Touchpad and cursor problems on Inspiron 1525's?

This is a question which took up a lot of space on Dell's Community forum but the thread has since been locked, I guess Dell got tired of all of the complaints so I'll ask it here. To any owners of Dell Inspiron 1525 laptops who participate on this board, are any of you experiencing any unusual problems with your computer's touchpads and also are you experiencing erratic cursor movements on your computers whether your computers are operating off of battery power or on A.C. power? If you are or have in the past and you contacted Dell about it were your issues resolved to your satisfaction and what did Dell do to resolve those issues? I'm considering purchasing an Inspiron 1525 to replace a 2 year old damaged Inspiron 1300 but I'd like to get some feedback from posters on this board who happen to own an Inspiron 1525.

 

I setup a 1525 for my cousin and I noticed that the touchpad was not as good as I was used to, then I downloaded and installed Synaptics drivers from synaptics.com, and the touchpad improved a lot. There were almost no fine tuning options, but scrolling still worked.

Greg

 

Before I dropped my Inspiron 1300 earlier this year and crashed it's monitor I would use the laptop connected to it's A.C. adapter all of the time with the battery still in it. A Dell tech told me in January 2008 right after I dropped it that I should remove the battery from the computer if I used it connected to the A.C. adapter all of the time.

I would use a 1525 basically the same way, connected to A.C. power while I used it. My Inspiron 1300 came equipped with a 4 cell battery and I could barely get 2 hours of use on battery power before it was time to recharge. Did your cousin experience problems with their touchpad and cursor while their 1525 was on A.C. power and if so did your cousin remove the battery from the computer while using it for extended periods of time on A.C. power?

 

I haven't heard any complaints at all from him or his family. He likely wouldn't notice anyhow, as he is mildly autistic and has poor motor skills.

I personally don't believe in removing batteries from notebooks when using them, I don't like leaving the terminals exposed, and it is very easy to accidentally yank the cord out. I've never heard of a manufacter actually recommending it. The battery at minimum acts as a UPS.

Greg

 

Hey, I'm sure more 1525 owners will also be stopping by to give you their input ~ besides the helpful info that SpeedyMods gave yah!



Cin

 

Thank you very much.

 

In the 2 years that I used this Inspiron 1300 before I dropped it I never removed the battery nor did I experience any touchpad problems or experience erratic cursor movements. I wish I knew more about computers besides turning them on and off because if I did I could purchase a new LCD monitor and fix the problem myself but unfortunately I don't.

An off topic question, if I wanted to replace the existing HD in the 1300 is that something easy to do or does such require a lot of computer tech skills to do? The computer which I dropped belongs to my brother who wants it back since I told him I'm not going to spend $400.00 to fix it but to protect my data currently on the 40GB HD now could I just buy another 40GB HD from Dell, remove the existing 40 GB HD in the computer now, pop in a new 40GB HD before I ship it off to the bro or is there an easier way to wipe the existing HD clean before I return it?

 

My wife has the 1525 with the stock Dell drivers. The touchpad works fine for her. When I have had to work on her system it does not seem as responsive as my HP, but that just me. She loves it and has had no issues with it.

Shawn

 

I've had an Inspiron 1525 for a week now and I'll probably send it back. The cursor jumps all over the place and doesn't go where I try to move it. I've tried all the settings and called Dell. They upgraded the bios; that cured it for a couple of hours, but now it's back to havoc. This is my 4th Inspiron, I hate them and will never buy another. My wife actually purchased this one for me w/o my knowledge. Two of the previous three have problems with the power jack inside the laptop. This one w/3 mgs of RAM has a slower Internet connection than my B130 (XT) w/1 mg of RAM. Also the keyboard & touchpad are silver and will probably look dirty eventually. Wish it had a non-glare screen as an option. My next PC won't be a Dell.

 

Just got my inspiron and the touchpad issue is happening with me. I'm going to try the synaptics trick. I've gotten use to it but it is kind of annoying.

 

I tried the synaptics drivers. They still did not help... Are there any other known solutions?

 

I've talked to India three times.
They upgraded my bios, then uninstalled the mousepad driver and re-installed it.
It's not complete havoc now, but still not as it should be.

 

I have also problems with the touchpad, DELL replaced it, but I have still the problem....
The support guy said that it isn't his problem, because the replace and that driver and BIOS was updated to newest version.....

So now I have sent a complaint about the case...

DON'T BUY A DELL EVER

 

I've tried everything and NOTHING works. I've re-installed the operating system, the drivers, upgraded the bios, etc. (all while talking to Dell reps in India , of course) They had a tech come to my house and replace the touchpad. I've talked to India seven or eight times. I'm sick of it. I'm returning it. They have a chronic problem and they can't fix it. I want my money back. As mentioned, their forum regarding this is locked. That says a lot about their willingness to accept responsibility for their problems and is one reason I'll never buy another Dell. I own four Inspirons and a Dell Desktop Out of the five, only two work. Two of the laptops have another chronic defect. The AC adapter socket in the laptops have shorted out. That is connected to the motherboard, which would have to be replaced...ridiculous. Do NOT buy a Dell. They don't stand behind their products.

 

This reply is too late for the original post but wanted to reply anyway to help people avoid the headache. I've had a Dell Inspiron 1525 for 17 months. It is my fourth and last Dell. The cursor jumps all over the place. While I type the cursor will jumps lines, delete text, reinsert itself anywhere on the page and there is no setting on the computer to resolve the issue. As a writer, this single issue is torture. I am currently in the market for a new computer, though I can't really afford it but have no choice. Dell has several other problems that make this laptop a stressful part of my life. For instance the sleep, hibernate, and restart options disappeared from the start menu months ago after an MS update. Teh Dell combination with microsoft is a real example of that old cartoon "welcome to hell, here is your pc." Mac is the next move.

 

alps touch pads are garbage.
They are flaky unresponsive and require drivers
to even come close to what synaptics does

I am currently trying to replace mine with a
synaptics (its all PS2 inside) but am trying to
get around the fact that its embedded into the
palm rest. My replacement palm rest should be here
soon so I can cut it apart without much regret

Synaptics ONLY makes touch sensitive things
whereas alps makes all sorts of unrelated crap

All this ---- to save 2$ per unit.
the audio codec sucks too.

>> im the guy who mades the PS2 to touchpad hack on utube.

 

Please install these driver mentiond here http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=363610 it has fixed the problem for me.