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    What's the deal with the trackpad? It stops short about half inch above the buttons!

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by Ethrem, Sep 4, 2009.

  1. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Is this a defective touchpad or is this by design? I'm thinking severe defect....... Anyone else?
     
  2. Lozz

    Lozz Top Overpriced Dell

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    Those are the built in scroll zones( horizontal for right abovethe buttons) and vertical(on the right side of the pad)
     
  3. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    I turned those off. There is about a half inch of space between the keys and the trackpad just stops dead there. I even opened up the synaptics control panel to verify... The touch pad does not extend below that area... It does not respond.
     
  4. Encephalon9986

    Encephalon9986 Notebook Enthusiast

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    it does suck the way they made that, but just use a mouse for the laptop.
     
  5. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    So its by design? That's retarded. Such a big waste of space. I use my trackpad a lot. I'm not one who likes to haul around a mouse with me.

    I've never seen a trackpad pad that is actually bigger than the hardware driving it before. Talk about retarded.
     
  6. Encephalon9986

    Encephalon9986 Notebook Enthusiast

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    well since you dont prefer to use the mouse you should just turn the scrolling feature back on since theres no point of having it off if there is just useless space on our tackpads. Thats what i did, but i always use a mouse though.
     
  7. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    That's not my problem. That is disabled. But there is .5in worth of space at the bottom of the trackpad that can not be used with or without scrolling. It seems broken to me.
     
  8. sleey0

    sleey0 R.I.P. AW Side Topics

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    Mine's the same way so I don't think yours is defective.

    The tp on the M17x is downright awful but I don't care that much :)
     
  9. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    Guess I'm getting an external mouse... or I just get used to it.

    Now if the damn thing would wake up from sleep...
     
  10. airplaneman

    airplaneman Notebook Deity

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    You aren't referring to the mouse buttons are you? Lol..

    My track pad seems to work fine, I uninstalled the Synaptics drivers and used the standard windows ones and it works all the way to the bottom. Maybe try that?
     
  11. Ethrem

    Ethrem Notebook Prophet

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    I am not referring to the mouse buttons. There is a "dead" space BETWEEN the trackpad and the buttons.

    I tried uninstalling the drivers already and that didn't help. Guess I'll have to wait til I can get Complete Care, My Tech Team, and in home to get this fixed... Since Dell can't seem to figure out who does the warranties for this laptop. Got transferred 5 times today. So far, not too happy with Dell's customer service. But I also don't want to send it back to Microcenter and be without a laptop for another two weeks either.
     
  12. sleey0

    sleey0 R.I.P. AW Side Topics

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    Yep.

    From the top border of the trackpad light and about 2/8 inch down is unresponsive.

    I am sure it is just built that way.
     
  13. DanteDrac

    DanteDrac Notebook Consultant

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    Same thing here Ethrem. But I would recommend uninstalling the Synaptic software and drivers and just use windows built in support. The mouse will track smoother and with less lag.