Common causes include a disabled touchpad, outdated or blocked drivers, gesture or sensitivity settings, external-mouse rules, or hardware damage.
Mousepad Not Working On Laptop: Causes And Fixes
Your laptop touchpad (often called a mousepad) can stop responding for a handful of reasons. Sometimes it’s as simple as a toggle that turned it off. Other times a driver update, a new app, or a battery issue gets in the way. The good news: you can narrow it down fast with a short set of checks, then move to deeper fixes only if needed. Follow the steps in order and test after each change.
Quick Checks Before You Dig In
Start with power cycling, then confirm the touchpad isn’t intentionally disabled by a hotkey, a small LED lock, or a setting that turns it off when a mouse is plugged in. If the pointer moves but taps don’t click, that’s usually a settings reset. If nothing moves at all, you may be looking at a driver or hardware issue. The table below maps symptoms to actions so you can jump straight to the right fix.
| Symptom | What It Means | Try This |
|---|---|---|
| No movement, no clicks | Touchpad toggled off or driver problem | Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad → toggle On; if still dead, reinstall or roll back driver |
| Pointer moves, taps don’t click | Tap-to-click or buttons mapped off | Enable tap-to-click; press “Reset” in touchpad settings to restore defaults |
| Works until you plug a mouse | Auto-disable when a mouse is connected | Turn on “Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected” |
| Jumps or stops while typing | Palm rejection too aggressive or sensitivity off | Set sensitivity to High/Most sensitive; lower palm rejection; turn off three-finger gestures for now |
| Dead zone or hard click area | Dirt, moisture, or physical warp | Clean with a dry microfiber; let moisture evaporate; if the deck feels raised, stop and check the battery |
| Stopped after an update | New driver mismatch | Roll back the touchpad driver; if no roll back, reinstall the vendor driver |
| Works on login screen only | App or profile conflict | Boot to Safe Mode; create a new local profile; remove recent apps |