Hardware & Technical Help with laptop problem

[Steve50]

Hi,

I have a 3 month old laptop (Lenovo U31-70) that has developed a fault and I'm refused a replacement/repair from the store and manufacturer (yes I contacted both)*

The problem is the mousepad or whatever you call it, the right mouse button doesn't "click" and depress. both did when I bought it and the left one still clicks just fine, however the right one, theres no click when I press it and it barely moves. (not sure if its jammed down and won't come up or jammed up and won't go down)

The button will work IF I press hard enough but thats no good. its really annoying

any ideas how I go about cleaning/fixing/repairing/replacing the pad??

I can't afford a new one, heck I'm still paying for this and will be until october!!


*I removed the 1tb HD when I bought it and fitted a 480gb SSD, thats why they say my warranty is void.

 

[Surfinjo]

This is surprisingly common. Though the way they have treated you with the warranty is disgraceful.

May I suggest you buy an ordinary mouse and plug it into the USB? You can get USB2 mouses for less than two bucks.

It might seem a hassle but you soon get used to it. If you like the pad, you can cover the optical pickup with a piece of paper, stuck on with sellotape and just use the buttons.

 

[Tomtom]

any ideas how I go about cleaning/fixing/repairing/replacing the pad??

Replacing the pad should be pretty easy but you'd need to be comfortable with opening up the laptop casing, so you might want to watch some disassembly videos before trying it if you're a repair noob. It may take a while shopping around to find the right replacement pad too!

A simpler solution: the touchpad should support multi-touch - you should be able to set it up so that a two-finger-tap performs a right-click. Not much good if you need right button dragging, but it's a handy workaround for a dead button.

That warranty situation sucks, though

 

[Surfinjo]

On my laptop, the switches are built into the main PCB.

I did try the Tapping approach but found, too often, that the cursor moved and I either got nothing or somehting I didn't want, especially advertising.

Just saying.

Good suggestions and I'm sure Steve50 will try them as he should. But they might not work.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Put the 1Tb drive back in? It's a user serviceable part. Send it back to them and ask them to fix it, if they won't accept it then write them a letter saying they are in breach. If still no joy, take them to small claims for the cost of the payments total, your time without a functioning machine, and your costs. It'll cost you a few quid, but it'll get them to do something. Most of the time you will get resolution, most companies won't contest SCC and you'll win by default.

Of course - settling this amicably is by far the preferred course of action

 

[Tomtom]

On my laptop, the switches are built into the main PCB.

That's a good point, some laptops are like that, though the last few I opened up weren't. If that's the case, one needs to be pretty handy with a soldering iron to replace the microswitch! (but on the plus side, microswitches are dirt cheap)

I did try the Tapping approach but found, too often, that the cursor moved and I either got nothing or somehting I didn't want, especially advertising.

Yeah, I hated the two finger tap at first, but since I got used to it I've found it to be pretty neat.


Asp is right though, if the supplier can't be persuaded to sort it out then SCC will probably make them. As a hands-on guy though my personal preference would be to fix it myself as that's fun for me, and I don't have to wait two weeks while it gets sorted