Touchpad problem on Lenovo 3000 N200 (XP Pro) - Hardware

On Thu, 1 Nov 2007 23:02:08 -0600, "Robert Barker"
<cowboy_bob99@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Just bought a new laptop at microCenter the other day. Picked up a Lenovo
>3000 N200 widescreen. It was one of very few still offered with WIn XP and
>not Vista. Had something interesting happen with it, though. One of the
>things that always annoys me with laptops is that the default for the touch
>pad is to have "tapping" enabled. I realize lots of people like it, but it
>drives me nuts. Anyway, I went in to the Mouse Properties panel to turn the
>thing off. When the panel opened, it identified the device as a normal PS2
>Mouse. Even had the picture of the mouse on it. That was in the "Buttons"
>tab. Went to the "Device Settings" tab and it also said I had a mouse, not
>a Synaptics device. Clicking on "Settings" in that tab only showed the
>options for the "Buttons". Fine, I'd seen that before and it usually
>indicates that the wrong driver was installed. Downloaded and installed the
>driver from the Lenovo site but nothing changed. Went into the "Hardware"
>tab and it showed that the device was a Synaptic device and gave the date
>for the current driver. Nothing I did made the thing realize I had a
>touchpad and not a mouse. Today, I finally gave up and went back to the
>shop. The first tech support guy couldn't do any more than I did.
>
>Curious, I went over to the display unit. This one displayed what I
>expected! It showed a touchpad everywhere, and gave me the right options in
>the Settings tab. The drivers and the dates were the same on my machine and
>the display. Brought the tech guy over and showed him the difference
>between the 2 machines. Nothing he tried could get mine to display the
>right options. Nothing could get it to recognize it had a touchpad and not
>a mouse. Pulling at straws, he pulled the drive out of the demo box and put
>it in my box. It STILL showed that it had a mouse, not a touchpad! Put my
>drive in the demo box and it the demo machine displayed properly! They got
>2 different machines out of stock and they both displayed mice, not
>touchpads! After spending nearly a day messing with the things, they didn't
>manage to get any farther. I understand they even called Lenovo and their
>tech support knew of no problems. (I would have called but they wanted $100
>for an "after sale" service phone call!) Anyway, I told the shop I'd take
>the demo box as it had only been on display for a couple weeks. They moved
>my drive into it and I went on my way.
>
>But I'm still curious. Does anyone know what was going on? The tech guys
>figured some sort of hardware problem since swapping drives around and
>changing drivers didn't make any difference. It's a great box otherwise,
>but I beat on this problem for 2 days! I've been around for a while and
>built lots of computers having built my first PC from Heathkit. I probably
>still have a CPM cassette tape around here somewhere. The paper tapes
>disintegrated some time ago! Seen tons of weird stuff but this had me
>buffaloed...
>

I'm thinking different BIOS in demo unit,
or different setting(s) in BIOS in demo unit.

-JS

"Question Authority" <js@home.org> wrote in message
news:j9upi3tg7fff8dt2qq00382kvsk0dn3nrd@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 1 Nov 2007 23:02:08 -0600, "Robert Barker"
> <cowboy_bob99@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Just bought a new laptop at microCenter the other day. Picked up a Lenovo
>>3000 N200 widescreen. It was one of very few still offered with WIn XP
>>and
>>not Vista. Had something interesting happen with it, though. One of the
>>things that always annoys me with laptops is that the default for the
>>touch
>>pad is to have "tapping" enabled. I realize lots of people like it, but
>>it
>>drives me nuts. Anyway, I went in to the Mouse Properties panel to turn
>>the
>>thing off. When the panel opened, it identified the device as a normal
>>PS2
>>Mouse. Even had the picture of the mouse on it. That was in the
>>"Buttons"
>>tab. Went to the "Device Settings" tab and it also said I had a mouse,
>>not
>>a Synaptics device. Clicking on "Settings" in that tab only showed the
>>options for the "Buttons". Fine, I'd seen that before and it usually
>>indicates that the wrong driver was installed. Downloaded and installed
>>the
>>driver from the Lenovo site but nothing changed. Went into the "Hardware"
>>tab and it showed that the device was a Synaptic device and gave the date
>>for the current driver. Nothing I did made the thing realize I had a
>>touchpad and not a mouse. Today, I finally gave up and went back to the
>>shop. The first tech support guy couldn't do any more than I did.
>>
>>Curious, I went over to the display unit. This one displayed what I
>>expected! It showed a touchpad everywhere, and gave me the right options
>>in
>>the Settings tab. The drivers and the dates were the same on my machine
>>and
>>the display. Brought the tech guy over and showed him the difference
>>between the 2 machines. Nothing he tried could get mine to display the
>>right options. Nothing could get it to recognize it had a touchpad and
>>not
>>a mouse. Pulling at straws, he pulled the drive out of the demo box and
>>put
>>it in my box. It STILL showed that it had a mouse, not a touchpad! Put
>>my
>>drive in the demo box and it the demo machine displayed properly! They
>>got
>>2 different machines out of stock and they both displayed mice, not
>>touchpads! After spending nearly a day messing with the things, they
>>didn't
>>manage to get any farther. I understand they even called Lenovo and their
>>tech support knew of no problems. (I would have called but they wanted
>>$100
>>for an "after sale" service phone call!) Anyway, I told the shop I'd take
>>the demo box as it had only been on display for a couple weeks. They
>>moved
>>my drive into it and I went on my way.
>>
>>But I'm still curious. Does anyone know what was going on? The tech guys
>>figured some sort of hardware problem since swapping drives around and
>>changing drivers didn't make any difference. It's a great box otherwise,
>>but I beat on this problem for 2 days! I've been around for a while and
>>built lots of computers having built my first PC from Heathkit. I
>>probably
>>still have a CPM cassette tape around here somewhere. The paper tapes
>>disintegrated some time ago! Seen tons of weird stuff but this had me
>>buffaloed...
>>
>
> I'm thinking different BIOS in demo unit,
> or different setting(s) in BIOS in demo unit.
>
> -JS

Can't think of a BIOS setting that would matter. However, I'll head over to
the shop tomorrow and check BIOS versions...

Robert Barker <cowboy_bob99@hotmail.com> wrote:
> "Question Authority" <js@home.org> wrote in message
> news:j9upi3tg7fff8dt2qq00382kvsk0dn3nrd@4ax.com...
>> On Thu, 1 Nov 2007 23:02:08 -0600, "Robert Barker"
>> <cowboy_bob99@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Just bought a new laptop at microCenter the other day. Picked up a Lenovo
>>>3000 N200 widescreen. It was one of very few still offered with WIn XP
>>>and
>>>not Vista. Had something interesting happen with it, though. One of the
>>>things that always annoys me with laptops is that the default for the
>>>touch
>>>pad is to have "tapping" enabled. I realize lots of people like it, but
>>>it
>>>drives me nuts. Anyway, I went in to the Mouse Properties panel to turn
>>>the
>>>thing off. When the panel opened, it identified the device as a normal
>>>PS2
>>>Mouse. Even had the picture of the mouse on it. That was in the
>>>"Buttons"
>>>tab. Went to the "Device Settings" tab and it also said I had a mouse,
>>>not
>>>a Synaptics device. Clicking on "Settings" in that tab only showed the
>>>options for the "Buttons". Fine, I'd seen that before and it usually
>>>indicates that the wrong driver was installed. Downloaded and installed
>>>the
>>>driver from the Lenovo site but nothing changed. Went into the "Hardware"
>>>tab and it showed that the device was a Synaptic device and gave the date
>>>for the current driver. Nothing I did made the thing realize I had a
>>>touchpad and not a mouse. Today, I finally gave up and went back to the
>>>shop. The first tech support guy couldn't do any more than I did.
>>>
>>>Curious, I went over to the display unit. This one displayed what I
>>>expected! It showed a touchpad everywhere, and gave me the right options
>>>in
>>>the Settings tab. The drivers and the dates were the same on my machine
>>>and
>>>the display. Brought the tech guy over and showed him the difference
>>>between the 2 machines. Nothing he tried could get mine to display the
>>>right options. Nothing could get it to recognize it had a touchpad and
>>>not
>>>a mouse. Pulling at straws, he pulled the drive out of the demo box and
>>>put
>>>it in my box. It STILL showed that it had a mouse, not a touchpad! Put
>>>my
>>>drive in the demo box and it the demo machine displayed properly! They
>>>got
>>>2 different machines out of stock and they both displayed mice, not
>>>touchpads! After spending nearly a day messing with the things, they
>>>didn't
>>>manage to get any farther. I understand they even called Lenovo and their
>>>tech support knew of no problems. (I would have called but they wanted
>>>$100
>>>for an "after sale" service phone call!) Anyway, I told the shop I'd take
>>>the demo box as it had only been on display for a couple weeks. They
>>>moved
>>>my drive into it and I went on my way.
>>>
>>>But I'm still curious. Does anyone know what was going on? The tech guys
>>>figured some sort of hardware problem since swapping drives around and
>>>changing drivers didn't make any difference. It's a great box otherwise,
>>>but I beat on this problem for 2 days! I've been around for a while and
>>>built lots of computers having built my first PC from Heathkit. I
>>>probably
>>>still have a CPM cassette tape around here somewhere. The paper tapes
>>>disintegrated some time ago! Seen tons of weird stuff but this had me
>>>buffaloed...
>>>
>>
>> I'm thinking different BIOS in demo unit,
>> or different setting(s) in BIOS in demo unit.
>>
>> -JS
>
> Can't think of a BIOS setting that would matter. However, I'll head over to
> the shop tomorrow and check BIOS versions...
>
>
I'd suspect a different version of the Synaptics controller chip
that's not recognized by the driver. Lenovo might not even realize
that the chips are different.

Jerry