touchpad on HP Pavilion dv4-1548dx Entertainment Notebook occasionally hangs or freezes [ Edited ]

[frozenbase]

Hi,

i have the HP Pavilion dv4-1548dx Entertainment Notebook w/ 4GB DDR3 RAM and have wiped the computer and did a fresh full install of Win7 Ultimate 64. I have installed all of the relevant drivers from HP's page

and have for the touchpad the following driver installed:

ALPS Pointing Device Driver (2-Way) for 14-Inch Wide LCD

Released:  2009-10-22
Version:  7.202.1702.408 B

For some reason, only occasionally, and not during any particularly intense CPU usage (but, say, typing a long essay in MS Word), the touchpad will momentarily, for a full second or two, be unresponsive, or will move only slightly with considerable movement. The only cure seems to be to wait for the moment to pass, then all works fine again. It occurs sporadically, and only briefly, and perhaps once in a 6 hour session of computer use. It seems to happen regardless of being plugged in to wall power or battery, regardless of using Word or IE8, etc. (And no, I am not inadvertently hitting the touchpad on/off button.) I've toyed with the sensitivity settings in the control panel, but to no avail, and have returned them to the factory defaults.

I suspect it is either the touchpad hardware or the driver. Anyone else witnessing this problem or have insights?

Thanks for looking and your help!

[brookslively]

I have experienced this same issue and was actually just searching forums to see if there were any fixes.  I have a Pavilion dv4-1540us running Win 7 64bit and have also experienced the mouse becoming unresponsive for short periods of time for no reason.  Almost like it has a mind of its own.  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

[frozenbase]

No one else out there has any ideas?

[JRGibbs1990]

It might be a loose connection caused by heat or something, or faulty touchpads , try updating the bios it might help.

[Mysticinumiko]

Hi all,

I am having a similar problem with my brand new HP Pavilion DV4-2165DX Entertainment PC. I took it back to Best Buy where I made the purchase and I was sent to those geek squad bastards couldnt find a problem so they just basically sent me on my way and I wasted a trip to Best Buy for nothing. I am at my wits end and Best Buy's pollicy wont allow me to return it which is bull to me after what I paid for this machine. Any Ideas???

[callthepcmd]

I am having the same issue with my DV4-2058nr Entertainment notebook.  Read my post!!  It is now obvious to me that this problem is occuring with many other notebooks out there.  The problem is either with their touchpads or with the ALPS driver...flashing the BIOS doesn't do **bleep**,  and reformatting doesn't to do a **bleep** thing either, nor does updating the driver.  I suspect it's a conflict between the driver and 64-bit OS's.  64-bit OS's have known compatability issues with many different types of programs, software, such as adobe flash, for example.  So it wouldn't surprise me if it was the 64-bit OS.  Then again, the touchpad might just be a total pos...I thought that it may be possible that the tpad was sensitive to oil on peoples fingers, so I started cleaning mine whenever it starts to act up, and that seemed to help!...until now.  Now the problem seems to be getting more frequent and cleaning it has seemingly become less effective, which makes me wonder if that was ever doing anything in the first place.

What ever the explanation, HP owes us restitution!  We need to band together to get at them about issueing a recall!

[brookslively]

I would more than happy to try and write somebody to talk to somebody about this.  Any ideas on how we do it or who we talk to?  Thanks.

[frozenbase]

Thanks for all of your replies.

Though I am not glad to see you are all suffering from computer problems, I am glad to see I'm not the only one. (Misery loves company? Sorta: the more of us that have this problem, the more likely we will eventually get it addressed by HP.)

Has anyone tried contacting HP tech support via a call or chat? I was debating doing this, but haven't had the time, and moreover, suspect they'll be useless on this issue, as its too specific.

I too suspect its a 64-bit OS issue with the driver. (And yes, the Adobe Flash 64bit issue is quite annoying. It basically means we cannot use IE 64bit on our computers, given the number of websites reliant on Flash.)

I wondered also about contacting the ALPS directly on this issue. http://www.alps.com/  I find it curious that they have not issued an updated driver since 10/2009 (the approx. date that Windows 7 came out). Are they really one of the few companies that got their driver right the first time? (No, as evidenced by this thread.) Or are they just lazy about issuing an update?

I will eventually try to contact these two if no one else does, but for the next several weeks, I have very little time. So if someone else is so inclined, please do, and report your findings here.

Thanks for all of your info!

PS: I am dumbfounded that this forum refuses to email me whenever there is a post to this thread, even though I've subscribed. So I apologize for not being more responsive. I apparently have to remember to check in now and then, versus relying on a HP notification of a response here.

[frozenbase]

ping

[sealherder]

I bought two hp pavilion dm 1 and both have the same fault. Please keep me updated as I have tried everthing and it st hasn't cured the fault! the cursor jumps all over the place and freezes up.. Its maddening..