Iconia W510 touchpad turns off when keyboard battery dies

Bavega

I know it is not the best subject line, but it sort of describes my problem.

 

My Iconia W510 came with Win 8 when new and then the tablet drained both batteries so that I could use the touchpad for as long as I could use the unit. It drained the keyboard's battery first but left enough juice to keep the touchpad and keyboard working and then switched to drain the tablet's battery. When I closed the lid it charged the tablet from the keyboard's battery. Neat.

 

When I upgraded to Win 8.1 it changed the behaviour so that it now would drain the keyboard's battery almost completely and thus shuts down the touchpad. Keyboard sill works, though. Not only is not neat, it is a step backwards and very annoying.

 

This transforms a highly versatile and ergonomic laptop to a tablet with a keyboard for about 50 % of its total battery time, which is a long time for this mobile unit. The only way keep using the touchpad is to charge the keyboard's battery to more than X % (when unplugged the touchpad works right down to 0 %). I have not checked how much I need to charge the keyboard in order to get the touchpad working again. I write this as it chargers and at 15 % it still does not restart the touchpad, I suppose I need to restart.

 

The other week I upgraded to Windows 10 and the Win 8.1 behaviour continues.

 

Naturally, all drivers and Windows Update updates are installed and uptodate.

 

Is there a fix, a driver that cures this, an energy setting that prevents the tablet from completely draining the keyboard's battery?

 

Thanks for your time!

Bavega

Since I failed to locate the touchpad drivers and thereby reinstall them I used the System Restore feature.

 

Oddly enough the touchpad started working imediately during the restore process albeit System Restore itself ended with a message that it failed to restore Windows to an earlier point as no changes were identified.

 

Ah well, everything works now so, my lesson is that System Restore might restore drivers and reinitiate devices that Device Manager cannot even find.

Bavega

Hm, fully charged and still not working. That is a first. The keyboard works, as does the USB port...

 

Edit: Still nt working, but the hardware is OK. If I enter BIOS, the touchpad works there, so it is a Windows/driver related problem rather than ha hardware problem.

Bavega

Since I failed to locate the touchpad drivers and thereby reinstall them I used the System Restore feature.

 

Oddly enough the touchpad started working imediately during the restore process albeit System Restore itself ended with a message that it failed to restore Windows to an earlier point as no changes were identified.

 

Ah well, everything works now so, my lesson is that System Restore might restore drivers and reinitiate devices that Device Manager cannot even find.

Bavega

Having used the system more since my last update I have learned more about its behaviour.

 

It appears it now works as it should. Right now the touchpad and keyboard work even when the system power is down to 31 %. The main battery is currently down to 57 % and the keyboard dock's battery is fully depleted, 0 %.

 

After more than a year and a half with the touchpad turning off as soon as the keyboard dock's battery is flat it now seems like the PC works like intended.