Physical clicks on trackpad slightly unreliable/intermittent

Framework Laptop 13
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Tap to click does work if I have it on, but if I’m playing a multiplayer game that’s all mouse based, and an accidental click would be irreversible, I turn it off for those games.

However, pressing on the trackpad seems to be “missed” by Windows sometimes. It seemed to be the worst right after bootup, to the point where I thought the “button switch” was defective. But when it decided to work again, it was consistent. Using the keyboard and actually moving the cursor was just as responsive as ever, with no lag.

It doesn’t feel like a hardware problem, at least not with the switch itself anyway. Pressing slightly harder on the trackpad (without being too rough/aggressive) did not trigger it either, but when it “decides” to work again, it’s just as consistent as it’s always been.

I’ve plugged external mice into it before, but I was having this problem with the external mouse disconnected. Didn’t install drivers for “extra functions / configuration” with any external mice, and the first time I had this issue was during a fresh bootup with the external mouse disconnected.

Any idea what might cause this? It’s not the DIY edition so I didn’t plug the trackpad in myself, and again, when the physical click isn’t wanting to work, the actual cursor still moves.

3 Likes
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I’ve been seeing this on my Batch 3 with Windows as well! Unfortunately, every time I try to reproduce it it clicks just fine… but after waking from sleep or first boot it’ll occasionally drop one or two.

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I’ve had mine for two weeks now and I’m starting to see the same issue (Ubuntu 21.10). It’s starting to not register almost half the clicks at this point.

I keep tap to click off because I hate it (not just on here but every laptop I’ve ever had) so that’s not a viable fix for me.

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@Michael_Cowart I had similar trouble. Gently tightening the screws holding the bottom of the touchpad to the input cover seemed to help.

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Could be a grounding issue? Make sure everything is seated correctly (e.g. ribbon cable(s)) and nothing is loose (like screws).

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I second @Brad_J , The left side of my trackpad (On the latest batch) was starting to feel weak and give into clicks, it felt springy.
Popped it open, tightened the left side’s screws, and it’s back to normal, maybe slightly weaker on the lower left than the right side or the top of the trackpad but now it’s hardly noticeable. I’ve been clicking a lot on the lower left.

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@Brad_J I opened it up and those screws were much looser than the tops. Tightened them up and will see if it makes any difference.

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Had mine for maybe 2 months, batch 4. Just started to have this issue today. I don’t have a small enough screwdriver to try the fix yet but we shall see.

Kinda disappointed to be running into issues like this and the audio crackle.

Edit: Probably should have looked up the guide before opening it, not when trying to look up what size screwdriver I needed. I didn’t realize the induced screwdriver had a reverse able head. Seems like the issue is resolved for now. We’ll see how long it lasts though.

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Yea, I’ve had mine for awhile, batch 3. I had issues with the physical click only working 1/10 times, talked to support and got a replacement a few weeks ago. They were nice and fast in sending a new input cover out, but the new one has the exact same issue. At this point, I’ve just gotten used to tapping to click :man_shrugging:.

It’s only really annoying when I hand the laptop to a colleague and they can’t figure out how to click…

2 Likes
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I have been noticing a similar issue in Linux. Sometimes I have to click three or four times before it registers. I wonder if it has to do with palm detection. I already tightened the screws, but that didn’t help, and unfortunately I slightly stripped one of the screws. Support was looking at sending a screw out with a replacement motherboard but it wasn’t in the box.

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I’ve been running into this issue with my batch 5 and windows 11 intermittently. I wonder if deck flex is somehow involved, grabbing the open laptop by the bottom right and picking it up to move around. It seems to be a periodic problem and goes away after a bit, usually just as I’m mid panic attack. I sent framework a note about it and they’re shipping me a new input cover, so I’ll let you guys know if that resolves the issue.

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Looks like the issue has returned after 4 days. It’s much less prevalent though. Before it was basically only seeing clicks in certain regions of the touchpad, now it’s just dropping clicks randomly.

Edit: and now it’s as bad as it was :confused:

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I’ve got a fresh input cover and it looks identical but feels stiffer/less likely to deck flex into the pad but considering we’re talking about millimeter clearance that could just be wishful thinking.

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I did find that I was able to make things work by disabling PS/2 Emulation in the BIOS. Haven’t had any trouble with the physical “clicker” since then.

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I have a batch 6 and get this problem fairly frequently. Maybe every 10 minutes or so. I can’t get it to happen consistently, but it will periodically stop registering clicks until I take my finger off and put it back on. Sometimes it’ll happen multiple times in a row. Sometimes I could go an hour without it happening.

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I had the same problem in Ubuntu 20.04 (Kernel 5.13.0-39), and Benjamin’s “Disable PS/2 Emulation” in BIOS fixed it!

Update: No it didn’t, about 15 minutes later it returned. Nothing has changed on this machine other than me changing the PS/2 emulation. I checked the screws in the top cover, and all were ok.