the laptop manufacturer's website, the laptop touchpad problem may be solved. We also recommend that before installing the new driver, first by going to the Device Manager section and clicking on Uninstall device, completely remove the previous driver and then install the new driver.

In the BIOS/UEFI section, go to Look for the touchpad settings

The settings in the BIOS or UEFI section are actually independent of the operating system. they are going. It is possible that your touchpad is disabled in the BIOS and Windows is completely blocked from accessing files.

There are different ways to enter the laptop BIOS screen depending on the type of laptop. Normally, when you turn on your laptop, you have to press F2, Del, and maybe F8 repeatedly to bring up a new screen. Next, look for a section titled Internal Pointing Device, Touchpad, Trackpad or something similar. The said items may be hidden in the Advanced section.

Once you find the mentioned options, make sure they are not disabled. If the option is disabled, you can easily re-enable it.

Disable Tablet Services

Windows devices that have a touch screen, such as 2-in-1 hybrid devices, a They have a special background service called Tablet PC Input Service. This service actually controls touch functionality, including disabling your trackpad when you're in tablet mode.

There's a small chance that this service will interfere with normal touchpad functionality. It doesn't seem bad to check this out as well. To check, type services in the start menu and then click the Services tool. In this section, go to Tablet Pc Input Service, right click on it and then select Stop option. After this, your touchpad will probably be activated again.

To prevent this service from running again every time after turning on the laptop, double-click on it and change Startup Type to Manual. Change it so that it is not executed in unnecessary cases. Disabling this item will prevent the regular execution of this service, but be aware that in tablet mode, you may see undesirable behavior from the system. So far, we've looked at Windows-related solutions, but MacBook touchpads can also suffer. In the following, we propose four solutions to solve this problem.

1. Check for Mac OS updates

It goes without saying that the Mac operating system should be updated to have the latest drivers, firmwares and operating system. To check if a new driver has been released for the touchpad, simply open System Preferences and then click on Software Update. But in order to troubleshoot the touchpad, click the Trackpad Firmware Update option. If you have something like this in the download queue, click on the Update option to complete the update process.

2. Check the relevant settings

If there is no update available or the problem is not solved by updating, in the next step it is better to check the settings related to the touchpad. There are simple software solutions for three common touchpad problems, which we'll cover below.

Double click not working

If your trackpad seems to be fully functional but you just don't have the ability to double-click, the system may be lagging. To solve this problem, go to System Preferences> Accessibility, scroll down the left sidebar to find Pointer Control.

In this section, you will see various options, but you should go to Double-click speed to go. Somewhere in the middle is suitable for most users, but depending on your taste and comfort, you can determine the double click speed.

Controlling the pointer is difficult

If it is difficult for you to work with the mouse pointer, it is better to adjust the Track speed. To do this, you need to go to System Preferences> Trackpad. Here you will see a slider at the bottom of the page titled Tracking speed. As with the previous option, the middle section is the most desirable for most users.

Touchpad is completely disabled

If the touchpad is not fully functional, it can be fixed in software. did To test this problem, check if a physical mouse is connected to the system via USB or Bluetooth. If you have a mouse, remove it. Does your trackpad work now? If so, your system is programmed to disable the trackpad when a mouse is connected.

As long as you are using OS X 10.7 Mountain Lion or later, you can change this setting. . Just go to System Preferences> Accessibility> Pointer Control and remove the tick next to Ignore Built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present.

Mac operating system may think that another accessory It is actually a mouse. Try to disconnect all peripheral devices, such as keyboards, printers, game controllers, etc., from the system to see if there is a difference in the performance of the touchpad.

3. Check the Mac hardware

It is also possible that a hardware problem is causing the Mac touchpad to fail. For example, if the pointer is jumping, it may be because of the battery level. By connecting the charging cable, this problem may be solved. Sometimes sweaty or wet hands may cause multiple signals to be transferred to the touchpad at once and this part will be disturbed. Sometimes in lower model MacBooks, blowing the battery can cause malfunctions in the touchpad.

4. Delete the Property List files

If all the mentioned tricks are useless, the last attempt to solve the touch problem Pad is to remove files called Property List. The Mac operating system uses the mentioned files to store settings and user information as well as software installed on the system. Deleting these files causes the Mac operating system to recreate new files. To delete the desired files that are related to the mouse and touchpad, find Finder and then go to Go> Go to Folder and then type /Library/Preferences and click Go. You should find these files and delete them:

• com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist (Magic Trackpad)
• com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch .mouse.plist (Magic Mouse)
• com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist (wired USB mouse)
• com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad.plist
• com.apple.preference.trackpad.plist

Reboot the Mac OS. If the problem is solved, the touchpad should start working again. If none of the mentioned things solve the problem, you should seek help from hardware experts. Otherwise, the iFixit program is one of the few software options available that you can solve this problem on your own. Tutorials for working with iFixit are available on YouTube. Of course, if the touchpad problem is not a software problem, using this program is obviously useless.

Does the touchpad still have a problem?

If The solutions mentioned so far have not been useful at all in solving the laptop touchpad problem, maybe there is a hardware problem for the system. Maybe the power cable related to the touchpad is broken or maybe some of the touchpad components are broken. In this case, it is better to go to a computer expert or a warranty company to solve this problem. Otherwise, avoid opening the laptop by yourself.

Source: makeuseof< /p>