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Help!

Can anyone help me disable my touchpad on my notebook computer?

Why would I want that, you ask?

Because as I'm entering text, if my thumb or heel of my hand touches the touchpad or sometimes just hovers over it close enough, the computer thinks I've touched touchpad and the computer responds by going to where the "I" bar may be. So, I end up typing in another part of the document, or, at other times, the PM, email, or document I'm typing into completely vanishes. It's so frustrating so spend 20 minutes typing out something only to have it vanish without a trace! It seriously reduces efficiency and seriously increases frustration.

I have an external mouse hooked up so I don't need the use of the touchpad.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I've had this happen before, but not in years.

What brand and model of laptop?

My Toshiba has a fn+F9 key that turns it off. Do you have the software for the trackpad installed, as it might have a feature to disable it with a hotkey also.

I've got a Gateway M675PRR. My brother-in-law gave it to me free when he bought an Apple. I don't have any manuals, discs, etc. and neither does he.

You can go into your mouse settings (through Control Panel) and turn off the tap feature. You'd have to use the actual mouse button instead...

If all you want to do is completely disable the track pad, you should be able to do that in the little system hardware manager thingie.

Go to the Control Panel and switch it to the classic view if it's not already there. Choose System. Then find the Device Manager in one of the tabs. Find the trackpad in the Device Manager (if there isn't a specific driver for it it might just be called "PS/2 Mouse" or something along those lines), right click on it, and disable it.

Oh, also, if you're trying Aaron's suggestion and it doesn't say anything about the trackpad in the Mouse control panel, then maybe you don't have the trackpad driver installed. You should be able to download it from here. Then you ought to be able to just turn off the tap feature.

... I think. I should clarify that I almost never use Windows.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Aaron, nothing comes up for the touchpad in the Mouse Settings in the Control Panel.

Vikash, I supposedly downloaded the software for the touchpad but I cannot find it anywhere on my computer.

Under the Device Manager, there is a "PS/2 Compatible Mouse" but when I right click on it, there is no "disable" feature. But there is an "uninstall" feature. Should I go ahead and uninstall it?

Sure, I suppose you could try uninstalling it.

Oh, also, some laptops automatically disable the touchpad if you plug in an external PS/2 (i.e. not USB) mouse. That feature can generally be turned on and off in the BIOS configuration that you can get into when you first turn the computer on.

You also might be able to completely disable the touchpad in the BIOS configuration.

How do I get into the BIOS to attempt disabling the touchpad?

Right at the beginning when the computer's booting up, it should say something like "Press F1 to enter setup" or something like that. Or it might be Esc, or F2, or F12, or something else.

OK, then what do I do after that? (Sorry about my ignorance)

I don't know. You'll have to navigate through the configuration stuff yourself. You ought to be able to figure it out. Just look for something about the pointing device.

Ok.

Now, should I try the uninstall first or the BIOS first? I just don't want to be in a position where I disable things to the point where I have to take the computer in and spend gobs of money to fix it.

Try the BIOS first. You can always easily switch it back using just the keyboard.

Neither method will cause any permanent change to the hardware that would require a repair.

After you downloaded the trackpad software, did you install it? That'd be the easiest, and most easily reversible, method of resolving this issue.

Dave, after downloading the software (I did it twice) I couldn't find it anywhere so I couldn't install it. It should be in my computer somewhere but I don't know where it is. I tried looking in my documents, my downloads, my received folder, I tried searching for it in different ways but it's still hiding somewhere.

Yikes! I lost track of time here. I'm late for an appointment so I gotta run. Thanks for the help guys. I'll be back later.

Did you try the bios? I wouldnt mess with drivers. You are installing drivers for something you want to disable? Thats kinda redundant.
The BIOS should have a setting in it for the mouse. Dont think it will reffer to it as a touchpad.

In order to enter your BIOS you have to hit F2 as soon as you power up the laptop. Instead of loading Windows, it should load the BIOS utility. (Try Tapping F2 repeatedly until the BIOS shows... if you get the Windows loading screen you missed your chance, restart and try again).

Im not familiar with the gateway's BIOS Screen, but you should find the settings for the touchpad/mouse somewhere under "Peripherals". You should be able to disable it all together. If you are using an external USB mouse, windows will detect that and enable it... and you should have no more interference with your Touchpad.

If none of that works, try this. Its a link I found at Gateways website:
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Gat ... aq58.shtml

Well, I'm back.

TheSubaruJunkie, thanks for that Gateway link. I tried going to that Gateway site and followed the instructions. When I got to the Mouse Properties dialog box, there was no Device Settings tab so I couldn't get to click on Settings to modify the touchpad's performance. So, I submitted the feedback notifying them that it didn't solve my situation.

I'm going to try the BIOS now.

Well, I hit F2 upon startup and the BIOS utility came up. I went through every tab but could find nothing about any hardware, the touchpad, or mouse. No Peripherals tab or anything.

So, I'm still at square one. You guys have been great in offering suggestions. Many thanks! It just seems every suggestion been unsuccessful in one way or another.

Any ideas as to what else I can do?

I'd just call Gateway's tech support at this point. Hahaha. A five minute phone call can do wonders.

I didn't mention it but I already tried that before I started this thread. Gateway says I have to send the laptop in to them. It will take a couple of weeks and maybe around $250.

Okay, let's go back to the driver... Did you read the "How to Install" link on the page I linked to?

After downloading the file named 9526847.exe, you double-click it, and it extracts itself. Then you go to the Start menu and choose Run, and type in C:\Cabs\9526847\Setup.exe , which should start the process of installing the driver.

Aahhhh, now it works! Or, should I say, now the touchpad DOESN'T work, which is great!

Vikash, yes I tried downloading the driver twice previously and for some reason it didn't work. I had attempted to follow the steps outlined but those screens never appeared so there was no way the driver could be installed. Specifically, the program didn't self-extract itself.

After your last post I decided to try it again and this time the installation process was successful and then I was able to disable to touchpad.

So, thanks EVERYONE for all of your help!

Excellent.