Sony Vaio Touchpad Stops Working - Fix

If anyone out there runs into an issue with the touchpad on a Sony Vaio where it suddenly stops working it may be due to static electricity. I bought a brand new VGN-NS240E (Jan 08 @ Best Buy) and while setting it up I ran into this issue and have seen many other reports on the WEB of the Sony touchpads suddenly dying. Try these steps (crazy as they sound) for an easy fix:

1 - power down the unit.
2 - unplug the power adapter.
3 - remove the battery.
4 - hold down the power switch for about a minute or two.
5 - re-insert the battery.
6 - reconnect the power adapeter.
7 - power the unit on and see if the touchpad lives!

These quick and simple steps worked for me 2x. Noted on the second time it happened that I shocked the machine after walking across the carpet, that's why I said above I think its related to a static charge - bad design on this model of touch pad I suppose. I have Dell laptops and Acers never seen it before until this Sony. I hope this posting helps soeone out there.

V/R,
pc1.

 

What you are doing is a mainboard discharge.

On the SZ line a restart is the most you need if the touchpad messes up...

 

I have a SZ120P that I bought used. I have a strange problem that I've been trying to figure out since I got it.

My touchpad works intermittently UNLESS a part of my body is touching the brush metal palmrest. I've searched this form and but can't find a fix for this. I've even gone as far as replacing the touchpad thinking that would fix it but I still have this problem.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

Is a bad connection & static problem - search the forum.

I believe the fix was to cover the contact area of the palmrest with cellotape from below - then place the touchpad on top, the cellotape isolates between the two.

 

Thanks DetlevCM, I've actually found that and have tried that.. didn't work for me. I went as far as removing the whole palmrest from the rest of the laptop and its still imtermittent. If I hold the palmrest, it works fine.

Last night I tried something else. I isolated the whole touchpad assembly from the palmrest and laptop. it was intermittent unless somepart of me was touching a metal part on the laptop. I'm at my whits end as to what I should try next.

 

Maybe you could take some high res pics and post them (as thumbnails) here on NBR - various angles.

Either its a design flaw, or maybe a cable is loose - malalligned...

 

Thanks for this--the 7 steps worked for me (I'd already tried restarting my computer to no avail, so I'm guessing that removing the battery is what did the trick though I did all 7 steps so maybe all 7 steps were indeed required...).