Win 7 question

[BrianR]

My laptop has Win 7 and a touchpad.

Yesterday, the touchpad stopped working and an amber light appeared in the upper left corner.

I'm sure I just accidentally pressed a deactivate key sequence by mistake, but how do I get it back to working order?

[Pico and ME]

Huh, I thought this was going to be a quiz for money.

[BrianR]

I'll pay a nice, shiny quarter for the correct answer...

[Gravdigr]

Scroll Lock/Num Lock maybe? No experience with laptops.

[Pete Zicato]

For hardware related questions, you should always include the make and model of your hardware.

What brand/model is your laptop?

Based on the amber light, I'm guessing that you've flipped a hardware switch. Laptops often have one or more little switches somewhere on the case.

[BrianR]

Sorry, it's a HP Probook 4525s

No switches that I can see, unless they're hidden or something.

[tw]

Originally Posted by BrianR

Sorry, it's a HP Probook 4525s

Read the book that came with it called "Getting Started". On page 18:

To turn the TouchPad on and off, quickly double-tap the TouchPad off indicator. When the TouchPad off indicator is amber, the TouchPad is off.

HP is one of the superior machines because it has all kinds of need tricks, information, manuals, and utilities to quickly find and fix problems. Go to HP's web site. Click on Support and Downloads. Enter your model number. Learn of all kind of things you will never get from crappier machines such as Gateway.

Also execute HP's diagnostics. Also called PC Doctor. Learn to run them now. Learn what a good machine does. Then if/when failures happen, you can quickly see when those diagnostics have identified a problem. And know how to execute those diagnostics.

Is that something wrong with the touchpad? First thing to do (other than reading the manual) is to execute comprehensive hardware diagnostics to quickly exonerate most suspects.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by tw

Read the book that came with it called "Getting Started". On page 18:
<snip>

Good catch, TW (I hope)

Brian, don't be embarrassed if TW's directive solves the problem !

Getting users to read a Manual past page 2 seems almost impossible.
I spent 7 years as an independent consultant and couldn't believe some of the calls I received from clients who didn't/wouldn't RTFM.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Brian, don't be embarrassed if TW's directive solves the problem !

Who wastes time with emotions? We learn because we make mistakes. Brian can learn why his machine is a better type. Learn from the experience by executing its hardware diagnostics. And visit a web site for Probook 4525s. At least two things to learn from an event and resulting question. Mistakes are some of the greatest sources of knowledge.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by tw

We learn because we make mistakes.

The best lessons are learned this way.

[BrianR]

Originally Posted by tw

Is that something wrong with the touchpad? First thing to do (other than reading the manual) is to execute comprehensive hardware diagnostics to quickly exonerate most suspects.

Since the touchpad was working until it didn't, and I was trying to type at the time (in a bouncing truck at that), my suspect is a key sequence that disables the touchpad.

In this case, you were correct...double tapping the amber light made it work again. I could have sworn I tried that already, but I guess I didn't after all.

Thank you Tom. I owe you a shiny new quarter!

Brian

[tw]

Originally Posted by BrianR

In this case, you were correct...double tapping the amber light made it work again.

One function that drives me crazy is the touchpad tap that cause the equivalent of a CR (Enter key). A single tap. For some reason it does not bother others. That function constantly corrupts my tying. I disabled that function in the Control Panel. I do not understand why others are not also suffering inadvertent CRs.

I prefer the pure silver ones that make the pretty ring when dropped on marble. Today's quarters make ugly noises.

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by tw

One function that drives me crazy is the touchpad tap that cause the equivalent of a CR (Enter key). A single tap. For some reason it does not bother others. That function constantly corrupts my tying. I disabled that function in the Control Panel. I do not understand why others are not also suffering inadvertent CRs.

Drives me crazy as well. I disable it on every laptop I use - except macs. I like their touch pads much better. They seem to be better tuned. I also like the double finger wipe gesture for scrolling.

[BrianR]

I erased/uninstalled all that HP crapola right away. It took up several gigabytes of precious hard drive space that are better wasted on music and porn files.
Bootup time is now three times faster. Oh, I don't have any Getting Started booklet. Only setup instructions in thirty languages. Also, a big warranty booklet and a sales brochure for more accessories.

Now if I can only get Ubuntu installed and working... Where is the partitioning tool, or did I uninstall it?

I will try the double tap thing today and let you know if it works.

Brian