CF29LQ, dead touchpad =(

Well, I was using my toughbook in a humid conditions. Water was condensing on the screen.

Like a moron, I stowed it without wiping it down.

An hour later, I went to use it, and noticed quite a bit of water. I wiped the screen off and shook the keys out.

However, my touchpad no longer works, although both buttons do.

I guess the touchpad isn't waterproof, eh?

Are there waterproof replacements available? Are they plug or solder in? How many pins to solder if that's the case?

 

That touchpad is pretty tough. There is a tiny slot that the cable goes through. Water could have gotten in there. The buttons for the touch pad are inside the case on a PCB.
You didn't accidently change the bios did you?
I think I'd give it a day or so. Maybe park it where air can cross flow through the battery door and HDD door. Something like that.
But what I would do is pull the bottom off and carefully reseat the cables on the TP PCB.

Good luck now.

Jeff

 

I have been visualizing this here and I don't see how water would do anything to the touchpad.
You have your super mongo adhesive piece glued to the case..
Then two green squares of industrial strength touchpad element. The circuit is affixed to both halves. They're glued together around the edge.
The ribbon cable slips through a little slit.
The gray piece goes over this and even has a tab over the slit to protect the cables I guess.
Then the black picture frame goes over that and is is stuck down with adhesive. This comes apart easily with a four foot wrecking bar.
Then the palm rest protector over that.
I'd like to tear it down and see what happened.

Enough of that. Try going into bios and setting it to default. Run and then shut down pull the battery, pull the AC power and hold the power switch down to drain the little lectrics out of everything. Check bios again on restart.
Wouldn't hurt to go into control panel, device manager and reload touchpad/ touchscreen driver under mice and other pointing devices.

Eliminate all the software stuff first.

And to answer your question: it's ribbon cable, no soldering. Just be careful opening the catches on the connectors. Panny's weak point.

Let us know.

Jeff

 

As Jeff says ,dry it out

The touchpad replacement is a difficult ,potentionaly expensive repair

 

I left it in front of a heat vent with the battery + HD out for a while.

It's still a little insensitive, but it seems like it's getting sensitivity back as I use it.

My touchpad has always taken about 5 fingerswipes to cross the screen anyways. Oh well.

 

My Mk5 has always been the same way - and I don't think it's ever "had a bath".

 

well, it doesn't appear to be getting any more sensitive.

Some quadrants work better than others.

I have almost no vertical movement in some spots, and other spots are still dead.

Loose jumper? Pad coming apart?

 

You can fix that..control panel/mouse/pointer options then "select a pointer speed"

 

Sounds like now you have moisture in between the touchpad elements. Give it a week and then go around the edge on the touchpad with a warm hairdryer and the elements may stick together again.
Try pushing down on the black "picture frame and see it that affects it.
One cubic foot of water = 1700 cubic feet of steam. Get it dry first.

 

Thanks. One more question for the "mouse-man"...
I have a CF-18 that, if the pointer is allowed to rest on a button for even a second, automatically "clicks" that button. I seem to remember there was a way to shut that "feature" off - do you remember how? (I am bouncing all over the internet without any control of my computer, unless I carefully move the pointer to some "un-enabled" area - very frustrating.) Thanks in advance.
Brian

 

Touch or Digitizer? Operating System, XP, 7, or Tablet? There is an "auto click" applet out there which someone might have installed if you didn't do the system load.
Auto Clicker
CAP

 

CF-18NDHZXVM Digitizer, XP Tablet. Couldn't find AutoClicker listed in the Start menu, task bar along the bottom of the screen or in Control Panel/Add & Remove...
I didn't do the initial install. Been thinking about trying the upgrade to Win7 discusses here in the Forum -- maybe the hope of getting rid of this piece of junk might motivate me to tackle it.

 

Win 7 and Vista have a checkbox.
What yours is doing is reading the pop-up as a click. Is ths right?
Maybe regedit???

 

Here's a start, I'm thinking the "open on single click" solution.
Mouse Auto Click | TheDailyReviewer

Auto-left click on menu items (buttons/hot links)

CAP
Clickety clack

 

Changing the Mouse Properties

Mouse Hover Auto-Select | TheDailyReviewer

I checked regedit on my CF-18. Nothing to indicate fire on hover

There is however MouseSensitivity REG_SZ 10

FWIW

Ummmm .....if you play with regedit you need a recent back-up. No problem just looking though.

Jeff ANR assuming no responsibility

 

Full range of motion back in the touchpad after leaving it in front of a heater vent with the battery/HDD out for a few days. That worked.

The Bad : It's still a little wonky. I can drag the cursor halfway across the screen. Then when I touch the pad again to drag it some more, it flies back pretty much to wear it started. If I touch one side of the pad, then the other, I can play tennis with the cursor.

Maybe the rubber pad isn't full seated on the sensor? How sensitive are the sensors? Could I get in there with some 99% alcohol and a lint free cloth, wipe the sensor off, and reseat the pad?

 

Its a symptoms that there is a gunk on the edges of the touchscreen. You need to clean it up.


ohlip