Dell Touchpad Not Working? Here’s How to Fix it

Navigating the Operating System on laptop heavily depends on the touchpad. Even the BIOS supports navigation through the touchpad. So, it becomes more than a mere inconvenience when your touchpad does not work, unless you connect an external mouse to the PC.

Touchpads on laptops doesn’t malfunction very often. But, physical damages like broken wire may stop the touchpad from functioning, wrong system touchpad settings and driver issues most likely cause issues with the touchpad.

Why is Dell Touchpad Not Working?

One common and simple reason the touchpad does not work is when the touchpad is disabled. You can find configurations in Windows Settings, BIOS, Registry, and many more where you need to enable the touchpad. Even if the touchpad is disabled on any of the fronts, it will not work. 

How to Fix a Touchpad That is Not Working on Dell Laptop?

Below, we have explained some methods to fix the touchpad on a Dell laptop.

Enable Touchpad

All the settings that control the touchpad usability are enabled by default. Windows updates and BIOS updates may cause these configurations to change. If even one touchpad configuration is disabled, the touchpad will not function.

Therefore, let us start by enabling the touchpad from the BIOS.

Enable Touchpad Using BIOS

BIOS, or the Basic Input Output System, has full access to all the hardware components connected to the system. Besides setting boot options or system preferences, you can enable or disable any piece of hardware components. And this includes the touchpad. 

Below are the steps to enable the touchpad from the BIOS.

1. Repeatedly press the BIOS key during startup to enter the BIOS. Depending on the laptop, the BIOS key could be any function or a Delete key. For most Dell laptops, the BIOS key is F2.
2. Once you are in the BIOS, Expand System Configurations.
3. Click on Miscellaneous Devices.
4. Now, on the right panel, enable the touchpad.
5. Save and Exit the BIOS.

Enable Touchpad Using Hotkey

Most laptops, including Dell, may have a dedicated key to disable or enable the touchpad. The touchpad will not function when the LED on this key is on. The key is usually one of the function keys with the touchpad icon.

Press Fn + touchpad key to enabling or disable the touchpad. Your laptop may or may not have this touchpad function key. If your laptop does not have a separate touchpad function key, please follow another solution mentioned below.

Enable touchpad from Device Manager

In Windows, the Device Manager has access to all the devices connected to the Computer. Furthermore, you can enable or disable specific devices using Device Manager. Try Enabling the touchpad from the device manager to see if the touchpad starts functioning.

1. Press the Windows + X key and select Device Manager using the arrow keys.
2. Press the tab to highlight the top of the list and use the arrow keys to highlight Mice and other pointing devices.
3. Press the right arrow key to expand the highlighted section.
4. Select Dell Touchpad and press Enter.
5. Press Tab until you highlight the General tab. 
6. Use the arrow keys to go to the Driver tab.
7. Here make sure that the device is enabled.
   

Enable Using Touchpad switch

Like a hotkey to enable or disable the touchpad, most laptops also come with a feature in the physical touchpad that can enable or disable itself. Check the touchpad if it has any LED on top of a corner. If it does, you can double-tap on the LED to enable or disable the touchpad. 

If the led is on, the touch pad is currently disabled. Double-tap on the led to enable it.

Mouse Properties

Dell Laptops have a separate touchpad setting that can enable or disable the touchpad. Try enabling this setting from mouse properties to fix the touchpad.

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run.
2. Type main.cpl and press Enter to open Mouse properties.
3. Press the tab once to highlight the Buttons tab. 
4. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Dell Touchpad Tab.
5. Keep pressing the tab to highlight Click to change Dell Touchpad settings. Another window will open, displaying Dell touchpad properties.
   
6. Again press the tab key to highlight Touchpad On/Off.
   
7. Press the Space key to toggle the switch.

Windows Settings

Follow the steps mentioned below to enable the touchpad from Windows Settings.

1. Press the Windows + I key to open Settings.
2. Go to Bluetooth and Devices using the arrow keys.
   
3. Keep pressing the tab key until you highlight Devices.
4. Use the arrow keys to go to Touchpad.
   
5. Press Space to switch between on and off.

From Registry Editor

Windows Registry contains the database of all the configurations in Windows. This includes whether the touchpad is enabled or disabled. In the registry, the value name is EnableCursorSuppressoion. The value on the registry should be 0, which means false.

Below are the steps to change the registry value to disable cursor suppression. Before we start, writing changes to the registry values may cause the entire OS to malfunction. Therefore, we recommend you back up the registry before applying any changes.

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run.
2. Type regedit and press enter to open Registry Editor.
3. Use the tab key and the arrow keys to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.
4. Press the tab key to highlight the first list on the right panel, select EnableCursorSuppression, and press enter.
   
5. Change the value data to 0 and select OK.
   
6. Restart your PC to see if the touchpad works.

You can import the registry to revert any changes if the above steps do not work. If none of the steps mentioned work on enabling the touchpad, it could be that some bugs or errors are stopping it from functioning. Follow the solutions mentioned below to fix the touchpad issue on your Dell laptops.

Switch Between Tablet and Laptop Mode

In tablet mode, the laptop disables the touchpad and the keyboard. And once you flip the laptop to normal mode, the device uses a sensor to detect the current mode and makes the touchpad and the keyboard functional. 

If users switch between the tablet and laptop mode continuously, the sensor may record incorrect data and render the touchpad useless in laptop mode. If that’s the case for you, you can try fixing it by reverting your laptop to normal mode and performing a simple restart.

Update Dell Touchpad Drivers

Drivers are responsible for efficient data transfer between the OS and the device, in our case, the touchpad. If this driver is outdated or corrupted, it may seem that the device itself is not working. 

To fix this, you can try updating your drivers.

1. Press the Windows + X key and select Device Manager.
2. Press the tab key to highlight the top of the list.
3. Use the arrow key to highlight Mice and other pointing devices.
4. Press the right arrow key to expand the highlighted section.
5. Select Dell Touchpad and hit enter.
6. Press the tab key to highlight the General tab.
7. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Driver tab.
8. Select the Update driver.
   

Perform Clean Boot

Windows only enable basic drivers and do not run any startup application except any Microsoft services. If any third-party driver or application is causing conflicts with the touchpad, performing a clean boot should fix the touchpad. 

In order to perform a clean boot,

1. Press the Windows + R key to open Run.
2. Type msconfig and press Enter to open System Configuration.
   
3. Keep pressing the tab key until you highlight General Tab.
4. Use the arrow keys to go to Services tab.
5. Press Tab to highlight Hide all Microsoft service and press Space key to check the highlighted section.
6. Press tab to highlight Disable all.
   
7. Press Apply, then OK.
8. Now restart your PC to Clean boot your OS.

If the touchpad works smoothly when you clean boot the PC, you might need to uninstall the application causing the complication.

Check the Touchpad Cable

Inside any laptop, there is a cable that connects the motherboard to the touchpad sensor. If this cable is loose or damaged, the touchpad will not function. To fix this, you need to open the backplate of the laptop and reconnect or replace the touchpad wire.

However, removing the laptop’s backplate and components is a complex process. Therefore, we recommend taking your laptop to a local laptop repair shop to reconnect the touchpad cable.