Touchpad is not working

[billubakra]

Hi,

I am using HP ab522tx laptop. Few days back there was a new update for Windows and right now I am on Windows 10 Version 21H2 (OS build 19044.1620). Everything worked great so the next day I opened up the laptop to clean it, just usual cleaning, only removed the fan to clean it. Did not touch any other wire/part. It worked fine for a day or so. Now since the past two days when I try to move the cursor via the trackpad/touchpad it just freezes or sometimes if I move it, it starts selecting random text on the screen. A reboot fixes it but for how long there is no guarantee. I have a wired mouse, it works fine and when a mouse is connected trackpad becomes okay too sometimes but most of the times the trackpad just gives up.

The version of the trackpad installed and the one on the website are the same

[3rd Party link site removed]

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-15-notebook-pc-series/9068229/model/932... but still I reinstalled the driver from the website. But unfortunately the result is the same.

Photo of the internals just before closing the back cover

[3rd Party link site removed]

What should I do?

When the synaptics driver was uninstalled and system was restarted then cursor worked fine (checked only for a few minutes) but sensitivity was too high. After reinstalling synaptics driver from hp's website it also worked fine for some time and then same problem started afterwards. What is causing this problem?

Thanks

Edit- The touchpad stopped working completely about twice in the past hour or so. It just hanged or froze in one place. Rebooting was not possible as was busy so used a mouse. Just out of the blue opened this option as per the screenshot and clicked on clickpad disable and then enable, nothing happened. Then clicked on reset devices and applied and it started working very well. Though sometimes it works for a few minutes after clicking on reset. Can we be certain now that this is not a hardware issue? How to fix this?

https://imgur.com/a/MEx8GWh

[erico]

You can use the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics utility Component test for the touchpad.

From an off state,  press the power button and immediately tap the F2 key to invoke the utility.

That will let you troubleshoot and verify with the use of the firmware level Component test to determine whether it is a software or hardware issue.

[billubakra]

Hi Erico,

Thanks for replying. I downloaded HP PC Hardware Diagnostics Windows v1.8.1.0  but when I ran it, with or without as an admin, it opened this cmd screen and then closed it https://imgur.com/a/UNx3LQX in short it didn't install

Then I downloaded and installed HP PC hardware diagnostics UEFI, the left one HP PC hardware diagnostics UEFI.

- What is the difference between these two diagnostic tools? https://imgur.com/a/L1ivfg2

- Screenshots from HP PC hardware diagnostics UEFI, are these the test reports that you wanted?

https://imgur.com/a/Me96k4l

These tests required me to move the cursor, to press the buttons etc. Everything works fine, it is just that they freeze all of a sudden or starts auto clicking or randomly selecting stuff on screen. When these tests were performed the trackpad was working fine after clicking the reset button as shown here https://imgur.com/a/MEx8GWh

I did not get what you meant here

From an off state, press the power button and immediately tap the F2 key to invoke the utility.

That will let you troubleshoot and verify with the use of the firmware level Component test to determine whether it is a software or hardware issue.

Pressing F2 will enable the BIOS mode, isn't it? How will the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics utility run then?

[erico]

F2 invokes the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI utility, which is installed on the hard disk.

Your notebook is new enough to have had it already installed at the factory.

F10 invokes the BIOS on any HP laptop or desktop PC..

F2 invokes the BIOS on an ASUS laptop or Dell laptop or PC.

Perhaps installing the latest Chipset  driver files will improve things.

Are you sure that you have a Synaptics touchpad? You can check in the Device Manager to see what is present. There is also an Elan touchpad driver present in the driver and software portal for your notebook. See the hyperlink below.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-15-ab500-notebook-pc-series/9068229/mod...

[billubakra]

Thanks for replying Erico.

- I will try the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI utility by pressing F2 on boot and will get back with the results here.

- Perhaps installing the latest Chipset driver files will improve things.

These are the drivers in my laptop

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-15-notebook-pc-series/9068229/model/932...

Under the chipset section there are 8 drivers. All of them are many years old. Do you want me to reinstall all of these or check the driver versions for the drivers installed in the laptop?

- Are you sure that you have a Synaptics touchpad? You can check in the Device Manager to see what is present.

I am 100% sure that I have a Synaptics touchpad. I have seen the software's icon present in task bar. Check the edit portion along with the screenshot below

Edit- The touchpad stopped working completely about twice in the past hour or so. It just hanged or froze in one place. Rebooting was not possible as was busy so used a mouse. Just out of the blue opened this option as per the screenshot and clicked on clickpad disable and then enable, nothing happened. Then clicked on reset devices and applied and it started working very well. Though sometimes it works for a few minutes after clicking on reset. Can we be certain now that this is not a hardware issue? How to fix this?

[content removed]

[erico]

I suggest installing all of the Chipset drivers.

If any are not compatible they will simply not install and that causes no harm.

"Can we be certain now that this is not a hardware issue? How to fix this?"  

It can be verified by running the diagnostics test that I mentioned before. The test runs at the firmware level and as such verifies the operation of the hardware.

If it is verified as being a non hardware issue, recovering to a date before the issue started may resolve the issue.

[billubakra]

Hi Erico,

Thanks for replying. A mod has removed the screenshot of the driver version from my last reply, don't know why.

1. A quick question, before I tell you what steps I have undertaken, I removed the Synaptics driver twice and have tried to use the touchpad without it but the sensitivity of the cursor without the drivers is pathetic. It becomes useless without the drivers. If a mouse is inserted in, with or without the Synaptics drivers then it performs normally. Same was the condition of the cursor when I was taking those tests that you have asked for, results in next point, is this normal?

2. The version of the diagnostics uefi is out of date, hope that's okay-

https://imgur.com/a/DX1YsCY

https://imgur.com/a/ebwDgpl

https://imgur.com/a/YDqOw4k

https://imgur.com/a/5e7Uthw

https://imgur.com/a/ryCjSSj

https://imgur.com/a/wRAIquG

https://imgur.com/a/XMKOTjV

https://imgur.com/a/xMfAFsm

https://imgur.com/a/AfvTawc

https://imgur.com/a/OT4TJyd

Everything seems okay?

Why is the status of the fan saying not supported? It works fine though

https://imgur.com/a/TkSGPsg

3. Uninstalled the Synaptics driver today, kept on using the mouse and tested the touchpad whether it works or not (it was next to impossible to use the touchpad without the Synaptics driver due to sensitivity issues with the cursor) Anyways it froze once. The mouse kept on working as usual. A few minutes later Windows update downloaded the same version for the Synaptics driver which was installed earlier and which is present on HP's website

https://imgur.com/a/Ec5tIWf

After the restart the cursor was like hanging a lot, clicked on reset button here and it was back to normal

https://imgur.com/a/m0hI2xc

Sometimes it works for like 10 minutes after the reset button is clicked, sometimes for like 5 minutes. Sometimes the reset button is needed to be clicked twice to force it to work normally.

4. Will download and install those 8 driver chipsets and will get back to you.

5. What is the difference between Description- Automatic restore point     Type- System

and

Description- Windows module installer                  Type- Install ?

For how long does these restore points are saved?

Edit- Reinstalled all 8 chipset drivers from this link https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-15-notebook-pc-series/9068229/model/932... 2nd and 8th driver are not compatible with the system. But the result is the same. Any other help?

Can you highlight which is the wire for the touchpad will try to remove and then attach it just to check https://imgur.com/a/oSWrJd7

Regards

[erico]

I suspect that, and you can correct me if I am wrong and please verify if I am correct, that the notebook has been in operation in excess of five years.

[billubakra]

Hi Erico,

Yes this laptop been in operation in excess of five years. What does that have to do with this issue? I have other HP laptops too which are running fine since the past 7-8 years. Why did you ask this question? And you got an idea about this from the version of the uefi diagnostic software?

Can you please reply to my previous post?

Thanks

[erico]

Electronic and mechanical components do fail. It is possible that the touchpad is no longer serviceable.

Medium to large businesses and corporations , in first world countries,  as a best practice, replace notebook and desktop PCs at that point in time for that very reason.