Hi all, I wonder if you can help me with something odd that happened. Last week I bought a new laptop for my sister, a acer aspire one 756. It comes with load of useless stuff installed. I have removed only office 2010 and installed office 2003, plus a virtual drive emulator, powerISO (I usually install cloneCD but I did so recently on a "acer aspire one happy" and I had an awful lot of problems with it, so I decided to change). Anyway, I have no idea if this is related to software installed but the fact is that the touchpad stopped working. It wasn't really a sudden thing though, it kind of started off one day and got worse. The touchpad doesn't respond to the input and the cursor doesn't follow what you do on the touchpad, it "jumps" that's the best way I can explain this, and the buttons don't seem to do their job, when you click using them quite often the click doesn't get through. I have unistalled powerISO just in case, reinstalled the touchpad drivers, but it still seems to be happening. Has anybody experienced something similar to this? I am a bit lost, and it is really frustrating because the lappy is brand new. Do you reckon I should bring it to support, could it be a hardware problem? I suppose I could plug in an external mouse but, I want it fixed to be hones. What do you guys suggest?
thanks

Dani AI

Generated

Brief expert summary: the intermittent "jumping" cursor and missed clicks reported by most commonly come from three things — driver/utility conflicts, electrical/grounding or EMI issues, or a marginal hardware connection (ribbon or button). The fact the touchpad worked again briefly makes a software or interference cause more likely than a permanent mechanical fault.

Recommended quick isolation steps (do these in order):

  1. Boot outside Windows (Safe Mode or a Linux live USB) to see whether the touchpad still misbehaves — failure outside Windows points to hardware.
  2. Do a clean driver removal: in Device Manager uninstall the touchpad device and check “Delete driver software,” reboot so Windows loads a generic driver, then install the exact OEM touchpad package (avoid driver‑finder tools as @caperjack warned).
  3. Check the touchpad control app (Synaptics/ELAN) for sensitivity, palm‑check and tap/click settings; also confirm Windows mouse option “disable internal pointing device when external attached” is not enabled.
  4. Test with AC adapter unplugged and on battery only to rule out grounding/charger noise.

Hardware and practical checks: follow ’s cleaning idea but with cautions — power down, remove AC (and battery if easily removable), use a lint‑free swab with 70%+ isopropyl alcohol around the pad and button edges, let dry fully before powering up. Intermittent jumping can be caused by a slightly loose ribbon or failing button — if the live‑USB test fails and software steps don’t help, the cause is likely hardware.

Next steps and cautions: keep a short incident log (AC vs battery, apps open, external mouse present) so a service center can reproduce the fault. If under warranty, avoid opening the case and contact Acer support; if warranty has expired and software isolation points to hardware, reseating the ribbon or replacing the pad/button is the usual repair. An external USB mouse remains a practical temporary workaround.

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All 12 Replies

most maybe even all laptops/netbooks have a button or a key to turn the keypad on and off aybe it got turnrd off . buttons are usually found on the front ,just below the touchpad and the hey is usuall FN+7,that's what it is on my full size acer aspire

hi yep, sorry forgot to mention it, I turned that off and on again, but no difference at all, in that, it switches the whole thing off but it didn't fix it, still has the issue

Did you check device manager and see if their is anything wrong with the touch pad driver?

Had similer problem with my acer extensa think i had to install acer management then re install the driver for touchpad again worth a try

Hi Violet

Yes, Rosie is correct.

Try going to the site she has suggested, I would download the chipset driver and install it, I always do that first - and reboot.

Then try downloading and installing the Launch manager program (you can find this by clicking on the "Applications" tab on the web page - and reboot.

Now try downloading and installing the Touchpad driver. If you are not sure which touchpad you have you can download a program called Astr32, that will tell you which.

The link is here if you need it:
http://www.astra32.com/download.htm

I guess your using Win 7 64 bit? - don't forget to select the correct OS before downloading the drivers / applications and run these programs as "Adminstrator".

Andy.

hi thank you all for the suggestion.
My suster has informed me (unfortunately there is no way I can test it myself now that I am back home, even if I remote in her machine) that the touchpad is working fine. Whatever it was seems to have gone. I have absolutely no clue what's goin on. However:
1)yes I checked device manager, all ok there, no problem at all
2)I have reinstalled the correct drivers already and it didn't make any difference, although if it happens again I will follow rosies1956's and andy1966's advices. I leave the post open because I have a feeling I will post again about it
thanks

just an opinion ,stay away from driver finder software,no need to use them ,my opinion !!! ,you usually get more the driver you are looking fo ,

That's good advice too!

Always go to the official site and get the drivers yourself - it may take just a little longer but you get what you want.

Regarding Astra32, it's a good tool for simply telling you what devices you have on your machine, (it's not a driver finder program) then you can go and find them yourself.

Regarding Astra32 it's a good tool for simply telling you what devices you have on your machine

ok will give it a try
Speecy[from the makers of Ccleaner ] is a good tool for that too .

cool thanks guys

I've had the same problem and I know exactly what it is.
This particular touchpad is very sensitive to liquids or any kind of sticky substance.
The solution is to clean thorougly with alcohol and then let it dry for an hour.

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