Screen Flicker/Touchpad Issues

[theignition34]

Hey everyone, got a couple of questions regarding the NV53 I just got off eBay. The guy I bought it from disclosed both these issues to me, so I'm not posting this out of frustration. I realize what I purchased and for $200 bucks I couldn't pass it up.


First, the Windows boot up screen flickers for like a second towards the end of the animation (where the colored dots form the Windows 7 logo) then ceases completely. This happens every time on start up but doesn't ever reoccur during normal laptop use. This obviously isn't hindering me in any way, but it's a slight annoyance. I've read that this is actually very common but haven't been able to find a fix.


The other issue is regarding the touchpad. It works, but only partially. The entire left half has no responsiveness whatsoever, it's basically dead. The right side works and scrolls, but I'm limited to half the normal touchpad area. It's not a driver issue because the ALPS one from the Gateway site actually made it worse and had a nagging 'Run Confirmation' on start up and wouldn't scroll. So I downloaded the Synaptics driver and that works fine regarding functions.


I'm at a loss for the screen flicker, all the internal video connections are fine. As for the touchpad, I can only assume it's a hardware issue despite taking the laptop apart and reconnecting the ribbons.


Gateway CS is useless, and the only touchpad replacement I found on eBay, someone bought before I could buy it. If anyone knows of any solutions to either of these problems, or where I can buy aftermarket/replacement parts, it would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks.


PS
2.4ghz M600
4GB RAM
320GB HDD
ATI HD 4200
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

 

[Guest]

The flicker as it boots could simply be the video circuitry changing to a higher res to support your Windows settings.

If you have a mouse port or spare USB, stop using the touchpad -- a mouse is much easier.

 

[theignition34]

Ok, makes sense. Thanks. This is my first laptop with a res higher than 1280x800.

As for the touchpad, I'm waiting on a Logitech MediaBoard Pro that I'll use once I've hooked up my laptop to my 46" Samsung. I was just curious if there was a quick fix in the mean time.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[theignition34]

Quick update.

I was about to purchase a replacement palmrest/touchpad from ebay and decided to try and fix it myself. I took apart the laptop and actually removed the touchpad circuit board from the palm rest. It was secured by a ton of adhesive and I figured if I broke it, I'd just buy a new one since it wasn't working properly anyway. Everything looked fine so I put it back in it's place and booted it up. Guess what? Works like a charm. I guess all it needed was a bit of repositioning.