Unable to install Synaptics touchpad after fresh install of Windows 10 on Acer Aspire V3-112P-C2QQ

Hi, I've been banging my head against a wall trying to get the touchpad on my Acer Aspire to work after a clean install of Windows 10.

This is my 2nd clean install attempt and no joy.

I've installed as many drivers as I could in the following order:
- BIOS updates to 1.16 (was unable to apply the 'Synaptics touchpad performance improvements' reflash 1.17 as it says it can't find a Synaptics driver to update or something)
- Chipset drivers
- Everything else

The touchpad does actually function initially but it intermittently freezes and stops responding.

In Device Manager nothing appears under 'Mice and other pointing devices' apart from 'HID-compliant mouse'. If I enable the 'Show hidden devices' checkbox then an additional 'PS/2 Compatible Mouse' appears as greyed out.

I have downloaded and installed the Synaptics driver from the Acer support page and it says it installs successfully but there is no Synaptics-branded gesture support type page I can find in Control Panel, it's just Windows generic touchpad page. I can't see any mention of Synaptics in Device Manger except under 'Human Interface Devices' where there is a 'Synaptics HID Device' entry.

So, what's going on?

Why can't I see any Synaptics touchpad options page in Control Panel?
Why can't I install the Synaptics BIOS update?
Why does my touchpad freeze intermittently?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers

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JackE

(1) What do you mean by "clean install"? Was it from the hidden ACER recovery partiton or from a Microsoft generic or ACER-specific Win10 USB media?
(2) Was this originally a factory installed Win10 or Win8.1 machine?
(3) If a factory Win10 install, did you try to reset the machine from the hidden ACER recovery partition?

Jack E/NJ

blahd

Hey, thanks for the reply.
1) Windows 10 was installed using the Media Creation Tool on a USB stick. All partitions were formatted and removed so only a single partition remains.
2) I think it may have been originally a Win8.1 machine but I'm not 100% sure - I didn't own the laptop from purchase date.
3) N/A

Cheers

JackE

blahd>>>Synaptics touchpad performance improvements' reflash 1.17 as it says it can't find a Synaptics driver to update or something)>>>[Device Manager]If I enable the 'Show hidden devices' checkbox then an additional 'PS/2 Compatible Mouse' appears as greyed out. >>>

If it was originally purchased about 2014, then it was likely Win8.1. You can try to Install the Win8.1 driver in Win10's Win8.1 compatibility mode. Also try the Elantech driver just in case. If nothing seems to work, then download and install iobit's DriverBooster freeware. Jack E/NJ

blahd

Unfortunately none of those options helped

After using DriverBooster I now get a Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad appearing under the 'Mice and other pointing devices' category in Device Manager but it's greyed out. And now my touchpad doesn't respond at all. I attempted to update the driver directly via Device Manager but it says the most up to date driver is already installed.

*shrug* give up!

JackE

Hold on! Now try to turn the touchpad on with the FN+F7 toggle key combination. Jack E/NJ

blahd

Thanks I tried that but no joy.
I've now resorted to changing the Touchpad option from Advanced to Basic in the BIOS which has re-enabled the Touchpad and I can now see it appearing ok in the Device Manager as a Synaptics touchpad.

However it just feels kind of 'horrible and clunky' to use if that makes any sense. I've set the mouse pointer speed to the highest setting and increased the touchpad sensitivity but it still feels sluggish.

I'm hesitating to make any more changes as it seems to be working at the moment although I guess time will tell whether the intermittent freezing returns.

Thanks for the help in any case!

JackE

Well, you can always uninstall the DriverBooster selection from Device Manager. Then exit Device Manager without re-installing anything. Then do a cold boot and let Win10 auto re-detect and re-install the driver it wants or thinks is best. Jack E/NJ

blahd

Thanks, I just tried it.

Under Device Manager it now shows up as 'PS/2 Compatible Mouse'.

The touchpad response is a lot better but I no longer have gesture support such as 2 finger scrolling.

I'm unsure whether the intermittent freezing is still an issue just yet.

Wow, never had this much frustration trying to get a touchpad working after a Windows install - amazing...

JackE

I'm gonna guess the touchpad probably worked OK when Microsoft first tried to suck Win7 & Win8x folks in with the Win10 freebie downgrade. And maybe even with the 1st major Win10 update in Nov 2015. After that, rapid-fire major updates seem like new Windows versions under the old Windows naming conventions that challenge even newer systems with 1 or 2 year old Win10 versions . Unfortunately, maintenance support for each major update only lasts about 12-18mos. So even if a machine can be made to work properly under the latest Win10update 1809, maintenance support ends in May 2021, nearly 2 years before extended support for Win8.1 ends. Such is the new and unimproved Microsoft lifecycle policy. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

Jack E/NJ

blahd

Ah, yeah you could be on to something there! Well, thanks for the all the help anyhow.

At least I've managed to get it to a state where the touchpad is usable if not optimal.

Many thanks (y)

JackE

Well, at least you should still be able to get back to a factory Win8.1 with installation media from the ACER store if a future Win10update causes more serious issues. Currently about $46 for a USB stick or DVD based on the machine's serial no. ID (SNID). https://store.acer.com/en-us/extended/recovery/ Jack E/NJ

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