It's frustrating when you can't understand how to fix your Acer touchpad not working. It throws a wrench in your workflow, especially if you don’t have an external mouse handy. I’ve been there, staring at an unresponsive trackpad, trying to figure out why my Acer laptop touchpad isn't responding after an update or seemingly out of the blue. In this guide, I’ll take you through practical solutions to get your Acer touchpad working again.
Check if the Touchpad Is Disabled
Let’s start with the easiest fix first, your touchpad might simply be disabled through a keyboard shortcut. Acer laptops often use a function key combination to toggle the touchpad on and off. Look closely at your keyboard; keys like F6, F7, or F2 often feature a small touchpad icon. Once you know
where to look, it’s a quick and straightforward way to re-enable it. Here's what you should do to fix Acer laptop touchpad not responding windows 10:
Step 1: Hold down the Fn key (usually near the bottom-left of your keyboard).
Step 2: While holding it, press the key with the touchpad icon (commonly F6, F7, or F2 depending on your model).
Step 3: Release both keys and test the touchpad.
If you’re lucky, this is all it takes to fix your touchpad not working. Many users disable the trackpad accidentally while typing. Give it a shot before diving deeper.
Update or Reinstall the Touchpad Driver
If the key combination didn’t resolve your touchpad issue, the next crucial step is to investigate your drivers. Outdated or corrupted drivers are often the root cause of an unresponsive or completely frozen touchpad. These vital software components facilitate communication between your operating system and the hardware. Ensuring they are up-to-date and correctly installed is essential. Here’s how to update or reinstall your touchpad driver:
Step 1: Open Device Manager (press Win + X and choose it).
Step 2: Expand "Mice and other pointing devices", right-click your touchpad driver and click on “Update Driver”
Step 4: Visit Acer’s Support Page and enter your Laptops serial number to download any BIOS updates.
Once the system reboots, check if your touchpad is alive again.
Check BIOS Settings
Now, we’re heading under the hood for a deeper look into the problem. It's entirely possible that your touchpad has been disabled directly within the BIOS settings. This can occasionally happen, especially after a major system update or if your BIOS has been reset. Checking this is a crucial step to ensure all hardware components are enabled at the most fundamental level. Here’s how to how to enable Acer touchpad in bios:
Step 1: Restart your laptop and as soon as it powers on, start pressing F2, Delete, or Esc, whatever your model uses to access BIOS. (It varies slightly by model.)
Step 2: Once in BIOS, navigate to the Advanced tab using the arrow keys and look for Internal Pointing Device or Touchpad and make sure it’s set to Enabled
Step 3: Save changes (usually by pressing F10) and exit.
Once you’re back in Windows, see if the touchpad is now responsive. I’ve seen this trick solve issues after Windows updates silently change BIOS settings.
Reset Touchpad Settings in Windows
If you've checked the BIOS and ensured your touchpad drivers are up to date, and the issue persists, the problem might simply be a configuration glitch within Windows itself. Sometimes, settings can become inadvertently altered, causing unexpected behavior like Acer trackpad disabled after update. Fortunately, resetting these touchpad settings to their default configuration can often bring your unresponsive trackpad back to life. It's a quick and easy troubleshooting step.
Step 1: Open Bluetooth Settings and then click on Touchpad.
Step 2: Scroll down and look for a Reset or Restore Defaults button and click it.
Step 3: Test your touchpad right after the reset.
This often fixes problems caused by accidental gestures being disabled or sensitivity settings being turned all the way down.
WPS Office – Stay Productive While Fixing Touchpad Issues
I know from personal experience how frustrating it is when your touchpad isn’t working, and your workflow grinds to a halt. It’s hard to stay productive when you’re struggling to navigate with a keyboard alone. This is where a reliable, keyboard-friendly office suite becomes an absolute lifesaver.
While you’re troubleshooting your Acer touchpad, I highly recommend using WPS Office. WPS Office is a free, all-in-one office suite that’s perfect for Acer users who find themselves relying heavily on keyboard shortcuts while troubleshooting hardware issues. It’s designed to be intuitive and accessible, even without a mouse. Here’s what makes WPS Office a great companion during this time:
Writer: This is WPS Office's word processing and report writing tool, very similar to Microsoft Word. You can easily create, edit, and format documents using just your keyboard, making it ideal for continuing your writing tasks or drafting reports while you work on getting your Acer touchpad back online.
Spreadsheet: For those who need to work with data, statistics, and analysis, WPS Spreadsheet is an excellent tool, much like Microsoft Excel. All the essential functions and formulas are accessible via keyboard navigation, allowing you to manage your data without any interruptions.
Presentation: If you need to design presentations or prepare for speeches, WPS Presentation is the equivalent of PowerPoint. You can create stunning slides and organize your content efficiently using keyboard shortcuts.
PDF tools: WPS Office also includes robust PDF tools that allow you to view, merge, convert, annotate, and even encrypt PDF files. This is incredibly useful for reviewing documents or making quick edits without needing a fully functional mouse.
Beyond these core applications, WPS Office also provides handy features like file format conversion, scanning tools, and cloud backup. It’s a lightweight yet powerful alternative that ensures your productivity doesn’t dip while your system is being repaired. From my own experiences, having a suite like WPS Office at hand makes all the difference when facing unexpected hardware glitches like an unresponsive Acer touchpad. It empowers you to keep working, so you’re not just sitting there waiting for the fix.
FAQs
Q1: Why is my Acer touchpad not working?
It might be disabled via keyboard shortcuts, BIOS, or outdated drivers.
Q2: Can BIOS settings disable the touchpad?
Yes, if the internal pointing device is disabled in BIOS, the touchpad won’t function in Windows.
Q3: Is it necessary to reinstall drivers?
Not always. Try toggling shortcuts or resetting settings first, but reinstalling can fix corrupted or missing drivers.
