I have a Toshiba Satelite A200 running vista Home.P.which had same problem with synaptics touchpad not working problem, was Fn + F9.
In this case if you hold down the Fn key Fn function icon shadows drop down at top of screen.
thanks to these threads got me on the right path.
Great site thanks people.

thanks all. Know this is a later update to this thread, but still pops up recently in google. The tipped worked, but for my computer (toshiba) it was fn +f9. Same issue, stopped working and this redid it. Thanks for the tip.

Hi there! Can anyone help me? I have a Acer Aspire 3680. Where my touch pad is there is a directional key (4 way) that is not working. Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Underneath my touchpad there is a square button with directional features as the arrow keys. It stopped working. Does anyone know how to fix that? Please!

As with the others, I also felt compelled to join this forum after I found your recommendation simply to thank you. Thank you for the solution.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

My old HP laptop broke down not too long ago and the first thing to go was the touchpad, it just died randomly one day and it was also made by synaptic.

When it stopped working it literally scared the living shit out of me and I am so glad that such an easy solution was available for this. Its odd since i didn't disable it in the control panel or anything, I suppose acer's custom things are a bit different than the third party software.

Anyways thank you for everything

i registered just to say thank you. i was about to have my laptop repaired. hahaha. you saved me a lot of money! yay!

I am having this problem with my HP. Although I tried the Fn + f7 and all it did was dim my screen. This is probably the 3rd time this has happened. I am wondering if I should return the computer. Last time I got it to work by restarting the computer. This is really a pain.
Thanks for any advice!

I had this same problem, then I pushed Fn and F7, and it solved it. I have a really laggy comp and sometimes I type keys cuz I get pretty angry, I must have somehow pushed them at the sametime, thanks.

SIN TANTA HABLADERA, PRESIONA FCN+F7

POR LO MENOS ENVÍAME UN MENSAJE PARA AGRADECERME A: jhonrangel1@hotmail.com

GRACIAS