'HP Touchpad Not Working' Issue

One of the outstanding advantages to having a laptop is that it allows users to carry their whole work office along on any business or personal trips comfortably and efficiently. What to do if the touchpad of your HP laptop refuses to work suddenly and you don't have an external mouse available readily? Don't succumb to panic and instead try these standard techniques that might resolve the issues.

First, affected users are advised to check if the touchpad hasn't been turned off or disabled by accident. Just double-tap the top left corner of the touchpad, and if a small orange light appears, it means that the touchpad is not working and could indeed have been disabled. Trying to restart the laptop is always worth a try but don't go for a hard reset through the power button directly. You may not have a working mouse cursor, but by pressing the Ctrl, Alt & Delete keys simultaneously, it will open an Options screen. There, by using the Tab key, you can navigate to the power symbol. Pressing Enter will open the Power options where you can move again with Tab to reach Restart. All that is left is to once more press Enter.

Other, more intricate options require an external mouse as doing them only on the keyboard is quite burdensome. Still, users encountering the 'HP Touchpad Not Working' issue should go to the official HP website and look for any new updates that have been made available. Otherwise, they can try to uninstall their HP drivers, followed by a clean install. The suitable drivers can be downloaded on another computer and then transferred to the HP laptop through a USB flash drive.

Here are some ways you can solve the problem and get your HP Touchpad working again.

1. Double-Tap the Top-Left Corner to Enable The TouchpadThe first thing to do is to check the touchpad hasn’t turned itself off or been disabled. Perhaps you accidentally disabled it, meaning you would need to enable it again to get it working. You would be surprised how many people accidentally turn their Touchpad off without realizing it.The solution is simple –double-tap the left corner of the screen. If you see an orange light on the touchpad, it is a sign the touchpad is disabled, and you must re-enable it.
2. Restart the ComputerIt’s amazing how many computer problems people can solve by turning it off and on again. Your next step should be to restart the computer if you haven’t done so yet. If you don’t have an external mouse, then press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the security settings. Press Tab until the power symbol is highlighted. Hit Tab a few more times to choose “Restart” and press Enter to start the process.You can also perform a hard reset on your computer. Press and hold the power button down until the computer turns off. Hard resets are not recommended because they can corrupt the data of any files you have open.
3. Check for Driver UpdatesThe problem could be that the drivers for your touchpad are out of date. If you have an external mouse, check t see if it works. If your external mouse doesn’t work or you don’t have access to one, then here are some instructions to navigate your computer with your keyboard carefully.If you haven’t updated your computer drivers before or are uncomfortable about trying it, you can use software programs. These programs scan your computer to look for outdated drivers and automatically install updates. For now, we’ll focus on how to update drivers manually.
   • Hold the Windows key down and press R to open the “Run” command window
   • Type devmgmt.msc into the box and hit Enter
   • Open the “Mice And Other Pointing Device” options. If you don’t have an external mouse, press the Tab key once and then scroll down to the section with the arrow keys
   • Tap the right arrow to expand the pointing device options
   • Highlight the “Synaptics” device and hit Enter to open it
   • Press Tab until you reach the “Drivers” tab of the new window
   • Select the Update option and then the option to automatically update drivers
   • Restart your computer after the update
   • Unplug the USB mouse before restarting
4. Manually Install Driver UpdatesIf your computer didn’t find updates or couldn’t install them, the problem could be that the files are corrupted, and you have to download and update new drivers manually. Only people who are comfortable downloading and installing driver files should take this step. Others should consider taking their computer in for repairs.If your external mouse isn’t working either, this is a clear indication of driver errors that need to be solved. You can make things easier on yourself by using a different computer to download the updates and upload them to a USB flash drive.Google is your friend in these situations. Search Google for the support page for your computer or pointing device. The page should have a driver download section that lists all of the latest driver updates, including updates for pointing devices. Download the file and put it on a USB flash drive.Open the flash drive in the affected computer and run the update file. Go through the installation wizard, and the installation should complete automatically. The difference between this method and the last one is that you have to manually find and download the update file.
5. Check the Driver SettingsThe problem could be that the Touchpad is turned off, and you have to enable it manually. Hold down the Windows button and press “I.” Open the Drivers tab and then click Touchpad. Find the additional settings option and then the Touchpad Settings box. You can manually enable the HP Touchpad here or disable it if needed.

Final Words

Trying to use a laptop without a working touchpad is a challenge bordering on the impossible. If your touchpad stops working, check to see if it hasn’t been disabled and restart your computer. If that doesn’t fix the problem, you’ll need to update your drivers to correct the problem.