Touchpad/Touchpoint weirdness 15.3.16.1

[calkenneth]

Now that you've mentioned it, I do remember reading that post, JameZ. However, a palm check of 3 is a far cry from a palm check of nothing, which is what it must be set on now for the trackpad to respond properly. Hopefully this is something they can fix in the logic of the driver instead of making people find workarounds! Seems to be a problem that has existed for a while...

[JameZ]

Yeah ... No worries ... the team is now checking on it.

//JameZ

[calkenneth]

Any word on this JameZ?

[calkenneth]

Hello JameZ!

Have you heard anything from the engineers regarding a new driver update for the UltraNav? There are several other threads complaining about the same problem with related problems:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Touchpad-scrolling-on-T420s-is-flat-out-bro...

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/TouchPad-Issues/td-p/241938

I know you were on a business trip so you've probably got a ton of stuff to catch up on but would appreciate an update on this!

[JameZ]

Hey calkenneth,

Am back, based on the case update, engineering mentioned that it is working as per.

Their quote.
"This is as designed.
We introduced a new palmcheck features to address issues related to unintentional input on recent large and flush-with-palmrest touch pad last year. "

I will discuss this with them and see if any tweaks could be done as they suggested to move it to minimum which then will have problems if your palms were to brush across the touchpad.

//JameZ

[calkenneth]

Hi JameZ!

Thanks for getting back to me so promptly.

Is that the Lenovo engineering team's response? Here is some more information for your discussion with them.

Driver version 15.2.14.0 (6hgx35ww.zip) works extremely well. However, it has that awful memory leak. This driver was released earlier this year, after many "recent large and flush-with-palmrest touch pad" laptops had already come out. Why can't they simply fix the memory leak on that version?

Version 15.2.20 (which is the latest version you can get directly from Synaptics) also works fine, but it loses some of the trackpoint features since it's not meant for Lenovos.

Please keep us updated.

Thanks!

[JameZ]

@calkenneth,

After several discussions with the team, they still insist that this is a feature and will be updating the Readme to state it. I will let them know about your findings on the 15.2.20.

//JameZ

[calkenneth]

Hi JameZ:

Thanks for the follow-up!

I'm very surprised that they will continue to insist it is a feature when no other laptop with a trackpoint behaves in this manner.  Not to mention that 15.2.20 is a Synaptics "generic" driver and that doesn't behave in that way either.

This is a typical "it's not a bug, it's a feature" response.  How can a trackpad not responding be considered a feature?

This is similar to the fan noise problems - how many go-arounds did it take before they finally see a problem in the lab? Incredible.

[JameZ]

Calkenneth,

They provided me with a PDF file to configure the sensitivity of the TouchPad so I guess it was tweaked to their request. I've let them know about your findings on the generic driver.

As for the fan issues, I guess the only the T420s which is still not solved.

Sorry for the delay.

//JameZ

[calkenneth]

JameZ:

Thanks again for your update! Much appreciated.

The drivers may have been tweaked to their request, but as you have verified yourself, the touchpad is completely unresponsive for a few seconds after using the trackpoint/trackpoint buttons if the Palm Check setting is at anything but the minimum.  I also don't understand how the Palm Check settings have anything to do with using the trackpoint/trackpoint buttons, and yet they trigger the delay.  It's one thing if we're typing on the keyboard, but using the trackpoint/touchpoint is not the same as typing.  Maybe that's actually the root cause of the problem?

Why bother have an adjustable scale for the Palm Check settings then? It should just be changed to "on/off" since that's how it behaves.

My work computer is a Lenovo T410 running XP.  Lenovo Ultranav driver 13.2.4.12  and everything behaves fine as long as the palm check is set to the third lowest setting or below.  I never have any problems with my palm brushing against the trackpad, and the T410 has a similar-sized trackpad to the T420 series.

Thanks again for delivering the feedback to the team.  You can imagine how frustrating this is, especially when the older versions of the drivers all behave properly, and even Synaptics' own 15.2.20 version behaves differently.  If they won't listen to user feedback from the forums, where did they get the feedback that people actually prefer that the touchpad response should be delayed if the trackpoint / trackpoint mouse buttons are used?