X230 Precision Touchpad

[TPFanatic]

So when I upgrade my classic thinkpads to Windows 10 I like to force-install the P71's ultranav driver because it restores the toggles for Middle Click vs Scroll and Trackpoint Light vs Heavy feel, which for no good reason is decontented from the official Synaptics driver for the golden oldies. As P71 is equipped with a Precision Touchpad (P70 is not) the driver usually breaks the functionality of the regular Synaptics touchpad and it should be disabled, as has been my experience using this driver on T430 and W530.

(Alternatively one could physically disconnect the touchpad and use the X200's Trackpoint driver, which is not missing toggles in Windows 10)

With X230 the result is different. The clickpad remains usable but also gains all the Windows Precision Touchpad features like pinch zoom, three finger swipes, two finger tap for right click, et cetera. Dare I say the clickpad actually feels more usable now than I ever found it before on Windows 7.

This is the P71 driver I use for Windows 10 64 bit: https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/n23gz21w.exe

Long live the X230.

[E350]

TPFanatic You rule buddy!!!

Can I just install the P71 driver over the Windows 10 X230 Tablet Driver or should I uninstall the Windows 10 X230 Tablet Driver first?

[TPFanatic]

You have to force install the P71 driver with Have Disk. No need to uninstall the old driver, you can install over it. Windows will keep it in the driver store anyway.

[WVZR1]

This P71 'driver' interests me. You mentioned all of your Classic ThinkPads - would you consider T550 & T570 to be classics and would you expect similar responses to W11 as you experienced w/W10?

You mentioned force so I expect a person would put it on a USB key?

I have also an X230T that currently has W10 and the TouchPad has always left something to be desired.

[TPFanatic]

by "force install" i mean

1. navigating to "Device Manager",

2. expanding Pointing Device,

3. open context menu on the Device,

4. click Update Device Driver Software,

5. select "Browse my computer for driver software",

6. select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer",

7. click on "Have Disk..."

8. navigate to the .inf extracted from the P71 Synaptics Ultranav Driver Package* https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/n23gz21w.exe
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/prod ... 0and%20Pen

*assuming that you have already downloaded and extracted the .inf from that package.


re: classic, I mean models with the 7-row and other various IBM-esque design language.

[ansic]

Does x230 have pinch zoom on Linux?
Edit: In fact, yes, at least on Wayland you've got pinch to zoom and up to 4 fingers gestures.

[WVZR1]

My X230T is still on W10 and I did the 'suggested' Precision Touchpad change and it's TERRIFIC!!!

Thank you @TPFanatic

I will have to do this again after a W11 upgrade or might it stick?

[TPFanatic]

i predict you'd have to repeat it again, windows updates like to sneak in a lot of changes because they think they know better than you and they will claim you "agreed" to it because you clicked next on some unreadable terms and conditions. microsoft and the OEMs also do funny things like blocking the Power Manager setup.exe from running. it's why a lot of people abandon all hope and switch to linux, but it's hardly any better there, because instead of Microsoft being your big brother, it's Stallman the ephebophile.

[Thinker2025]

Hello TPFanatic, can you help me figure out a problem I have with installing precision touchpad driver on my X230

I Installed the P71's touchpad driver according to your instructions on my X230 running windows 11, but after a restart my touchpad seems to be functionally broken.

What works:
Trackpoint
Trackpad bottom clicks
Two finger right click gesture

What doesn't work:
Touchpad cursor

So I thought maybe windows 11 must be the issue, I downgraded back to windows 10 hoping the issue will be resolved but unfortunately the same issue still happened.

[TPFanatic]

i'm afraid i cannot help. you could try reinstalling the driver, or the driver that is recommended for X230, see if it makes things work better. on my x230 i do not let microsoft auto-update anything, it's a stable system. but in general microsoft likes to reinstall drivers themselves and mess things up.

[Thinker2025]

May I know what version of Windows 10 you are currently using on your x230? I'm currently on 21H2

[TPFanatic]

22h2