Alienware 13 R3: What is wrong with the touchpad scrolling?

I received my Alienware 13 R3 a couple weeks ago. I've noticed the touchpad responsiveness is unpredictable while scrolling, specifically when you are scrolling slowly with 2 fingers. No matter what application, the page will intermittently scroll down, stop, scroll up a bit, stop, continue to scroll down, stop... it's very annoying. I assumed it was a driver issue. But it would appear I have the newest drivers installed. Anyone else having this problem?

A video clip of the problem from my (unfinished) review:



Here's what I tried already:

I attempted to install "Dell Touchpad Driver" version 19.2.17.42 ,A04 from 9/8/16. The installer refused to install because "A newer version of Synaptics Pointing Device Driver is installed".

The Synaptics page ( http://www.synaptics.com/resources) lists the following drivers.
1. Windows 10 PS/2 & SMBus Devices v19.0.19.1*
2. Windows 10 I2C Devices v19.0.19.1*

However, the version of Synaptics driver I have installed now is 19.2.17.45 with date 9/19/16. How is it possible I have a driver installed newer than the one on Synaptics own website?

 

Uninstall and try a reinstall. Anyway, are you running any HW monitoring apps that queries EC sensors like HWInfo and such.

 

@madferret9 just click on your touchpad icon (to the clock), and choose "Touchpad properties". Next select "Gestures" and uncheck "Inertial Scrolling". I hope this would be helpful

Coding till the end

 

@b.kolev
Turning off intertial scrolling doesn't fix the problem. Oddly, it only acts weird when scrolling DOWN slowly, I have no problems scrolling up.

@Vasudev I'm not aware that I'm running any such apps.. note sure what EC sensors are I'll try to uninstall and reinstall.

 

@madferret9 well I had the same problem, so that hint I shared with you fixed the issue for me. :/

 

I removed Synaptics Pointing Device and reinstalled the driver from the Dell website, still happens. Any other ideas? Anyone else experiencing this?

 

Yes, I'm experiencing the same exact issue. I'm on the 17R4 though, which has the same trackpad and driver (19.2.17.42 ,A04). I've tried with configurations on the touchpad settings, reinstalled driver, but to no avail. The trackpad just can't handle the slow scrolling gesture, forcing me to use an external mouse. I'd love to see a solution to this issue.

 

I had a problem like that on my old AW 17 R1. I never fixed it, but switched to using the arrow keys, which are way better for scrolling in my opinion.

It is most likely a software problem. I think you need to completely remove the old driver and software and do a clean install of the new one. That would mean deleting stuff in the registry either yourself, or using a 3rd party uninstall app like revo uninstaller.

 

It's a software problem, there's a bug in the scrolling behavior that isn't fixable with a clean install.

 

@Mobius1: Could the issue be related to palm tracking? I'm using the same driver on 15 r2 and that inconsistent scrolling was fixed for me.

 

I don't think so


link me that driver and I'll test it on this 17R4

 

Latest Input drivers for Cassini

 

i installed this and it works fine now.
1. Windows 10 PS/2 & SMBus Devices v19.0.19.1*
.

The installation is tricky but you should uninstall the one you have now from controll panal. Restart. then go into device manager and right click the touchpad>> manual install> have disk> point to the 19.0 driver and install it.

the trackpad lighting stops working if you install this driver but the scrolling is excellent

 

kocopuff: I can't bring myself to install this if it means no touchpad lighting. Someone from Alienware is supposed to be calling me tonight to help me troubleshoot. I have a strong suspicion the "support" will be a waste of time.

 

Any update from the support, I used the standard synaptic drivers and the mouse improvements are drastically better. It does cut off backlight but i'm a bit used to that with Ubuntu as well so its fine for me.

 

Hey there did you ever resolve your scrolling issue? I'm having the same trouble on a 13 r3. If I am scrolling slowly up or down it bounces the opposite direction slightly at the end of the scroll. If I lift my fingers off the pad at the end of the scroll I can avoid the problem, but I'd rather not play hot potato with my trackpad haha.

 

Same here, had the problem for ages now. Was anyone able to solve it without scrapping the touchpad light?
That's just so sad...

 

Same issue here. I just increased the scroll speed a bit and it made it a little more tolerable. I do use a mouse most of the time though.

If the only fix is to loose the light up trackpad, I'll stick with the iffy one for now.

 

Dell released an updated driver!! Issue is fixed, June 2017 update!

 

That's awesome, thanks for notifying!

I had already given up on this

 

the new drivers seem to have fixed the touchpad problems

 

H there,

same problem here with AW R3 13 touchpad: scroll, mouse, wheel everything messed up.
I've installed the new Synaptics drivers updated to 22 June 2017 but nothing fixed.
The only moment I can use my touchpad in the correct way is right after Synaptics has been uninstalled,
then if I restart, touchpad just do not work and if I reinstall Synaptics everything is a mess like in the beginning.

Anybody came with a solution to this issue? Is there any way to use the touchpad not as PS/2
and without synaptics?

Thanks so much

 

Try changing the sensitivity of touchpad to most sensitive in Settings > Device > Touchpad

 

thank you Vasudev,
unfortunately I'm afraid it's a "gesture mapping" problem:
my vertical scroll doesn't work at all on most software, it only works on browsers with two fingers,
and to obtain vertical scroll I need to press alt+right click+ double fingers, unless I uninstall synaptics without restart (if I restart, touchpad is gone).
If I use instead an external keyboard+trackpad device, it works properly

 

The drivers completly killed my Alien FX and all its light :/

Anyone with the same problem?