Oh, I have no doubt that you can successfully do this repair yourself. A new touchpad, properly installed, will fix it once and for all. (And you're right....you're apt to do a better job than some tech that really doesn't care about your machine.)Originally Posted by shadowen2
I have a G53jw and I'm also experiencing similar problems. When my laptop is turned on, after a while, the cursor goes nuts and right click menu on the desktop appears randomly. Then, the cursor stops and can't be moved. Then it goes on after a while. Sometimes the center part of the pad does't sense my touch. What I do is try to change the posture of my hand and most of the time it works.
My question is, should I do the same things with my unit with what you do with the g73/g74? Or are solutions posted model-specific?
Asus G53JW-A1
My suspicion here is that you haven't read the entire thread here, 55 pages is a long one. In summary, it seems like the entire ROG line seems to have similar problems with their touchpads. We've tried a number of different repairs, ultimately what Brodyboy is suggesting is to remove and replace the original touchpad with a new one. The working hypothesis we have is that there's a problem with the ground as it's built by the manufacturer and once the ground fails on the touchpads they're permanently damaged. I'm in the process of locating a new touchpad and attempting a repair. Mine has failed, like yours, and I tried the method of just removing the foil backing described on about page 45 or so. The removal did make a significant difference in usability for me. While improved, it's still not perfect. Once I get my new TP I'll replace it, ground it properly, and report back.
From what I've obvserved by my own personal experience and the experience as reported from others is that Asus is basically useless for a repair. A number of people, myself included, have returned our laptops to Asus and they might replace the touchpad but they don't correct the problem with the ground and eventually those machines touchpads fail again.
From what I've gathered a good number of people have reported good results with only the removal of the tape and foil backing on the touchpad. I'd probably start there but make sure when you take yours apart take a picture on your phone of the back of the touchpad so you won't have to disassemble again in order to get the part number off the back of your touchpad.
Last edited by shadowen2; 05-01-2012 at 12:54 AM.
So I found an outfit out of China "AliExpress" that had the touchpad that I was looking for. They were only like $8 each from the manufacturer and then about $30 for shipping. I figured what the hell, ordered 3 of 'em so I can wreck two of them experimenting. Part No. TM-01254-002
That's the Synpatics TP for the G73, if I'm not mistaken. I've seen it listed as a replacement option for the G74 as well. $8?? Is it genuine Synaptics hardware, or a knockoff?
I bought 3 of those trackpads from Alibaba. Shipping to California was less than $7. Hopefully I can fix this damn trackpad!
It looks to be genuine from what I can tell. I finally got them in the mail. I haven't had time to crack open the 'puter and see if it matches exactly;I figured I might as well order a solid state drive and a new blu-ray drive...while I had it open. I'm traveling right now but I might try to take a look at it next weekend.
I don't know if you've ever replaced one of these or not but from the looks of it I'm a little nervous. What I have is the board with what looks like a backing for adhesive (it's labeled 3M). I've done some searches online to see if I can figure it out but from what I can tell I might have to tear off the old pad, remove adhesive, and stick on the new one. Does this sound right from your research/experience?
Great idea on all the upgrades....it'll be a whole new machine! But just to be clear, the disassembly needed to replace the TP is completely unrelated to the procedures for the SSD and optical drive. Those are readily-accessible, readily-replaced components, while the TP was never meant to be user-replaceable.
I would actually recommend that you replace each component one at a time, making it easier to thoroughly evaluate the success of each upgrade. If you do them all at once, then experience issues, it's harder to diagnose the problem and pinpoint the culprit.
PS: I think you mentioned earlier that you have a Sentelic touchpad. If so, the Synaptics replacement unit will not "match," per se. You just want to make sure that it is pretty close to the same size and has the exact same cable configuration as the Sentelic.....it should have a 12-pin FFC connector in roughly the same location.
Yes, that's exactly what you need to do. It's not as hard as it looks....just be careful with the new TP because you should assume the old one will be ruined during removal.I don't know if you've ever replaced one of these or not but from the looks of it I'm a little nervous. What I have is the board with what looks like a backing for adhesive (it's labeled 3M). I've done some searches online to see if I can figure it out but from what I can tell I might have to tear off the old pad, remove adhesive, and stick on the new one. Does this sound right from your research/experience?
That adhesive is quite strong, so you need to remove the old one cautiously. (There is a thin foam backing over it....that isn't a required component, so I wouldn't bother trying to re-use it.) If you use anything to help pry the TP loose, make sure it's blunt implement....don't worry about damage to the old TP, but you don't want to scratch or damage the back of the top cover (the surface that the TP is adhered to). Once it's removed, clean that surface thoroughly....it should be completely clean and smooth.
When installing the new one, practice aligning it first before you actually expose the adhesive. Chances are, it's slightly smaller than the old one. (The G73 has a smaller TP than the G74, and this is always listed as a G73 replacement.) If so, you can decide how you want to fit it, but I'd recommend centering it (to avoid noticeable dead zones along any edges).
Once you're comfortable with how you are going to place it, remove the adhesive cover do the deed! Even though it doesn't "bend," you want to apply it from a long edge and apply pressure across it so as to avoid trapped air bubbles. Try to ensure that the adhesive is evenly secured over the entire surface.
It's very important to properly ground the new TP, as we've previously discussed. Once that's done, re-attach the TP and button assembly cables, and re-assemble.
BTW, in case it wasn't obvious or covered earlier, you should have uninstalled the previous TP driver before doing all this surgery.When you restart, Windows should detect the new hardware and install its generic mouse driver. You can test its function with that driver, and install the Synaptics driver if it's working properly.
I got my pads from Alibaba today. They aren't "new", they have adhesive residue on the backs. The fronts have the 3M paper on the front. Looks like they are some kind of pull.
We will see if these are viable replacements for my 2 G73s.
I've installed my "new" trackpad. What I did was carefully remove all the various tapes, removed the old pad (very hard to get off, just proceed slowly while pressing on the top cover to prevent damage to it) cleaned and blew off the pad area, installed new pad and all the tapes. Measured the resistance from the gold pad to the keyboard frame, got around .5 Ohms. It appears to be working well at this point.
We'll see.
I should add that the old trackpad was a rev A while the new one was a rev 2. Same p/n.
Last edited by ryuuoh; 06-02-2012 at 10:42 PM. Reason: rev 2
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