[SOLVED]Trackpoint/Trackpad not working on R60

[davidgurvich]

[Posted February 6th]Problem fixed. Very strange solution. Took the hard drive out and removed the rubber shock absorbers. Reinstalled the hard drive with only one shock absorber and the problem disappeared. I'm guessing that the shock absorber was pushing against something that caused an intermittent short.
[End update]

I'm getting a strange problem on an R60. When starting with battery only the trackpoint will not work and occasionally neither will the trackpad. In all situations the keyboard and external usb mouse work.

When starting with AC adapter plugged in both will work most of the time. If I plug in the AC adapter after starting from battery and the mouse wasn't working then a restart will also fail to get them working. If I shut down then plug in the AC and then startup the mouse will usually be working.

Once the laptop has booted the OS I can get both trackpoint and trackpad working by suspending the machine with Fn-F4 and resuming about a second later after suspend completes. Using the OS sleep setting does not have the same effect(ie closing and opening the lid or selecting sleep/suspend from shutdown menu).

If I plug the keyboard in without attaching to the case I can enable or disable the trackpoint by lifting the keyboard on or off the R60. I suspect a short somewhere on the keyboard or case but don't know how to go about testing for that. Would placing insulating material between the keyboard and case be an option?

Has anyone seen or heard of something like this before?

[Neil]

Is this the same R60 that had the wine spilled on it's keyboard a little while back?

[davidgurvich]

No, that one works well after I cleaned off the connectors on the motherboard and replaced the keyboard and battery.

This one is an entirely different machine that I picked up as a parts machine to repair the other(had a damaged screen). Turned out that I received a different parts machine and used that instead then replaced the screen on this one.

Incidentally, I had an issue with the screen parts number. Using the exact same screen model as the damaged version the resolution was entirely wrong(I think 640x480) and couldn't be changed.

[ajkula66]

Have you tried running the machine with no battery installed?

[davidgurvich]

See original post. On AC the trackpad+trackpoint usually works but not always. On battery the trackpoint usually doesn't work while the trackpad usually does. Using Fn-F4 to put the laptop to sleep then resuming works around the issue and enables both(occasionally need a 2nd sequence of sleep+resume).

[ajkula66]

Let's try this again:

a) What happens when you run the machine *on AC only* ?

b) Have you tried another battery?

[davidgurvich]

Repeating from first post:

On AC the trackpoint + trackpad usually work(about 75%). I've tried multiple batteries and the behavior is identical with the trackpoint usually NOT working until Fn+F4 and resume. Occasionally, the trackpad is also not working. In all situations where the trackpoint or trackpad is not working Fn+F4 and resume makes them work.

I have tested with the trackpad disconnected or disabled in BIOS and that has no effect on the situation. I have not tested with a different keyboard but do plan to do so when I get more parts in. The keyboard is always functional as a keyboard. External mice have no problems of any kind.

[davidgurvich]

Not sure what is going on but I decided to take the touchpad off and took a look at the screw inserts. Turns out that one of them had a small dented metal washer attached and the others didn't. The washer wasn't completely aligned with the hole and looks like it might have been soldered on somehow. Removed that(not well attached) and so far I haven't had a recurrence of the issue.

Will report if the problem comes back.

Waited overnight and started on battery. Problem reoccurred.

[Problem Solved] See first post.