HP has no way to disable malfunctioning pointing stick in-system-- and it's ruining the laptop

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So this is an issue I've tried to fix through HP support, and wasn't able to get anywhere.

I have a custom HP ZBook 17 G5 that was very high spec and VERY expensive (I use it basically as a desktop for my art I can occasionally bag up and take places). There's a consistent error with the pointing stick (that I never use) where it will eventually start dragging my mouse to the lower left at varying speeds and get to the point where it's just fast enough it makes things basically unclickable.

I don't know if it's a hardware or a software issue. Restarting seems to fix it (sometimes), and it fixes itself as sporadically as it starts, but pressing on it persistently on occasion fixes it too.

So the fix should be simple, right? Just go in to the system and shut down the pointing stick. Easy. Problem: there's literally no option to do that, because there is no interface for the pointing stick in the system. At all. I went through HP support to try to find a fix there and was told there was nothing to be done, because there's no app or way to access the settings of it within the laptop. It just doesn't exist because it wasn't built in. So it "works" and it's constantly ruining my use of the laptop, but there's no way to turn it off or disable it because it's not in my device manager or anything.

At this point, I'll take literally any suggestion for a way to turn it off. If there's a way to just physically remove the pointing stick totally from my laptop and not have it jack anything else up, I will absolutely do it. This thing I never use and can't access is making basic use of my laptop impossible, and within the system itself HP has locked me out, given me something broken, and then made no way to fix it or turn it off.

There's obviously software SOMEWHERE, because it does move my mouse around and it generally fixes itself off of a restart before it starts up again, but within the HP system there's no fix. This is driving me insane and ruining my ability to work. Please, I'll take any fix! Coding, going at the thing with a screwdriver-- I'm serious, if there's a way to break it irreparably so it never works again without harming the rest of my laptop I will absolutely double-tap that little mofo with a smile on my face and a song in my heart, I hate it so much at this point.

I don't know why HP has a pointing stick without building in some apparatus to disable it, but it's making my very nice and expensive laptop impossible to use. Help!

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Try uninstalling the Alps Alpine HID Mouse Driver (it also has drivers for all the input devices such as touchpad etc.) and try that out first. Then download the latest driver from support and re-install. I have the same ZBook and have never experienced this, but double click (with a HP mouse) doesn't always work which is annoying. But it could also be a hardware malfunction, which HP should address, since if like me you should still be in warranty.

I would also not overlook the possibility that something is lodged inside the pointer stick. Thoroughly clean your keyboard and if you have it spray compressed air in and around the stick