Synaptics Toupad not working after new HD install

[WebsByTLW]

I recently had a new hard drive installed on my HP Pavillion 13-a110dv, and we used the boot USB drive that I had created when I bought the laptop to boot it up.  Unfortunately the Synaptics Touchpad has not worked since the HD install. 

The device does not show up initially in the Device Manager under Mice and Pointing Devices, but will show up if I click on "Show Hidden Devices," in which case it lists "Synaptics SMBus TouchPad" with a yellow warning triangle over it.   Right clicking its properties says "This device is not present, is not working properly, or does not have all its drivers installed. (Code 24)"  If I click on "Update Driver" it says that the driver is up to date.

I've followed the various suggestions made by the HP Support Assistant which have not worked, including:

--uninstalling and installing a new driver

--testing if the touchpad works in recovery mode - it doesn't

--downloading the driver from the HP website - it says the one I have is newer and deleting and installing the older one doesn't work

--doing a system diagnostic from F2 on start up - there is no Touchpad in the component list to test, otherwise quick test comes up fine.

I have additionally done a second full recovery using an HP purchased boot USB hoping that this would give me back the Touchpad.  But it would not complete on multiple tries.  It's notable that the boot drive was labeled Toshiba Msft Norb USB Device.  Why would HP send me a Toshiba reboot drive?

So I went back to my earlier Recovery boot USB and got it up and running again.  But still no Touchpad.  (Note that with the new HD, there is no longer a recovery partition on the HD.)

I would note that the Programs list does include the "Synaptics ClickPad Driver."  But something is not connecting somewhere to make it work.

Finally I have hoped that Windows Update might help with the problem, but I had to troubleshoot that yesterday to get it up and working properly.  That required downloading a newer debugged version from midyear last year (my laptop has mostly 2015 components in the recovery image), and then updates have been coming.  But so far no fix for the touchpad.

I'm open to other troubleshooting ideas.

[banhien]

Hi,

I can't find HP Pavilion x360 13-a110dv anywhere but please try the following  Synaptics Touch Pad Driver for Pavilion x360 13-axxx machines:

    http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp68001-68500/sp68198.exe

or

    http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp66001-66500/sp66234.exe

Regards.

[WebsByTLW]

Sorry -13-a110dx - not v.

Neither installation fixed the problem. 

For both, I uninstalled the previous version from the Programs list, and also uninstalled the device from properties in the Device Manager.  Then restarted the computer, waiting several minutes before installing the .exe file, which I had previously saved.

After one of those installs, however, I went into Control Panel > Hardware, then clicked on Mouse, and I got the following message:

"Unable to connect to the Synaptics Pointing Device Driver.  If you have installed another PS/2 Pointing Device Drive please uninstall the Synaptics driver by clicking on the Yes button.  You then need to reinstall your pointing device drive for your external device again.  Do you want to uninstall the Synaptics drive now?  Yes  No"

Figuring that perhaps one of the external mice that I have used was blocking the Synaptics program, I clicked yes to uninstall Synaptics, then restarted.  Then removed my external mouse, and using my touch screen, went to Device Manager and uninstalled ALL previously listed mice.  I checked Programs to make sure that there was no Synaptics program listed, which there was not.  Then restarted the computer.

After the restart, I again went to Device Manager, and discovered that the restart put back two mouse drivers:

an HID-compliant mouse which appeared operational and a PS/2 Compatible Mouse which had a yellow triangle over it and its properties said it wasn't working (Code 24).  (Neither was the Touchpad working.)

I again started to install the Synaptics driver using the touch screen to navigate, and this message came up:

"A previous version of the Synaptics TouchPad Drive is installed.  If you continue installation, the driver may not install properly.  To avoid this problem, press NO to exit  Setup.  The, uninstall the previous Synaptics driver by selectin "Synaptics TouchPad" from the "Add/Remove Programs? Control Panel.  Finally, run Setup again. Continues? Yes/No"

There was no Synaptics driver in the Programs list, I had previously checked that.  So I continued to try the install again. choosing yes to continue.  But still no Touchpad.

I tried various versions of the above sequence, with uninstalls, restarts, installs, restarts, uninstalls, restarts, a different install, restart, and did so with external mouse and with external mouse drivers removed -- all to no avail.

But what I learned from the above sequence is that the computer seems to know that the Touchpad is there and appears to be trying to connect to it.  But something is blocking it.  And it will even make sure in a restart that those drivers are in place even after I have removed them. 

Also after installing the older Synaptics driver, Windows Update stepped in with a message that it had an update for the Synaptics driver.  I let it do the update, restarted, but nothing had changed.  That again says that the computer is recognizing that the Touchpad is there and that there are drivers for it, but it's just not all connecting properly.

[banhien]

Hi,

One of the above driver

     http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp68001-68500/sp68198.exe

is listed on the following link:

    https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-13-a100-x360-convertible-pc/7234922/mod...

Now, please uninstall whatever you've got on your computer and install sp68198 driver.

Regards

[WebsByTLW]

I disconnected all mice and uninstalled all mouse drivers from the Device Manager, and the Synaptics driver from the Program list using the touch screen.  Then I installed the sp68198 driver.   What I found odd was that it never told me to restart, which I knew needed to occur.  So I restarted.  Once the computer was back up, I had a message to restart the computer for the changes to take affect. (?)  So I restarted again.  (Still no mice connected and the Touchpad no working.)

Then I opened the Hardware tool from the Control Panel using the touch screen and touched "Mouse" to open it.  I then got the following message:

"Unable to connect to the Synaptics Pointing Device Driver.  If you have installed another PS/2 Pointing Device Driver please uninstall the Synaptics driver by clicking on the Yes button.  You then need to reinstall your pointing device driver for your exteral device again.  Do you want to uninstall the Synaptics driver now?  Yes/No"

I chose NO, and went to the Device Manager using touch screen and chose View > Show Hidden Devices.  Under Mice, it showed an HID-compliant mouse (which I had previously removed and still had not connected any mice), and the Synaptics SMBus TouchPad with a yellow triangle over it showing it not working.

I can remove all mice drivers, but upon restart, Windows will automatically put a mouse driver back, whether I have one connected or not.

Bottom line:  the TouchPad still does not work.  Reinstalls of Synaptics Drivers are no help.

[WebsByTLW]

It's disappointing that HP has not continued to monitor my progress on this problem, my last post being over two weeks ago.  So I have had to take the laptop to a local repair shop for $$$, and it is now fixed.

The problem was that the Synaptics Driver that was on the Restore USB Drive provided by HP and provided in the links above is a driver with an UNSIGNED CERTIFICATE that Windows would not allow to operate.  The problem was essentially between Windows and Synaptics, and not an HP problem per se.  However it certainly is disappointing that HP didn't recognize the problem and provide a driver with a signed certificate.