K50IJ-X8 trackpad dead?

Hello, I recently purchased the ASUS K50IJ-X8, and upon inserting the battery and booting it for the first time, i noticed the trackpad was unresponsive.

I found out it's and elantech trackpad, and with an external mouse I was able to update the touchpad drivers, as well as the BIOS....no dice.

The trackpad does not show up in the device manager, and in control panel -> mouse -> elantech tab, there are no devices listed in the "devices" box....it's as if the trackpad did not exist.

I inserted a ubuntu (linux) live-cd and the trackpad also did not work there.

I checked the bios options and "enable internal poining devices" was ENABLED.

I would really, really like to make this work, as it's such a basic thing i cant beleive they would ship a computer with a malfunctioning trackpad, im almost to the point of opening the laptop to see if they forgot to plug a cable in.

I would send it back, but I am currently in brazil and would have to use the "so called" international warranty, wich i seriously doubt I will be able to use without loosing half of my hair....

anyway did not find any reference to this problem anywhere on the net, so im hoping its fixable (or not, and i'm the only unlicky soul to have this problem).

Any, any help here would be very much appreciated
thanks!