Keyboards & Touchpads

[#1]

I have noticed this issue with the trackpad on the four nb205's I have tried at different vendors in Seoul. It's a pity as the netbook seems excellent in all other aspects.

[#2]

If you can be more specific on what your incurred, then observed on those 4 units there in Korea, would aid in a resolution.  Toshiba is aware and trying to duplicate, so every bit of information is useful or send a PM to Moderator Jim as previously posted within this OP.

[#3]

Hi Everybody,

I've gone through all the touchpad settings on my NB205 and have tried it with ALPS drivers and with Windows drivers. The touchpad seems to be behaving the same way in either configuration. External USB mouse is perfect. The problem with my touchpad is the delay between when my finger touches the pad and when the cursor stats to move. It feels like about .5 sec., sometimes longer. I'm finding it difficult to be precise with this tochpad. It also tends to "stutter" when the unit is "crunching" something, like starting a new window. This is not the case with an external mouse.

I went down to my local electronics store and tried another unit on display and it acts the same way!

I feel this problem makes the unit very frustrating to use if not unusable, because carrying an external mouse and using it in cramped quarters, such as an airplane is impossible. Otherwise this is a great little unit. I have a long trip coming up shortly and hope that there is a solution to this problem.

[#4]

Jim I am experiencing all of the symptoms of the stuttering pad.

In fact I am so frustrated I am ready to ditch the **bleep** thing and buy something else.

I will send you my nb205 N311/W if you need a sample unit that has this Alps touchpad problem.

What does Alps say?

Thanks

Mike

[#5]

Hi Mike,

No additional samples are needed for testing at this time, but thanks for the offer.

I have no news from Alps or Toshiba to share at this time but my understanding is that there is progress being made in understanding a likely cause of the most commonly reported symptom.

Thanks,

Jim

[#6]

I've had my NB205 for two weeks and I also find that the cursor "Jumps" frequently.  Probably at least 10 times within the 1/2 hour I use it on my commute (train). It jumps also when we are at stops in stations. It usually jumps up a few lines.  This morning it jumped 3 times in a row from the same spot.  I finally got it to get past the spot on the fourth time. I'm a touch typist and now  have to watch the screen at all times to make sure it doesn't jump.  My hands are not on the track pad when this happens and I've seen it jump when I'm being extreeeeemly careful.

I love this laptop except for the cursor problem, but if there is not a way to correct it, I will probably have to return the computer.

[#7]

Here is a solution that brings down the stuttering to a minimum amount, which for me was as good as a fix... Uninstall Alps Touchpad from the remove program menu in the control panel.

The cons to removing the program is:

1.) Can't turn off tapping (just learn to not touch the touchpad when typing, tapping is incredible useful anyways...)

2.) scroll function doesn't work. (the touchpad is messed up on the side anyways so having no touch scroll isn't too bad, use the up and down keys as an alternative. It doesn't affect usability too much.)

I hope toshiba finds a proper fix for the drivers but until then, this was a good enough solution for me to decide to keep the netbook.

[#8]

I agree, uninstalling the Alps drivers solves the problem for me, although I really liked the swipe guard while typing. The edges of my touchpad also have poor sensitivity.

The Alps drivers seem to create some sort of system overhead that affects the performance of the touchpad. If a "lite" version could be created for the NB205 with only a few functions (i.e. scrolling and swipe guard while typing), I'm wondering if that would do the trick with minimal overhead and minimal loss of functionality.

Is there a synaptics driver with the swipe guard that might be 'lighter' than the Alps drivers? maybe an older Lenovo-or-Dell based Synaptics or Alps driver is out there? I'll continue to search for one in the meantime.

[#9]

I was thinking of picking one of these up by the end of the week but this touchpad issue is holding me back since I don't know what Toshiba's stance is as far as repair/replaxcement if this turns out to be a hardware issue and not firmware/software. Maybe an admin can clarify this a little?

[#10]

I installed Win 7 wothout installing the ALPS driver and I stlill have the same problem,so I think this is a hardware issue instead of driver problem.