[Acer Aspire 5 A515-56] Touchpad isn't working — Tried so many different things to no avail!

Please can I have help with the touchpad? My laptop model is Acer Aspire 5 A515-56.

Over the past month and a half, my cursor would jitter about. Eventually my touchpad would no longer respond to any interactions, until I rebooted my laptop.

Now, my touchpad just doesn't work at all.

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I have tried so many solutions.

Initially, uninstalling the driver of the "I2C HID Device" and then rebooting would solve the problem.
Eventually that no longer worked. I decided to use software to update my drivers which didn't work either.
I tried using drivers from Acer's support page for both the touchpad driver, and the Serial IO driver. This didn't work either.
I tried shutting my laptop down, using a paperclip to perform a battery reset via the hole, and this worked for a few days — I just had to do the same thing each time this happened.
I tried taking my laptop apart, unplugging and replugging the battery, which solved the problem for a few hours.
I tried reinstalling Windows
I tried editing the registry (which caused a kernel loop + Blue Screen of Death — so I reinstalled Windows again)
I tried some drivers from the Microsoft Update Catalog (https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=elan)
After writing this post, I got my touchpad to work *momentarily* by updating the external mouse driver via "HID Compliant Device" via the "drivers available on my computer" option.
I tried using "Load Setup Defaults" and then "Exit Saving Changes" in the BIOS, but this had no effect (apart from prompting the Windows setup screen for the default browser & Microsoft account).

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My touchpad does not show up in the BIOS, nor does it show up in Windows settings.

I can use an external mouse, however this limits the portability of my laptop, and if I lose the mouse then I'm out of luck for school!

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Below is a screenshot of the properties of the "I2C HID Device" via Task Manager.

Accepted answers

All comments

brummyfan2

Hi,
Go to BIOS screen and move to Main tab, check whether the Touchpad is in I2C mode, if not switch to I2C mode, if it's in I2C mode, switch to Basic mode and reboot, then switch back to I2C mode.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ai/qhnkmb5xhbdb.jpg

Commodore_1995#

Check this bios version:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ld/jjkgf0mznwur.png

KennyO

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
Go to BIOS screen and move to Main tab, check whether the Touchpad is in I2C mode, if not switch to I2C mode, if it's in I2C mode, switch to Basic mode and reboot, then switch back to I2C mode.

I've tried that by using Ctrl + S, and then I am given either I2C or PS2 to choose from. Either way, the touchpad still doesn't work.

egydiocoelho said:

Check this bios version:

I've updated to this BIOS already a few weeks ago when the problem started to occur

brummyfan2

Try this, go to BIOS screen and switch to PS2, then uninstall HID Event filter drive in Device manager, download and install HID Event Filter driver, then switch back to I2C mode for Touchpad.
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/support-product/8614?b=1

Commodore_1995#

KennyO said:

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
Go to BIOS screen and move to Main tab, check whether the Touchpad is in I2C mode, if not switch to I2C mode, if it's in I2C mode, switch to Basic mode and reboot, then switch back to I2C mode.

I've tried that by using Ctrl + S, and then I am given either I2C or PS2 to choose from. Either way, the touchpad still doesn't work.

egydiocoelho said:

Check this bios version:

I've updated to this BIOS already a few weeks ago when the problem started to occur

In addition to brummyfan2's suggestion, try resetting the bios and resetting the lition battery:
a) access the bios, press the f9 key and then f10.
b) try resetting the battery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfhgnxUJoZo&list=FLVBqwtBw09_Z9tXo1Injakw&index=7

KennyO

brummyfan2 said:

Try this, go to BIOS screen and switch to PS2, then uninstall HID Event filter drive in Device manager, download and install HID Event Filter driver, then switch back to I2C mode for Touchpad.
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/support-product/8614?b=1

Thanks for the advice, I’ve tried this, however the cursor still will not show up. I checked device manager after doing this, and can see that the “I2C HID Device” still has a warning symbol.

egydiocoelho said:

KennyO said:

brummyfan2 said:

Hi,
Go to BIOS screen and move to Main tab, check whether the Touchpad is in I2C mode, if not switch to I2C mode, if it's in I2C mode, switch to Basic mode and reboot, then switch back to I2C mode.

I've tried that by using Ctrl + S, and then I am given either I2C or PS2 to choose from. Either way, the touchpad still doesn't work.

egydiocoelho said:

Check this bios version:

I've updated to this BIOS already a few weeks ago when the problem started to occur

In addition to brummyfan2's suggestion, try resetting the bios and resetting the lition battery:
a) access the bios, press the f9 key and then f10.
b) try resetting the battery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfhgnxUJoZo&list=FLVBqwtBw09_Z9tXo1Injakw&index=7

Thank you too for replying, I did exactly as you said, however the cursor isn’t back unfortunately!

Commodore_1995#

Try disconnecting the lithium battery and the touchpad connector:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyXYCWq4-As

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUOhuZ7W4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyU_d25LKYY

KennyO

egydiocoelho said:

Try disconnecting the lithium battery and the touchpad connector:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyXYCWq4-As
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUOhuZ7W4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyU_d25LKYY

Thanks for that idea! I've already tried physically reseating the battery, however I haven't tried the touchpad yet.
After seeing those videos, and others on YouTube, reseating the touchpad's ribbon cable seems risky!
I'll attempt this as a last resort — probably in a few days/weeks.

However there seems to be some good news for me.
In the screenshot below, Acer have now put a new message.
I can't download the touchpad driver from the site anymore (but I do still have the file on my laptop).
But the fact that they've pulled it off the site seems to imply that the issue is being investigated!
Hopefully they'll solve this headache for me!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/kx/igrp2v4uapij.png

KennyO

I just solved my problem!!!

I have a local copy of the ELANTech Touchpad driver that was on the page dedicated to my laptop.
acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/8614?b=1&pn=NX.A19AA.001

I saw the idea on the following link...
answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-enable-tochpad-on-acer-aspire-v5-as-it-it/fd7bf4bb-b273-4e86-acb0-941a74922dc1

I uninstalled the "I2C HID Device" driver.
I ran the Setup.exe file in compatibility mode for Windows 8.
(For users who may have the same issue: Right click for properties, go to compatibility tab, hit checkbox to run in compatibility mode, set to Windows 8)

I restarted my laptop (the .exe file showed a popup asking to restart now).

And now my cursor is working (plus I've created a restore point).

Hopefully it stays this way!

KennyO

Sorry to bring bad news, but once the touchpad stops working, this fix doesn’t work at all anymore — just like all other fixes I’ve tried and had success with for at most a day. Even if you try other Windows compatibility versions such as Windows 7/8/Vista