Switch 11 touchpad

Thanks for the reply maxorkaGTi.

Keyboard works as usual.

There are no exclamation marks in Device Manager and scanning for new hardware doesn't bring anything up.

There are two HID-compliant-mice listed under 'mice and other pointing devices', three when I have my wireless mouse plugged in. I assume one for touchpad, one for touch screen and the third for the wireless mouse.

As mentioned above the touchpad issue is intermittent, sometimes it works, usually not though, or if it does it'll move and then stop after a few cm of movement despite my finger continuing across the touchpad.

Cory, thank you, I very much appreciate your participation.

Yes I understand the concepts of the touchpad as fitted to my Aspire Switch. When it works it's a reasonable and acceptable pointing device. Like most of it's ilk it's a balance between function, ergonomics and compact design. The latter compromising the others is par for the course.

It's not subtle mis-swiping or touching of the pad that's causing my problems I'm afraid. The cursor stubbornly locks in position for what could be seconds or a minute or two and sometimes until the device is rebooted. This can happen at any time. It does seem that physical clicking, left or right, can bring this behaviour on, though not always. Quite often the cursor will freeze part way through swiping my finger across the pad, the cursor stops as if it's hit a brick wall, yet my finger continues across the pad. Once locked further attempts to use the trackpad do nothing until suddenly it's released again. the issue can sometimes manifest itself as a stutter where it just drops out repeatedly for a split second at a time.

My fingers aren't calloused, scarred, dry, cracked or in any other way abnormal that should affect trackpad performance. I have no issues with other laptops or capacitive screens etc.

It's probably locked up about 5-6 times writing this.

Thanks for the swift response Cory.

I took delivery on the 8th December and had issues with the trackpad within a few days. This is when I contacted support and eventually I was instructed to do a full, back to square one system restore.

Once I'd done this system restore things appeared to go back to normal until I installed MS Remote Desktop Connection Manger 2.7. Prior to this I had installed regular software such as MS Office 2010, Firefox, Thunderbird as well as EST Endpoint AV.

I can use the Switch for periods where the problem doesn't occur and my hopes rise... then it strikes again.

I will persisit until after Chritmas & New Year and if I don't resolve it by then I will seriously consider a return for warranty inspection. I'm using a wireless USB mouse as well (yes, have tried running without that plugged in) so not absolutely stuck.

Not sure if this is that relevant but most Switch models run Win 8.1 32bit. This is on Win 8.1 64bit.

Anyone with a Switch 11 running 64bit Win 8.1 care to comment?

It's odd that installing the Synaptics driver goes though yet there is no specific Synaptics functionality or tab on the mouse properties in control panel. It's almost as if the driver isn't really being installed...

The frustrating thing is that the touchpad should just work, no fuss, no issues like this. Whatever software I install. Just like any other piece of hardware. My wireless mouse, as would any other USB mouse, works perfectly with the Switch irrespective of anything else I do to it. I have various other PCs with USB mice of various makes (predominantly MS products), trackballs (servers in cabinets) and laptops/netbooks with pads. All work as intended in a reliable way with none of the sensitivity to what's installed on the machine. If the trackpad fitted to the Switch is really this flakey then maybe it's not fit for purpose?

In the end I purchased a wireless mouse which works perfectly

Having said that I had ordered an SSD to go into the space in the keyboard/dock of my Switch 11 before Christmas but it took the cable that I ordered from Acer until earlier this month to arrive. When I took the keyboard apart to install this I checked all the ribbon cables for the trackpad and gave them a 'wiggle'. For the next couple of weeks the trackpad seemed to behave but is now, occasionally, back to it's old tricks.

For me the trackpad is the 'fly in ointment' that spoils what would otherwise be a great machine. However, I'm just about willing to put up with it as I can fall back on the touch-screen my new mouse if needed. Not willing to send it off to Acer as a/ they would probably just send it back saying that they couldn't find a problem, b/ it would take ages, c/ they'd likely say I'd invalidated the warranty anyway by installing the SSD, and d/ quite possibly come back with other problems...

billsey, that's news to me, thanks for the heads-up. Have been a bit burried in work the last couple of weeks so must have missed that news.

Is there a post anywhere stating what issues the BIOS update addresses?

I've donwloaded it and will give it a go if I have some spare time tomorrow and report back here with results.

Hi lrc.

No, never found a solution. Wish I'd bought another brand to be honest as this issue just makes the portable aspect of the device a PITA.

I have just resorted to carrying a small MS wireless mouse around. Even this sometimes has a hiccup, maybe I should try diasbling the touchpad and see if that stops. Hadn't really thought of that until reading your post. Sort of live in hope that one day it'll work properly, a pipe dream maybe?

I'm more impatient that persistent Hence using the MS mouse instead. Don't want to have to send my Switch in for service as firstly I would be without it for a while. Added to which, conjecture on my part I admit, it would likely come back set to default install and possibly with a report that the issue could not be found as it's intermitteint.

Regrettably for you I'm relieved to hear that there are more suffering from this problem. The more people who have this issue and post to this thread the more likely that Acer will take notice and do something about it. If you have a Switch 11, you're reading this and it all sounds familiar then I implore you to register and post your experience here.

The other features of this netbook are seriously let down by the very flawed trackpad. As said previously I regret my purchase, had I known about this I would have bought something else.