It's the device driver software that I reckon is corrupt. Does it use the Synaptics Touchpad software?

One thing you could do is go on Toshiba's website and see if there is an update for the driver software.

Another thing you could do (with your external mouse plugged in) would be to go into Device Manager (press Windows key and the Pause/Break button on your keyboard, and then Device Manager assuming you are using Windows Vista or 7) and under "Mice and other pointing devices" delete an entry that looks like "Synaptics PS/2 Port Pointing Device", and then reboot Windows.

Right, plugged in the wired mouse I just bought from ASDA and it wasn't working properly. Unplugged it and the touchpad's gone back to fully working except from not letting me click by tapping it :boggle: it registers it when I do it as well going by the box in the toolbar

[Edited on 22-05-2011 by alan-g-w]

Aye, I got a wired mouse today and I'm on the lookout for one of the rollerball one that you kind of 'wear' on your finger, I reckon that's my answer.

Cheers for replies lads

Dunno about yours but the touchpad on my Acer is shit anyway (and it is working properly) so I have a wireless Logitech mouse with one of those tiny dongle things, dont even know its there, I would say it isnt worth the money you would spend fixing it, not like anyone sell's a laptop anymore as 6 months after you have bought it it is miles out of date anyway :)

Might have to turn the touchpad off in control panel but a mouse will solve it if it is hardware.

I'll need to see, a wired mouse might be the solution tbh, assuming that would work?

Depends how confident you are and how much toshiba parts are on ebay.

It depends on the laptop but you normally need to strip most of it down, it's either a part of the palmrest or sometimes it's a separate part.

If you can use a screwdriver and take a bit of care prising some plastic apart it shouldn't be too bad.

Aye, as said it seems like that since now when I'm using it the little circle's flickering on and off. Is it something I'd be able to attempt myself you reckon?

Probably hardware, I've got Dell out all the time for these.

Hello all

I've got a 2-3 year old Toshiba laptop that's developed a fault earlier today. The best way I can describe it is, see when you put one finger on the touchpad then try to move the mouse as normal with another finger, it spazzes out. Mine's just doing this constantly. Also, on the wee 'synaptics' or something like that box in the toolbar it shows what kind of pressure that you're putting on it, indicated by a green dot that starts off small and gets bigger as you apply more pressure. Even when I've got my finger no-where near the pad it's registering me using it.

So far I've installed a Windows update that was due (Vista Service Pack 2 iirc) and attempted a system restore. The system restore did exactly what it's done the last few times I've tried it - acted like it's gone through the whole thing perfectly until it's time to put my password in, then it comes up a message saying 'system restore unseccessful'. If I try to trouble shoot, the code it give me is a 'miscellaneous error' which I can't seem to find any info about online.

Am I looking at a hardware problem or does anyone have any suggestions as to what I might try before going that route?

[Edited on 21-05-2011 by alan-g-w]