Asus X55A laptop - touchpad and cursor gone AWOL

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

After I'd partially dismantled my laptop to realign a power-cable jack I put it all back together and it worked perfectly - apart from the touchpad: there's no cursor. Even worse, when I use main.cpl to access Mouse Properties there is an Elan tab (the touchpad is made by Elan) but the device/port/enable spaces are blank and all the other buttons/tick boxes in the tab are greyed out apart from OK and Cancel. To my untutored eye it looks as though the laptop doesn't know the touchpad's there.

I'd be very grateful for instructions to remedy the situation.

Many thanks in anticipation of helpful suggestions.

 

[neil_merseyside]

After I'd partially dismantled my laptop to realign a power-cable jack I put it all back together and it worked perfectly - apart from the touchpad: there's no cursor. Even worse, when I use main.cpl to access Mouse Properties there is an Elan tab (the touchpad is made by Elan) but the device/port/enable spaces are blank and all the other buttons/tick boxes in the tab are greyed out apart from OK and Cancel. To my untutored eye it looks as though the laptop doesn't know the touchpad's there.

I'd be very grateful for instructions to remedy the situation.

Many thanks in anticipation of helpful suggestions.

Have you just dislodged the strip connector and so the laptop can't see it?

 

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

Have you just dislodged the strip connector and so the laptop can't see it?

Ah, now you've got me thinking. Would that be the strip connector labelled TP? (Doh!) That might be the case, because the retaining clip is so tiny and shot out when I removed it so I don't know its proper position when I've tried to replace it.
Thanks very much for the suggestion, I'll have a look after lunch.

 

[neil_merseyside]

Ah, now you've got me thinking. Would that be the strip connector labelled TP? (Doh!) That might be the case, because the retaining clip is so tiny and shot out when I removed it so I don't know its proper position when I've tried to replace it.
Thanks very much for the suggestion, I'll have a look after lunch.

It's just a little push down clip that's slightly tapered to tighten the ribbon against the contacts, tiny travel of maybe 1-2mm? It would be flush when locked - or all the ones I've meddled with have been.

 

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

Thanks, Neil, for all your help. I've sorted it now, but couldn't have done it without you. I'm guessing that I spread the clip retaining fingers when I disconnected the cable, so there wasn't enough tension on the cable when I refitted. I've made up a shim from a bit of cardboard and that seems to be working fine.

Much appreciate your time in helping me out - thanks again!

 

[ColinJ]

Nice to see that you still drop in from time to time, STASS! (And that you have fixed the problem with Neil's help.)