Top Ways to Fix "Laptop Touchpad Not Working"

Laptop's Touchpad Stops working

"The built-in Synaptic touchpad on my notebook no longer works, making Windows nearly impossible to use. Even the touchpad scrolling not working! I am so disappointed because I don't have a mouse here."

Imagine that without a mouse, touchpad or other pointing device, how can you use a Windows PC? So it is really disappointing when your touchpad suddenly stopped working without a mouse on hand.

This page covers several common fixes to resolve on-functioning touchpad.

How to Troubleshoot Touch Pad Not Working

 

Method 1. Reboot Your Laptop

The first fix should be painfully obvious - Restart your laptop. If the problem just started, this may be the easiest troubleshooter. We know, anything that's got in a mess gets the chance to start over by computer restart. The OS and the software gets to a new start with a reboot.

Method 2. Update Touchpad Driver

If you got this problem in a Windows upgrade like from Windows 7/8 to Windows 10, the most possible cause is that Windows installed an incorrect driver for your touchpad. If this is the case, don't worry! A simple touchpad driver update will fix it.

To update driver, you have 2 ways.

The 1st Way: Use 3rd party driver downloader and updater tool

Here I recommend free software DriveTheLife and take it as the example to show how to update touchpad driver automatically.

• Firstly, download the software from official site http://www.drivethelife.com/free-drivers-download-utility.html

• Then, install and launch it, an automatic driver scan will begin. This is collecting and analyzing your Windows drivers. Any drivers in question will be listed after scan.

• Next, check the notice message to see whether your touchpad driver is normal. If not, you just need to tick touchpad and click Start to download and install a correct touchpad driver.

• At last, reboot your computer to let the new driver take effect.

The 2nd Way: Download driver from manufacture's website and install it manually

• Firstly, go to the manufacture's website. It is either your touchpad manufacture's website like Synaptic or your notebook manufacture like Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, Toshiba, Acer, HP, Sony and so on.

• Then search with "touchpad model and name + driver" inside. Note that you should download the right driver depending on your OS (Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10) with 32bit or 64bit.

• Next, download and install it manually.

• At last, restart Windows after the installation is done.

 Method 3. Change Mouse & Touchpad Settings 

 

• Navigate to the Start Menu type change mouse settings in the Search field, then press Enter.

• In the mouse Properties window, click the tab that seems to be for your touchpad (the name varies from model to model). Make sure that everything is enabled. If there are Settings buttons, make sure that everything is on.

• Select no delay and click "additional mouse options"

• In the new window for mouse options you will see ELAN tab (maybe the name of your pad is different). If you see ELAN pad disabled, enable it and deselect the option "disable when external USB point xxxxxxx"

• Click Apply and OK

 

Method 4. Repair Corrupted Operating System Files

Another possible cause for a malfunctioning touchpad is corrupted operating system files.
You have 2 ways to fix the corrupted system files.

1. Restore your computer to a restore point at a date prior to when the touchpad stopped working.

2. Perform an complete restore process of the Windows OS, that is, a clean install of Windows.  

If you are unable to resolve your laptop touchpad not working issue after trying the solutions on this page, the touchpad is likely non-functional due to a hardware problem. In this case,  you are recommend to send your laptop to a computer repair shop for further analysis, or buy a wireless/wired/bluetooth mouse to take its place.

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