Touchpad on 8440p laptop

[Murphy307]

I know it's simple to some of you , but I have a laptop without a manual.  I can't find out how to disable to touchpad since I use a USB mouse.  Please help!  I looked in the settings for the mouse...didn't have anything applicable there. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You do have manuals for your notebook.

They are all on line at the following link:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&lang=en...

I suggest you look at the HP Elitebook User Guide for Windows 7 (if that is the OS you have installed) and see if there is any information that will help you.

Paul

[D_Scot]

The manual, which I just downloaded and searched, does not contain information on completely disabling the touch pad. The touchpad switch on the ribbon above the number keys disables normal function, but my thumb still can occasionally hit the touchpad and when it does the cursor is repositioned, somewhere else that I dont want it to be. 

I would like to know how to totally disable the touchpad, short of popping the KB off and cutting wires. I am happy to use the pointing stick when I have no mouse to hand (which is never) but the touchpad is nothing more than an annoyance now. 

My other laptop, an Alienware M11x does not have this issue, though it does also have a touchpad. When the softswitch is employed on that one to turn it off, it is off. 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Please see if this document is of any benefit to you...

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05336150 (Link Updated 04/27/2017)

Disable the TouchPad

On some notebooks, the TouchPad can be turned off by pressing an on/off button located near the TouchPad. If the notebook does not have such an on/off button, you can still disable the TouchPad in its settings control panel.

NOTE:

You will need to use an external mouse or some other pointing device to control the cursor when the TouchPad is disabled.

To disable the TouchPad:

1. Click Start , enter mouse in the search field, and then select the Mouse control panel program from the search results.
2. On the Device Settings tab of the Mouse Properties panel, click the Disable button to turn off the TouchPad.

The TouchPad can be re-enabled when needed.

[D_Scot]

Thanks Paul,

That seemed to be the trick. I originally didnt have the Synaptics software on this computer as it is a corporate laptop. I do have admin rights and downloaded the software and installed it. I could not execute the commands as written as they brought up my Logitech SetPoint and not the Synaptics driver. Going into the control panel and clicking on the red logo however, brought me to the point where I had the option to disable the pad, the stick or both. 

I saw those instructions on the site as well but since I didnt have the sofware driver installed, I didnt see what it was pointing to. Now I did so your instructions made sense.

Now, disabling it from the software seemed to do more than touching the icon above the F8 key did. The buttons are still not disabled but my flying thumbs are no longer repositioning my cursor, so my wire snippers will stay stored and my warranty in place. I can deal with active buttons. 

So thanks for the quick reply! It looks like the problem is solved.

Scot

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Scot:

You're very welcome.

I'm glad that you were able to disable the touchpad w/o resorting to the more draconian method you had comtemplated. 

Paul