Touchpad / Mousepad doesn't work correctly when the charger is plugged in
Possible reasons:
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Faulty Laptop Charger
If your Charger is faulty it may not be supplying the laptop with enough current to power everything as it should and this can show up by an erratic mouse.
There are a couple of ways to find out if your Laptop charger is faulty. Firstly, if you have a multi-meter available, test it by inserting the positive into the centre of the charger barrel and the negative to the outside. This will give you the voltage out - check it against what it should be on the bottom of the charger. Some Laptop chargers have a pin sticking out (mainly Hp, Compaq and Dell Laptop chargers). For these types, make sure you do not short the center pin with the inside of the barrel.
The second way is much easier - but only if your charger will fit in a friends Laptop! Just plug it in and see if the mouse works correctly.
There are a couple of ways to find out if your Laptop charger is faulty. Firstly, if you have a multi-meter available, test it by inserting the positive into the centre of the charger barrel and the negative to the outside. This will give you the voltage out - check it against what it should be on the bottom of the charger. Some Laptop chargers have a pin sticking out (mainly Hp, Compaq and Dell Laptop chargers). For these types, make sure you do not short the center pin with the inside of the barrel.
The second way is much easier - but only if your charger will fit in a friends Laptop! Just plug it in and see if the mouse works correctly.
Disconnect the mains plug and wait 30 seconds, get a pin / needle and look inside the barrel where you will see 2 pins against side of the barrel wall on opposite sides (where you can see the notches in the pic above), now push the pin to the outside of each pin inside the barrel and ease towards the centre of the barrel, allowing enough room for the centre pin inside the laptop socket to be inserted. Sometimes the pins inside the barrel get pushed to the outer walls over prolonged use and no longer makes sufficient contact with the centre pin in your laptops' socket. This also sometimes fixes the "plugged in but not charging" message.
Removing Excess static
This is one of the first things you should try....simply remove the battery and charger and hold down the power button for 15 seconds or longer. Plug back in and try.
Faulty Battery
Another strange reason your Touchpad / Mousepad may be be acting strangely could be your battery. Laptop batteries are basically rechargeable batteries that will eventually lose their ability to charge. They can last from 6 months (ive head less but not seen it) to 8 years (I've had a few that have lasted that period of time). Why do Laptop batteries last varying amounts of time? Well it's MOSTLY down to the user. The worst thing one can do is to keep the charger plugged in and never use the battery...it will shorten the life of the battery considerably. The best way to prolong a batteries life is to unplug it from the mains every week and deplete the battery..then charge it back up (you can still use your Laptop of course). Your battery WILL last longer!
So to establish whether it is faulty is fairly easy - when you disconnect the Laptop charger the Laptop turns off. Also within windows 7 / 8, you may see a message in the bottom right corner which tells you the battery needs replacing.
>>>Try **Tip A above<<< The battery may seem faulty, but if the pins inside the barrel of the charger are not making a connection, then the battery may not charge. Secondly, try this:
**Tip B to extend your battery's life - try this. Fully charge the battery, unplug the Laptop charger, use the Laptop for as long as it runs the laptop until it turns off. Take the battery out, plug in the charger and then put the battery back into the Laptop and fully charge. Repeat these steps 3 or 4 times. This has saved many a battery for me, but it doesn't work all the time, but it's definitely worth a go.
If the tips above don't work and you still get message saying you need to replace your battery, or it will not turn on using the battery alone, then it's probably faulty and it could be time to replace it.
So to establish whether it is faulty is fairly easy - when you disconnect the Laptop charger the Laptop turns off. Also within windows 7 / 8, you may see a message in the bottom right corner which tells you the battery needs replacing.
>>>Try **Tip A above<<< The battery may seem faulty, but if the pins inside the barrel of the charger are not making a connection, then the battery may not charge. Secondly, try this:
**Tip B to extend your battery's life - try this. Fully charge the battery, unplug the Laptop charger, use the Laptop for as long as it runs the laptop until it turns off. Take the battery out, plug in the charger and then put the battery back into the Laptop and fully charge. Repeat these steps 3 or 4 times. This has saved many a battery for me, but it doesn't work all the time, but it's definitely worth a go.
If the tips above don't work and you still get message saying you need to replace your battery, or it will not turn on using the battery alone, then it's probably faulty and it could be time to replace it.
The TouchPad / Mousepad itself
It could be the TouchPad / Mousepad itself that has given up...this is less common than you think though, but not impossible. The part itself is a touch-sensitive board that is about the same size as the top of the pad where your finger touches (funnily enough). It is sometimes glued to the underside of the Touchpad and you will need to take the top section of your laptop off. Other times it has retaining screws to keep it in place. It's a case of removing the pad and disconnecting the small cable and reversing the procedure. Only tackle this if you are confident but isn't that difficult. They are quite inexpensive to buy. On some modern Laptops however, the keyboard and mouse are all part of the top plastics of the laptop and you can only purchase this as a whole....what a pain they are!
Running your Laptop from a socket with multiple plugs
As silly as it may seem, this could also be your problem, even though all of your other devices work fine...seems to affect Dell laptops more than others. So a simple thing to try is a socket somewhere else with nothing else plugged in.
Driver issue
Many other sites seem to suggest it's a driver issue. It usually isn't (it doesn't mean to say YOUR problem isn't however!). You should always keep your drivers up to date anyway, so this is another thing to try before splashing out any cash.
So in order of the things to try (cheapest and easiest first!):
If all these fail then there is a possibility it's your mainboard. Get it checked out! Good luck!
Author: Ian Roberts
So in order of the things to try (cheapest and easiest first!):
- Take battery and charger out - hold power button for at least 15 seconds
- Go to another part of the house or room and plug in charger
- Update drivers from manufacturers website (under support)
- Borrow someone elses Charger (same voltage and current!)
- Replace the Touchpad board inside laptop
- replace battery if showing signs of being faulty (see tip B for extending battery life)
If all these fail then there is a possibility it's your mainboard. Get it checked out! Good luck!
Author: Ian Roberts