Touchpad stops working on X201 (and other models) [ Edited ]

[lifted]

I have an X201 and noticed tha tthe toucpad stops working at seemingly random intervals.  After tracking down the culprit to the Synaptic Touchpad Enhancements process, I did a search and found other people having the issue in the Thinkpad W series forum.  Instead of reposting it here, you can find my reply with an easy workaround to get it working again over in this thread.

http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W150-Touchpad-stops-working-after-a-certain-tim...

Somebody thinks the problem only happens with Firefox, which I happen to use as well, so the problem could be between Firefox and the Synaptics process.

Lenovo:  Please fix this.  Thank you.

[jmfmed82]

I'm having the same exact issue!!!  My trackpad works great after a reboot, but always eventually goes to crap and stops responding (or responds haywire) to my inputs...  I called Lenovo yesterday, and their "senior" tech guys had never even heard of the issue!?!  They told me I needed to send the unit in for repair...  Argh...

Hopefully Lenovo will realize this is a "real" issue and address it SOONER than later!!!

Thanks for posting your work-around...  Yeah, it kills the multitouch, but at least the trackpad starts responding again...

Let's cross our fingers that this gets RESOLVED...  What a pain in the rear problem for such an expensive PC!!!

[JameZ]

Hi All,

I've posted a temporary workaround regarding this issue, you may read it here.

In another note, this issue is currently being investigated by the engineering team.

//JameZ

[jmfmed82]

Thank you for the prompt reply James!!  I tried the older driver today with no luck...  The touchpad even goes crazy with the older driver version from April 2010?!?

Is this a firefox issue??  The touchpad works perfectly after each reboot, but starts acting haywire within 10 minutes or so...

All the best in solving this problem!!!

[JameZ]

Hi jmfmed82,

Does the issue happen only when you are using Firefox? Did you uninstall the Synaptics driver before installing the older version?

//JameZ

[jmfmed82]

Yeah, made sure to fully uninstall each time and reboot before loading the new drivers...and no, it happens eventually at random, regardless of the programs I am using.  I even tried uninstalling firefox, and the touchpad still always ends up craping out on me...

The only thing I can do is end the SynTPEnh.exe process in task manager.  Then the touchpad at least comes back to life and works normally -- I just lose the ability to scroll, zoom, etc...

Could this be a hardware issue?  Seems odd that a reboot would always fix it?

[JameZ]

Hi jmfrned82,

May I know what version of the Synaptics driver are you using now?

//JameZ

[X201cs5pressure]

I rolled back the drivers and now the little eraser knob doesn't work. Also why don't the drivers for the pen support pressure sensitivity in photoshop?. I called technical support and the agent was extremely rude. I have tried to file a formal complaint about the utter lack of customer support but have not yet recieved a response. Any advice Lenovo?

[erik Community SuperMod]

X201cs5pressure,

first off, welcome to the forum!   regarding the pen, the wacom tablet PC driver found here is supposed to add pressure sensitivity.

[szlevi]

Same thing happens here with the current driver: if I kill the Synaptics Enchancement process it comes back alive.

Well, Synaptics.... their drivers are alwaysamong  the **bleep**tiest anyway.