Jumpy and erratic touchpad

Question

A couple of weeks ago my laptop's (HP Envy TouchSmart 14-k110nr) touch pad started being a little jumpy. I thought it was probably because of dirt and wiped it with an alcohol-free cleaner, but it didn't help, and the problem gradually got worse. There is a certain point on the touch pad that moves the cursor to an unexpected location when I touch it. Sometimes the touch pad registers taps as pinch-and-zoom and after a short time becomes completely erratic or unresponsive. It is definitely not a software problem since I did not change the drivers or anything. It acts the same way on both Windows and Ubuntu.

Out of curiosity I opened the laptop and disconnected the battery (it is not user replaceable.) When I turned the computer on without the battery the touch pad went back to working normal. I thought it was somehow fixed, so I powered it down, connected the battery and started the computer. The touch pad was jumpy again. I tried removing and connecting the battery again and same thing happened.

Somehow, the battery causes the touch pad to act weird. What can be the reason for that? Is there a way to fix it? I was zapped by static many times when I touched the computer before, can that be the reason?

Thanks.

Solution

I called HP customer service and they helped me fix the problem. Here is the solution:

1. Disconnect the AC adapter and remove the battery.
2. Press and hold the power button for at least 20 seconds to drain the power.
3. Put the battery back in.

That's it. When I restarted the touch pad worked fine. I had been told that there is a BIOS update, so I will also install that.

Comments

[Keltari]

it definitely sounds like a hardware issue. Have you contacted HP?

[swylae]

I haven't. This is a refurbished computer with 90 day warranty from HP. I opened the computer and installed Ubuntu on it. Can I still use the warranty?

[Keltari]

If its under warranty, you should be ok... Still, it may be a known issue and they have a solution.

[swylae]

Well, after about 10 minutes the touch pad started acting weird again :/