Sager/Clevo touchpad wonky while plugged into AC mains?

I have another, less specific thread (See below), but wanted to kick up a new one as the problem is more specifically known now.


Anyone had a similar problem?

ie: Touchpad works fine, like new, when unplugged from mains; when you plug the laptop in, the touchpad gets all jittery with random clicks and jerky movement; you can plug and unplug (no reboot required) to cause or repair the behaviour, at will.

I am wondering if a MS push or somesuch a month ago caused it; ie: I had no problems until a few weeks ago, and now its like this.

I'll see if I can locate the driver to reinstall it (anyone have a link?) .. but I'm wondering if anyone has seen this before?

Thanks,

jeff


(Old thread was http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3511048#post3511048)

 

The synaptics site has a driver (10.1.8 for XP-32bit, but others for 64bit and Vista variants.) The Sager site has a newer driver for the NP5793 model, and the older version 6 driverf for the NP5790/91 ..

I'll try the 10.2 from Sagers site, for the NP5793 and see how she goes..

jeff

 

Mine has no issues.
The only thing that bothers me is that the touchpad pointer speed reverts to default after restart.

 

After installing the newer driver and rebooting, it seemed to ignore the plug insert/removal, which was nice. I then pulled out and in my USB mouse (since the touchpad was unreliable I've been using it, and bnetter for gamning of course) and the touchpad got wonky again.

Also seemed to get a little goofy as the CPU load went up.

So perhaps this driver is better, but imperfect; or perhaps the driver for the USB mouse is screwing with it.

Will see how it goes.. (its fine now, after plugging usb mouse back in, so its back in the state of boottime; I'm wondering if it gets wonky whenever you vary from the way ther driver came up during booting.) Time to check options..

jeff

 

Skeezix your stealling my bug! Kidding . In the interest of streamlining things, I'll share my findings here as well.

My original post:

I've also tried various drivers. Currently I'm running Synaptics drivers instead of Elantech's because it gives my access to scrolling using the touchpad in Vista 64. The bug still shows up.

I've tried two different power adapters. Originally, I thought one adapter was worse than the other, but recently they have switched. I suspect it's just random in which one is worse.

I've also tried my spare battery. No effect.

I think that should sum up my findings. I'm suprised people haven't run into this bug before.

 

The problem started for me when I moved (though the laptop was moved gently, so doubt it bounced around.) I originally attributed it to that, but when you brought up the Power issue (which is gone now after driver upgrae.. instead now it occurs when I plug in or our a USB mouse!) ..

When I moved, I stopped using a power filter; ie: A tiny mini powerbar thing that essentially is a failsafe in case of power spike; ie: plug it into wall, and plug lappy brick into it. It was a little 2" square box. Perhaps that was filtering the power and causing me not to have problems before?

Nomatter, the issue has shifted for me so its something else.

Seems like a non-hardware issue to me, just screwy drivers :/

jeff

 

There may also be something loose on the touchpad itself, such as a loose connection or, possibly, a loose screw (although that would not really jibe with the variation in behaviour between A/C and battery).

 

Exactly; it cannot be a hardware issue (at least not a connectivity one; could be a bad device in a way, but doubtful too.)

ie: Toggled problem by battery/AC, and then driver update dstopped that for me, now its directly related to toggling a USB mouse in or out. Its a software issue for sure.

(Which is good, since I'd taken the laptop apart down to the bones already

Seems to be a pretty rare issue though, which makes it interesting. Should just do a reinstall.. but no way

jeff

 

Does that happen with every USB mouse, or just the one you're using? It's possible that there's a problem in the mouse itself that's causing a current spike when it's pushed into, or pulled out of, the USB port - a spike like that could be causing the USB subsystem to cut out (there's a max power draw threshhold of 500mW on USB ports, and most manufacturers, unfortunately, wire all of their ports to the same threshhold detector - out of laziness and penny-pinching), which might be causing problems elsewhere in the system (although what, I don't know at this point).

 

If your plugging in a USB mouse, I agree that it clould still be a hardware issue. It's funny that it went away after you set up new drivers. What drivers are you using now? I'm still having the problem when I plug in my AC, but it's gotten better. There are a few AC sockets that don't cause the problems for me, and other times I'm using my Logitech VX. It's still there though, which worries me.

I'll try something like a power filter though. What is it exactly, just a power surge protector?