Sometimes when I tap the touchpad, the pointer moves down off the target. How do I fix this?

[C66]

Right out of the box, I've had this intermittent problem with the touchpad.  When double-tapping, the pointer moves down off-target after the first tap.  Sometimes it takes several tries to get it to stay on-target so I can get the desired response.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@C66

Thank you for joining HP Forums. 

I'll be glad to help you 🙂 

As I understand sometimes the touchpad doesn't work,

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, however, to provide an accurate resolution, I need a few more details: 

Did you check with an alternate or external mouse?

While you respond to that, here's what you need to do:

Attempt using an alternate/external mouse.  

(If that works when the touchpad is disabled on Synaptic software, it would mean that it's a touchpad failure, 

However, if the external mouse doesn't work either, it could be a software/driver issue). 

Uninstall and reinstall the drivers for your mouse: 

Go to the Device Manager and select your mouse. Uninstall it and then restart your computer. During restart, your mouse driver will automatically be reinstalled. 

• 1.   Click on Start and type ‘Device Manager’. 

• 2.   Click Device Manager. 

• 3.   Click + sign next to Mouse. 

• 4.   Right-click on mouse entry and choose "uninstall". 

• 5.   Restart your computer. 

Keep me posted,

If the information I've provided was helpful, 

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons, 

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[C66]

The touchpad works fine most of the time.  I have not used a mouse with the computer, I've only used the touchpad.  The problem is that sometimes when I tap the touchpad, the pointer jumps "south" off of my target a distance equal to about a line of text.  Sometimes it does not.  If it goes south, I move it back to my target and try again.  Most of the time it works properly on the second or third try.

So you see, the touchpad works, it just doesn't seem to work "right" all the time.

Do you still think I need to install a mouse and see if the problem still occurs occasionally with the mouse?  If so, what would that suggest?

Thanks for your response,

C66

[Riddle_Decipher]

@C66

Thank you for replying with this detailed response 😉 

I appreciate your time and efforts,

Yes, I understand your concern and I still need you to check with an external device as it should work fine all the time,

if it doesn't there could be an issue with either the touchpad or the windows which needs to be addressed before it gets worse.

I also recommend using the HP Diagnostics to run a test on the touchpad if you don't have a spare mouse: Click here for details.

Let me know how that pans out

feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon,

followed by clicking on 'Accepted as Solution' as it would help the community gain more knowledge,

And Have a great day Ahead!

[C66]

Well, the  HP diagnostics didn't think there was a problem.  I've hooked up my old Logitech GS5 gaming mouse.  The pointer seems to work find, but I should probably put an hour or two into using it before coming to any conclusion.

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @C66, I am the Mr.Robot. It looks like you were interacting with @Riddle_Decipher, but he is out of the office today, so I'll take over from here.

I appriciate your efforts for writing back to us.

As you mentioned you are using an external mouse and it seems to work fine.

As touchpad is very sensitive, even with just a flick of your finger can cause the cursor to move.

You can use a external mouse as an alternative.

Try the steps recommended below to solve touchpad issues with your laptop.

 To change how the mouse buttons work

1. Click to open Mouse Properties.

2. Click the Buttons tab, and then do any of the following:

   • To swap the functions of the right and left mouse buttons, select the Switch primary and secondary buttons check box.

   • To change how quickly you must click the buttons to perform a double-click, move the Double-click speed slider towards Slow or Fast.

   • To turn on ClickLock, which enables you to highlight or drag without holding down the mouse button, select the Turn on ClickLock check box.

Also, I suggest going into the Clickpad properties using the "Advanced Filters" at the bottom to restrict pointing and tapping to the zone above the bottom buttons.  You may want to change the "Starting Zone Size" as well.

If the solution provided worked for you, please mark accepted solution for this post.

Let me know if this works!

Have a great day ahead! 🙂

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!