Question about update to Synaptics TouchPad Driver

  • 12 June 2014
  • 3 replies
  • 20 views

Userlevel 6
I am not tech savvy and have pestered y'all plenty already just about my WSA product and such, but I have a different tech question to put to you.
 
I purchased an HP laptop last year at the end of march and have been very pleased with it, except this being my first laptop I have had to learn to adjust to having a TouchPad and often times swipe it and send my computer into fits before I realize what is happening.
 
I had a folder on my system called documents and accidentally swiped the TouchPad witout realizing while typing and before I knew it i had renamed the folder to 'P'.
 
So...  Last month my TouchPad decided that it would no longer lock when i double tapped it in the upper left hand corner of the TouchPad, which it was supposed to do, and then it also did some scrolling when I had my finger on the pad.
 
Just yesterday I finally got some help from the tech gurus at the store where I purchased the laptop because I have an extended warranty on it and he uninstalled the driver and then it reinstalled itself after a restart.
 
I was so thrilled to have my TouchPad working again I was euphoric because I could once again straight type without worrying about swiping the pad and send it off into a tangent.
 
Today I get a notice from HP that there is an update for the Synaptics TouchPad Driver and my greatest concern is that if i upload this update that my TouchPad will no longer function properly AGAIN.
 
Because I am out of warranty with HP by 2 months, they won't help me unless I pay them to do so, and when I go to their website for help perusing their forums and how to's, it is a nightmare and there is nobody I can get basic information from without getting the runaround.
 
So, does anyone else know anything about these TouchPad driver updates and if it will change the features fundamentally or shut off the features from before ( that helped me to be less clumsy with the laptop) and replace them with a host of new features, none of which I'll know how to use?
 
Any advice or experiences with this would be greatly appreciated!
 
Thanks!:D

3 replies

Userlevel 6
Well normaly updating the driver should cause no problems, but you can always downgrade back to your old driver.
Just look into the device manager and note the current driver version. If you're later having any problems you just go back to the device manager and manually choose the old driver(if it's still available), or you go to hp.com and download it.
 
Btw. have you looked at the settings of the touchpad?
Your problem sounds like something in the Synaptics settings was messed up.
Userlevel 6
@ wrote:
Well normaly updating the driver should cause no problems, but you can always downgrade back to your old driver.
Just look into the device manager and note the current driver version. If you're later having any problems you just go back to the device manager and manually choose the old driver(if it's still available), or you go to hp.com and download it.
 
Btw. have you looked at the settings of the touchpad?
Your problem sounds like something in the Synaptics settings was messed up.
Hi, Regnor!
Thanks for the input, I appreciate it! :D
 
When I had the problems I looked at the settings but it didn't tell a tech rube like me anything, but when I took it to the place where I bought it, they tried to do a reset to the factory default to attempt to make it 'behave', but it did no good.
 
The next step was to uninstall the driver and then restart my computer which then caused the system to somehow read that the driver wasn't installed and it installed on its own, which fixed the problem.
 
Thanks so much for your suggestion, I'll keep it handy!!!  :D
 
Userlevel 6
@ wrote:
The next step was to uninstall the driver and then restart my computer which then caused the system to somehow read that the driver wasn't installed and it installed on its own, which fixed the problem.
 
 
 
Sounds like you're using the standard Microsoft driver. Just look up the driver in the device manager and later you can switch back to this one if neeeded.
 
 

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