When will Lenovo fix the G550 ALPS touchpad problems? [ Edited ]

[funkyjive]

@LDN23

Hi, and thanks for your feedback.

Looking back though my (lengthy) browsing history, and my installed version, I can confirm that the link and version you mentioned in your edited update are indeed correct and the ones I used.

I'm not sure why you are unable to set priority to "Realtime", though I did notice that following restart today and checking priorities both processes had reverted to "High". Therefore, whilst the options presented themselves at that time I again selected "Realtime" for both, saved, closed to desktop, and restarted the PC. Re-checked again and this time both had remained on "Realtime".

I'll restart my PC again now and edit this post with the current settings, to see if they have remained on realtime. Either way, I'd expect significant benefit even when on just "High". Would be very interested to know if you have realised such benefits on your machine also when running the latest version of Prio (thanks). Since installing it my mousepad has been as smooth as silk and hasn't missed a beat with Alps driver version 7.2.1602.309 (notwithstanding possible variants in hardware of-course).

Update:  Just re-booted again and happy to confirm that both process priorities have remained on "realtime" setting

Hope this works for you all as well as it has for me.

Brendan.

[rumbleeye]

this is too much information for me

isn't there a short explenation on what I can do?

a simple explenation that will guarantee it will fix my lame pad ?

[funkyjive]

@rumbleeye

Hi, no problem.

Here's a summary of what needs to be done to try this for yourself, though without the guarantee you requested as this still needs feedback from other users, using different Windows versions, attached hardware, and other software particular to their systems. It's worked really well for me, but needs to be properly evaluated by other users before a more informed picture emerges.

Should you choose to try this then please be sure to report back whether it worked for you as-well.

First, download and install Prio Process Control by O&K...

http://prnwatch.com/cgi-bin/sws/go.pl?distr=2 for the standard Windows version. If you are unsure what version of Windows you have then please seek advice.

Once installed to your computer...

Note:  I am using a Windows-7 operating system, so the following may differ slightly for your version of Windows.

Open task manager (CTRL + ALT + DELETE buttons pressed down together) and click on "Start Task manager" option.

Ensure the "Processes" tab is clicked (active in view).

Right-click on each of the two following processes and set priority to "Realtime", with the save option unchecked so that you can safely confirm it works for you first... ApntEx.exe  and  Apoint.exe. These are both drivers associated with the Alps fingerpad.

When done, right-click the "X" in the top-right of the task manager window to return to the desktop.

Hope this is sufficiently succinct and straightforward. If in doubt then I would suggest getting someone to install it for you and check all is working as expected.

Brendan.

[rumbleeye]

hi

thank you for your response.

It says it dioesnt allow me to change the priority to Realtime

and that it changed it to "High" instead

[funkyjive]

Good to hear you got it installed and working - albeit set to "high" priority.

ldn323 reported the same message, though one that I didn't face myself. Perhaps this is due to anti-virus policies or something equally-obscure. For the record, I chose not to install the antivirus that came with the system, but installed NOD32 Internet Security instead, so could be subtle differences there.

That said however, after setting "realtime" priority the first time, rebooting my PC and re-checking the setting, it had reverted to "High" for some reason. I then re-selected "realtime" priority, rebooted the PC, and since then has remained on the "Realtime" setting ever since. Perhaps you could try this yourself and let us know if it worked for you.

@ldn323... Has this change improved your own mousepad performance, and were you able to set to "realtime" priority after reboot and retry?  Thanks in advance.

For the record, my other relevant pointer options (set in Control panel >>> Mouse) are as follows. Merely my own preference but provided for a more representative comparison to my own experiences - should anyone feel so inclined...

     Under Pointer Options tab:

     Pointer Speed - Set exactly to mid-speed

     Enhance Pointer Precision - Checked

     Hide Pointer While Typing - Checked

     All other options unchecked.

     Under Tapping Speed tab:

     Tapping - Checked

     Tapping Speed - Set to mid-range

     Drag Lock - Checked (with Auto-Release radio button selected)

     Auto-release Delay - Set to short

     Tap Off When Typing - Checked

     Delay After Last key is hit - Set to Short

All the best,

Brendan.

[ldn323]

Brendan,

My settings remain on "High" after several reboots. I just can't get it to go into "Realtime" at all. However, the touchpad does seem to work better than before. For me, the difference is a change from "I can't work with this" to "OK, if I have to use  the touchpad, this is workable".

I have been using IBM Thinkpad for the past 15 years or so. As a result, I am "addicted" to the trackpoint. When I got this G550 for home use, I simply could not use the touchpad at all and immediately bought an USB mouse for it. With this fix, at least I think I can "live" with the touch pad if I do not want to take the USB mouse with me for some reasons.

I suspect the fix might be short live, though.  According to http://www.prnwatch.com/ where we downloaded this version of Prio, it is a 30-day evaluation version.

Regards

[funkyjive]

Hello again, and thanks for the update.

Regardless of the High-only prioritisation, it's very encouraging to read of significant improvements

It's anyone's guess why I'm able to enable realtime, whereas yourself and at-least one other can only obtain the "High" setting. Realtime is obviously the setting of choice for this so may be worth going offline and temporarily disabling the Windows firewall to change and save priority to Realtime, in-case the firewall is invoking restrictive policies (assuming you're using Windows 7, as myself).

I chose to use the Prio product as its driver was digitally signed, rather than using system management software from some obscure developer. I also read that the utility was provided as freeware for personal use, only requiring a license for business applications, so I would expect unimpeded use. Here's the page to the licensing conditions (scroll to bottom of page)...  http://www.prnwatch.com/registration.php

Whatever the achievable prioritisation, hopefully this will improve performance to at-least "tolerable" for others reporting substantial issues in this forum and elsewhere.

Thank you again for your feedback and courtesy of reply.

Best regards,

Brendan.

[rumbleeye]

on my case, it is now worse!

my touchpad now automatically clicks

automatically move

automatically marks all (like ctrl+a)

it is as if it has its own life

as if someone else controlls it

tommorow I will go and return my lenovo to the store

(lets post on blogs to help people and prevent them from falling down the lenovo trap)

[funkyjive]

@rumbleeye

Hi, Thanks for your post.

Sounds like you have a hardware fault in your case. Giving priority to the pad driver will merely give it faster ability to do whatever it needs (usually based on your finger controlling it), though if it's trying to do things that you're not instructing it to do then giving it higher priority would give it more authority to become more rampant and therefore become worse.

In my case the pad is behaving as almost indistinguishable to a "proper" touchpad now that its driver has realtime priority, whereas before I could hardly bare to use it for the sake of winding me up in anger and frustration.

In your case, I would wholeheartedly agree with your decision to return your computer, as would appear that no amount of system tweaking will resolve your problems if fundamentally a hardware fault. This therefore begs the question as to how many problems are caused by inadequate driver priority (as with mine and ldn323), or fundamental hardware faults, possibly such as yours.

All the best,

Brendan

[digitaleagle]

Brendan:

I just did this and it did make a big difference in performance.  Thanks for the tip.  I was unable to set the priority to "Realtime" as it would only let me set it to "High" , don't know why but even on "High" it is a vast improvement. 

Once again thanks and if you figure out why it won't let me set it to the highest priority - please let me know.