Touchpad not working when taking off USB mouse

This is very strange.

I have a Logitech wireless mouse that I normally use for my R3, and in the Synaptics settings I have ticked "Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is attached".

For a time this is working as intended; when I take off the receiver I can immediately use the touchpad.

Today I bought a SteelSeries Diablo III mouse and installed the engine, driver, etc. Of course I had to take off the wireless receiver for the Logitech first, then plug in the wired mouse, install, then take off again.

For some reason I tried to use the touchpad after taking the wired mouse off and now it doesn't work. There's I checked t with the Synaptics device settings on, and it seems to be reading that there is an external device connected to it when there clearly isn't. The only workaround is unticking the Disable option (so the trackpad is always on) but that's annoying.

Has anyone run into this? Should I be reinstalling Synaptics drivers?

EDIT: I guess the perfect way to describe this would be that it seems like Synaptics is still detecting something plugged into my USB ports preventing it from activating the touchpad.

 

If the logitech had drivers I would uninstall those and reinstall the Diablo mouses drivers.

 

Hmm. I think the culprit is the SteelSeries engine. I'll test it again but I managed to get it working after uninstalling all mouse drivers and resetting, and starting with Logitech again.

It went pear shaped again only after I put it the SteelSeries engine.

 

Okay it's definitely the SteelSeries engine (or the software that allows you to customize features on the mouse).

The moment I uninstall that, Synaptics works as intended. Well at least I know what's causing the conflict. I wonder if there's a way to get around it. It's not like I can't live with it but it's certainly annoying. Especially for an OCD like me.

 

I'm wondering whether anyone else has encountered an issue like this and any insight as to how I solve this?

I'll summarize:

1. I set my touchpad to disable when it detects a USB pointer/mouse, and enable when there is none.

2. This works with my old wireless plug and play Logitech mouse.

3. Bought a Diablo III mouse (SteelSeries).

4. Plugging the mouse in and out without installing SteelSeries software still allows the disable/enable trackpad function to work perfectly.

5. After installing SteelSeries software, Synaptics permanently detects a pointing device in my machine, even when there is none. (Now Logitech mouse is like that as well)

6. I tried disabling SteelSeries software on startup and restarted. Even without the sofware running in the background, Synaptics still thinks there is something plugged in. The only way around this is to permanently enable the trackpad.

7. Uninstalling SteelSeries software causes Synaptics to work properly again for both mice, meaning trackpad disables when they are plugged in, enables when they aren't around.


There MUST be something I can do to get around this but I'm not savvy enough. Should I just update Synaptics with a new driver from ther site? But that makes me concerned because I know Synaptics is tied to the AW CC.

Or should I uninstall both, install SteelSeries software first, THEN reinstall AW CC and Synaptics?

Thanks again guys.

 

Check out this thread. It might help. If not I I would just keep uninstalling and re-installing until it works lol

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/667157-how-do-i-disable-touchpad.html

 

I had this same problem and found the solution on another thread, so I wanted to share it in case anyone else comes looking here for answers.
http://na.alienwarearena.com/forums/thread/16009/general-1/alienware-m14x-r1-touchpad-problem
The solution given by Mattubius at the bottom of the thread was the correct solution. Disabling the HID compliant drivers in my Device Manager fixed the issue for me.

 

Thanks for sharing what worked out for you. It does seem like the SteelSeries engine is messing with the Synaptics config.