rosiebeau Posted May 28, 2008 Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 It was suggested to me that I download a free image editor called irfanview. During the download my touchpad started acting funny. It would hilite everything it passed over and then eventually froze up. I have talked to dell support many times but, they have not helped much yet. We tried to do a system restore but, it didnt work. System restore did not work in safe mode either. It was suggested that I buy an external USB mouse and it worked great for a few days, but now it acts the same way as the touchpad. After about 20 minutes it freezes up. I have gone to dell site and downloaded and reinstalled the touchpad drivers, but didn't help. They are pretty sure it is malware and not a hardware problem. But, I have done fixes with monsterenergy22 here, and he is sure my system is free of malware now. When I google 'download irfanview touchpad problem' I get thousands of hits. So, I now many others have gone through this problem. Do you think this could be a hardware problem ? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rich Posted May 28, 2008 Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 When you hooked up the USB mouse did you disable the touchpad? If not then I could see the touchpad freezing up the mouse even tho the usb is in use also. if that is the case I would disable the touchpad and see if you experience the same problems, if you do not then we definitly know this problem is centered around the touch pad, if not then you may have a bigger problem. If it does work after disabling the touchpad then I would suggest... Using device manager, remove the hardware in question (touchpad in this case). and reinstall the hardware... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted May 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 When you hooked up the USB mouse did you disable the touchpad? If not then I could see the touchpad freezing up the mouse even tho the usb is in use also. if that is the case I would disable the touchpad and see if you experience the same problems, if you do not then we definitly know this problem is centered around the touch pad, if not then you may have a bigger problem. If it does work after disabling the touchpad then I would suggest... Using device manager, remove the hardware in question (touchpad in this case). and reinstall the hardware...Hi,Thanks for your help. No, I didn't disable the touchpad when I hooked up the usb mouse. I'm not sure how to do that. If the touchpad is disabled will the usb mouse work right away when i plug it in? You are suggesting that I disable the touchpad first, then ensure the usb mouse works, then remove the touchpad in device manager, then reinstall the touchpad. Is that right? Could you give me some direction as to how to go about these steps? I wouldnt be able to look up/google how to do all that in the 20 minutes I am allowed. thank you.rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rich Posted May 28, 2008 Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 Well I want you to confirm you don't have the problem when the touch pad is disabled...Steps to Disable Touch Pad. first plug in the usb mouse1. Right Click "My Computer"2. Select "Manage"3. Click "Device Manager"4. Expand "Mice and other pointing devices"5. Right click the Touch Pad entry in this list6. Select "Disable"Now Use the laptop just as you would and see if you get the freeze up with just the USB mouse running... Post your results please.Rich Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted May 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 Well I want you to confirm you don't have the problem when the touch pad is disabled...Steps to Disable Touch Pad. first plug in the usb mouse1. Right Click "My Computer"2. Select "Manage"3. Click "Device Manager"4. Expand "Mice and other pointing devices"5. Right click the Touch Pad entry in this list6. Select "Disable"Now Use the laptop just as you would and see if you get the freeze up with just the USB mouse running... Post your results please.Richwhen i right click the touch pad entry there is no disable option. just update driver, uninstall, scan for hardware changes, and properties. i can find disable option in control panel. when i click the disable option (not yet ok or apply) the touchpad stops working immediately. i then plug in the usb mouse and a message comes up saying:one of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned - windows does not recognize itso i arrow back to enable to keep the touchpad working.should i disable it and restart computer with the mouse plugged in? or should the mouse just work when i plug it in at any time? at this point i would be happy to just get the mouse working and not use the touchpad at all. probably better for wrists anyway.rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Reboot with the mouse plugged in so it can be detected and the generic drivers loaded after disabling the touchpad. Hold down the Ctrl-Alt keys while tapping the Del key to reboot the laptop due to the mouse not functioning.BTW. Where did you download IrfanView from and what version? I have never seen an issue with this program.Have you tried pressing the Fn + F7 keys to see if the touchpad worked while it was enabled in Control Panel? After downloading IrfanView you may have accidently hit a key combination that disabled the touchpad. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Reboot with the mouse plugged in so it can be detected and the generic drivers loaded after disabling the touchpad. Hold down the Ctrl-Alt keys while tapping the Del key to reboot the laptop due to the mouse not functioning.BTW. Where did you download IrfanView from and what version? I have never seen an issue with this program.Have you tried pressing the Fn + F7 keys to see if the touchpad worked while it was enabled in Control Panel? After downloading IrfanView you may have accidently hit a key combination that disabled the touchpad.If I disable the touchpad, do a reboot with the usb mouse plugged in and the usb mouse does not work - then I'm hooped. I dont know how I would turn the touchpad back on. I dont remember where I downloaded irfanview from. I would have googled it and selected one of the first few options.What is Fn + F7 supposed to do? What would have happened if I hit that by mistake? The touchpad froze up in the middle of downloading irfanview. The download was not finished. That was the first thing I checked for - to uninstall the irfanview. But, it wasn't there. It may have just been coincidence that this problem started during the download. But, when you google irfanview download and touchpad problems you get hits - other people seem to have had this problem too.rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I have Googled irfanview download and touchpad problems. What I see are separate issues with either the touchpad or the program IrfanView on the same site, not that IrfanView caused a problem with touchpads.This is the only site to obtain the download from http://www.irfanview.com/ which sends you to CNET Download.comThe Fn + F7 keys toggle the touchpad on and off on most laptops. Try pressing those two keys to see if the touchpad starts working.Leave the touchpad enabled and reboot with the USB mouse plugged in to see fi the laptop recognizes the new hardware and loads the generic drivers for the mouse.Due to the infections your laptop had you may need to downlaod and install the newest drivers for your touchpad. You can get them here http://www.synaptics.com/support/drive.cfm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I have Googled irfanview download and touchpad problems. What I see are separate issues with either the touchpad or the program IrfanView on the same site, not that IrfanView caused a problem with touchpads.This is the only site to obtain the download from http://www.irfanview.com/ which sends you to CNET Download.comThe Fn + F7 keys toggle the touchpad on and off on most laptops. Try pressing those two keys to see if the touchpad starts working.Leave the touchpad enabled and reboot with the USB mouse plugged in to see fi the laptop recognizes the new hardware and loads the generic drivers for the mouse.Due to the infections your laptop had you may need to downlaod and install the newest drivers for your touchpad. You can get them here http://www.synaptics.com/support/drive.cfmThe Fn + F7 keys dont do anything. I am not trying to 'turn on' the touchpad - it is on right now. It just slows down and eventually freezes after a while. When i turn on computer with mouse plugged in the laptop does not recognize it and it doesnt work at all. I have reinstalled drivers for touchpad from dell in the very beginning, but touchpad still froze up after a while. I will reinstall them again now though - now that malware has been cleaned out. Maybe it will help.Thank you.rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted May 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 I have Googled irfanview download and touchpad problems. What I see are separate issues with either the touchpad or the program IrfanView on the same site, not that IrfanView caused a problem with touchpads.This is the only site to obtain the download from http://www.irfanview.com/ which sends you to CNET Download.comThe Fn + F7 keys toggle the touchpad on and off on most laptops. Try pressing those two keys to see if the touchpad starts working.Leave the touchpad enabled and reboot with the USB mouse plugged in to see fi the laptop recognizes the new hardware and loads the generic drivers for the mouse.Due to the infections your laptop had you may need to downlaod and install the newest drivers for your touchpad. You can get them here http://www.synaptics.com/support/drive.cfmThe Fn + F7 keys dont do anything. I am not trying to 'turn on' the touchpad - it is on right now. It just slows down and eventually freezes after a while. When i turn on computer with mouse plugged in the laptop does not recognize it and it doesnt work at all. I have reinstalled drivers for touchpad from dell in the very beginning, but touchpad still froze up after a while. I will reinstall them again now though - now that malware has been cleaned out. Maybe it will help.Thank you.rosieReinstalled the driver for touchpad. Still freezes up after a while.rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted May 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 I have Googled irfanview download and touchpad problems. What I see are separate issues with either the touchpad or the program IrfanView on the same site, not that IrfanView caused a problem with touchpads.This is the only site to obtain the download from http://www.irfanview.com/ which sends you to CNET Download.comThe Fn + F7 keys toggle the touchpad on and off on most laptops. Try pressing those two keys to see if the touchpad starts working.Leave the touchpad enabled and reboot with the USB mouse plugged in to see fi the laptop recognizes the new hardware and loads the generic drivers for the mouse.Due to the infections your laptop had you may need to downlaod and install the newest drivers for your touchpad. You can get them here http://www.synaptics.com/support/drive.cfmThe Fn + F7 keys dont do anything. I am not trying to 'turn on' the touchpad - it is on right now. It just slows down and eventually freezes after a while. When i turn on computer with mouse plugged in the laptop does not recognize it and it doesnt work at all. I have reinstalled drivers for touchpad from dell in the very beginning, but touchpad still froze up after a while. I will reinstall them again now though - now that malware has been cleaned out. Maybe it will help.Thank you.rosieReinstalled the driver for touchpad. Still freezes up after a while.rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Download and run CCleaner Slim. See if this cleans up any left over junk that may be causing a problem. I would defrag in Safe Mode afterwards. See fi the touchpad functions correctly.If this doesn't help I would back up any important data and try a system recovery using the reovery CD or partition which will reinstall XP fresh. Reinstall your anti-virus program then update XP. See if the touchpad functions correctly. If it does reinstall your programs.If the touchpad still doesn't function correctly then you may have hardware failure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted June 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 Download and run CCleaner Slim. See if this cleans up any left over junk that may be causing a problem. I would defrag in Safe Mode afterwards. See fi the touchpad functions correctly.If this doesn't help I would back up any important data and try a system recovery using the reovery CD or partition which will reinstall XP fresh. Reinstall your anti-virus program then update XP. See if the touchpad functions correctly. If it does reinstall your programs.If the touchpad still doesn't function correctly then you may have hardware failure.Hi,I downloaded ccleanerslim and it did find some things and ride of them. I have done a defrag in safe mode as well. But, still no change. Will a system recovery remove all of my programs I have installed? like nero, trading software etc.I wonder why, if it is a hardware problem, why the touchpad works at all. If the laptop is turned off for a bit it will always work again when I turn it back on. If it were a hardware failure, wouldn't it just not work ever? I am just kinda hoping it is not a hardware issue. That is something that I probably would not be able to fix myself.Is a system recovery easy to do? No fancy questions to answer during the process?rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 It's a good possibility that a System Recovery will wipe your downloaded programs. I would backup what you can before attempting it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rosiebeau Posted June 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2008 It's a good possibility that a System Recovery will wipe your downloaded programs. I would backup what you can before attempting it.So, I tried an idea I found in another forum (laptop freak, i think) ....and presto, zippo, voila !!! my mouse and touchpad are working again !!! ........ the complicated, time intensive, technical solution ........ roll back driver in hardware properties for keyboard ....I couldn't believe it worked! I had tried reinstalling the drivers many times, but that never worked.Don't know what the difference is between that and 'roll back' but I am just glad it is working !!!(knocking wood at this moment)I hope it stays fixed.Thank you so much for your time in helping me.I will definitely make a donation.Rosie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted June 7, 2008 Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 Often overlooked solution. I am happy you found it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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