Turning off / on mouse pad

I have an F3 key to turn on and off the touch pad but it is not functioning.  My model is an Inspiron M5040.  Is there another alternative to the F3 key?

If you haven't tried it, try pressing both FN and F3 together and see if that disables the touch pad.  If that does the trick you can go into the BIOS,  just start the system while tapping F2.  Look for function key behavior under the advanced tab and change it to multimedia key or vice-versa.

If that doesn't work you may need to reinstall Quickset.  You can download Quickset from the following link

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

You may also wish to download the latest touchpad drivers

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

TB

I want to turn off the touch pad --- when I'm typing a letter the mouse jumps around all over the page and causes me fits.

Shane

Welcome to the Community. Most of the current touchpad drivers have options to disable the touchpad while there is an external mouse connected to the system.   Depending on your system they may be an icon for the Trackpad double-click it.  If not click start, control panel and then mouse and look for an option to disable the touchpad.   On some Dell systems they may be a physical button that will disable the Trackpad.

If you still can't find anything please reply back with the model of notebook and what it is that you are trying to do and I will be happy to help if I can.

TB

I had to reload Quick Set and Alps pointing-device driver like you said.   Then I had to make sure it was turned on in Start up.

Thanks for all your help, Terry.

Thanks for the udpate, I am happy that you are able to disable the touch pad now.

TB

I have a8 month old XPS 15Z laptop.  How can I turn off the Touch Pad when I mouse is connected?

Same here.  I'd love to be able to disable the Touch pad..  JAY

If you open the Touchpad  properties... find  "Device Select Button Settings".  Open and at the bottom check where it says to Disable Keypad/Pointing Stick when external USB mouse is present.