Switch 11 touchpad

I had problems with my trackpad in the first few days of ownership. The cursor became intermittently unresponsive to any input. Sometimes working and other times frozen for minutes at a time. After a number of calls and online chats with Acer tech support I resorted to a restore to a fresh install and started installing all of my applications again.

Up until this morning I had no further issues but after installing MS Remote Desktop Connection Manager the problems are back again. I have tried reverting to a restore point before this install, reinstalling the Intel IO Drivers from the Acer website both to no avail. I really don't want to have to start from scratch all over again as for a start I just don't have the time and secondly the issue is sure to be back again.

I have a USB wireless mouse that works with the Switch 11 as expected.

I can see from a Google search that there seem to be plenty of issues with the Synaptics touchpad on other Acer devices, especially when it comes to Win 8.1 Smiley Sad

Any suggestions?

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maxorkaGTi

Keyboard working?Scan for harware changes from Device Manager brings back my missing keyboard and mouse after switch to laptop mode.When this happend try manage to Device Manager and see if there is a any device with the yellow mark.May drivers dont load correct?

RFNM

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.

RFNM

Just to add to my comments above; I have had a chance to experiment a bit further today and using the click, left or right, with the touchpad usually, though not always, provokes the freeze. Mind you this is only the touchpad itself, you can immediately take over with the touch screen or a plugged in USB mouse.

maxorkaGTi

Try quit all metro apps before connect tablet back to keyboard to see change something.

RFNM

Hi maxorkaGTi, thanks for the reply. Sorry, I've been out of action for a few days due to illness.

I'm not using Metro apps (unless I can help it), boot to desktop and run Classic Shell as I'm a bit 'old school'... Will maybe use Metro apps in tablet mode for casual use but in the main the Switch is for remote use for my business where the keyboard will remain attached.

In practical terms something bigger might have been more suitable but the size and apparent versatility of the Switch combined with adequate processor and memory was appealing. I'm not away from the office often but when I am it's either with the family or, more relevant to the size thing, off into Europe on my motorcycle. The Switch 11 ticked all the boxes in theory but this trackpad issue is proving to be it's downfall.

Have been tinkering whilst recovering yesterday and thought I had it solved by installing the latest Synaptics driver (this is unsigned and requires some 'hoop-jumping' to install). However, the problem frustratingly came back yet again a few hours later.

I have found a one iteration earlier Synaptics driver that is signed that I'll try next though there is no obvious way to uninstall the one I put on yesterday, this has to be uninstalled before I can install the earlier one. Luckily I though that I might need to 'reverse out' at some point and set a restore point (I'm learning to do that Smiley Wink ) beforehand. Hopefully I've just got to revert back to that and try again.

Cory-Acer

Hi all,

So Precision Touchpads are a new standard that's been introduced and I want to help make sure that we're not running into issues that are new but once understood may be easier to avoid. Here is some content we have:

http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/33950

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/touchpad

In the past, many people complained about the touchpad jumping or pickup other movements. People's thumb or palm might have come in contact with the touchpad sending the cursor all over the screen. With precision touchpads there is a defined range (I believe 25mm or so) where the device will ignore input, so the side of the thumb or palm or even a large portion of a finger could trigger this. It won't recognize the input until it is completely removed.

Let me know if any of this information helps.

Cory

maxorkaGTi

Same happend here today.Using left or right button freezee touchpad and keyboard.Scan for hardware changes fixed,but ......Acer

RFNM

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.

Cory-Acer

Hmm, I don't know how long it worked after the reinstall of the OS, but if it was any significant amount of time it's just not enough data to be sure that it is going to come back. I don't know how the software you installed could be causing the problems, but I can't rule it out either.

The most drastic option is still on the table and that's having it go in for service.

RFNM

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?

BobH34117

I have the same issue with a one month old Acer Switch 11 where the touchpad freezes - the only way to get it going is to lift a side so the center contacts seperate, then let it slide back in place. This started from day 1, with no software loaded - so I cannot be convinced something made a change.

I have a feeling the contacts between the keyboard and tablet/screen are not sufficiently making contact, as I notice this happens far more often if I take it outside where it's colder.

We could really use some help here Acer before these units get a bad reputation, since otherwise it's my 3rd small Acer over the years which have been decent units - but this is ridiculously frustrating.

RFNM

In the end I purchased a wireless mouse which works perfectly Smiley Wink

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

Have you done the BIOS update?

RFNM

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.

BobH34117

I just performed the 1.04 Bios update with no improvement.

billsey

IIRC they just say it gives some generic enhancements, but one of the unmentioned changes has to do with handling the connect/disconnect of the keyboard, especially when coupled with sleep mode. Not to say it fixes everything, but feed back was that it helped a lot.

lrc

Hello RFNM and BobH34117,

Did either of you ever get the touchpad issue fixed?

I just purchased a Switch 11 in Thailand (emergency purchase to replace suddenly dead notebook while traveling) and experience the same problem with touchpad response degrading to become completely unresponsive. This happens very regularly while using the notebook.

I notice when the problem occurs, I can sometimes still get the mouse cursor to move by finding/using a small area of the touchpad in a corner or along one edge, but usually this small area disappears and the touchpad becomes completely unuseable. Being able to find/use these small areas around the edge of the touchpad as its response degrades tells me that there's some problem with the design of the touchpad keep-out areas, whatever firmware is operating in the touchpad is not staying in-calibration with the touchpad itself.

Since this touchpad is integrated into Windows as a generic USB HID mouse, I don't think there is any oppportunity to solve this problem with a driver update - I suspect the firmware in the touchpad peripheral will need to be fixed and us users don't have any way to upgrade this peripheral's firmware. By the way I'm an electronic engineer and have designed hard disk drives and other peripherals in the past, so it's pretty easy for me to imagine what might be going on in this touchpad.

Another thing I occasionally notice is that the touchscreen can be affected. When the touchpad is really stuck - completely unresponsive - once in a while the touchscreen will be unresponsive also. In this situation, I can always get the touchscreen to "come back" by disconnecting the keyboard (which disconnects the touchpad). One possibility here is that the touchpad could be causing excessive interrupts to interfere with the system in general, and this interference goes away when the keyboard (and touchpad) are disconnected.

But in the end, since there is no specific driver for this touchpad, I think its firmware will need an upgrade in order to fix the problem, which probably means sending the notebook in for service.

Pleaase do let me know if you've found any solutions.

Thanks!

RFNM

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?

lrc

Hi RFNM,

Thanks for the update and sorry to hear you were not able to resolve the problem.

I need to use the touchpad frequently while traveling, it's fundamentally useless with this problem and thus the notebook is useless.

I intend to excercise the international warranty on this system until the touchpad is fixed. I can be terribly persistent...

Will post updates as I progress through this adventure.

Regards,

LRC

RFNM

I'm more impatient that persistent Smiley Frustrated 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.

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