Synaptics Touchpad Driver Installation Notes
Version 4.1.12a
06Dec96
For release notes, open the "ReadMe.doc" file (included with this
distribution) using WordPad or Microsoft Word.
Contents
--------
1. Installing the Synaptics TouchPad Driver.
2. Personal Computer and Windows 95 Configuration Issues.
3. Other potential conflicts with the TouchPad Driver.
4. Upgrading from TouchPad Driver versions prior to 4.0.
1. Installing the Synaptics TouchPad Driver
-------------------------------------------
**NOTE**
Installing the Synaptics driver from a directory with a long file name
in the path may cause a problem during installation. If possible, make
sure that the path to the installation directory contains only short
"8.3" names.
Most installations can be easily completed by running the Setup.exe
program, which will guide you through the installation procedure step
by step. You can run this program either from a DOS box by going to the
directory that contains the driver files and typing "setup", or using
StartMenu-Run and running setup (e.g. if the driver files are on a
floppy disk in the A: drive, you would type "A:\setup"), or by exploring
the directory containing the driver files and double clicking on the
Setup.exe program.
If the driver has been installed correctly, after you have restarted
windows you should see the TouchPad Icon in your task bar next to the
clock. Also, a dialog box entitled "Information about your TouchPad"
will pop up. You can prevent this dialog box from coming up in the
future by checking the "Stop showing me this message" checkbox.
In addition to the release notes, help information about your TouchPad
is available. Either choose "Tell me more..." from the "Information
about your TouchPad" dialog box, or double-click on the TouchPad Icon in
your task bar, and click on the "Help" button.
If either of the above indicators of successful installation does not
appear, or if you have other trouble with the installation, the rest of
this document contains important additional information about the
following issues:
- BIOS settings
- Windows 95 mouse port settings
- Windows 95 serial port settings
- Mouse control software that was not provided as part of the
original Windows 95 system
- Difficulties that some users have experienced with
TouchPads installed in keyboards.
2. Personal Computer and Windows 95 Configuration Issues
--------------------------------------------------------
The new, Windows 95 preferred method for viewing your system's hardware
configuration is in the Device Manager. The Device Manager can be
accessed from the Control Panel-->System page.
The Control Panel offers a set of options for configuring your Windows
95 computer. To access it, click on the Start button, then click on
Settings, and then click on Control Panel. Once the Control panel is up,
double click on the System icon in the Control Panel, and then click on
the Device Manager TAB in the resulting window.
This page contains individual device configurations for each hardware
device associated with your computer. Individual items may be viewed by
clicking the "+" symbols beside the device type names. For example, to
view the TouchPad or Mouse configurations, click on the "+" symbol
beside the word Mouse. This will show a list (probably just 1 item for
typical machines), of available device configurations for pointing
devices. E.g., if a machine has both a Serial TouchPad and a PS/2 mouse
attached (or thinks that it does), there would be 2 entries under
"Mouse".
Any of the available device configurations may be viewed by double
clicking on the selection or by selecting the item and then clicking on
the "Properties" button.
2a) Potential PC/Windows Configuration Conflicts.
A) BIOS Settings
Many PCs include a BIOS that permits you to change serial port
addresses and disable the on board PS/2 mouse port. Changes made
after Windows 95 was installed may not be known to Windows 95. It is
recommended that BIOS changes be made only in severe cases, or when
you are familiar with the impact of the changes.
One possible conflict that can be caused by BIOS settings is that the
PS/2 port on your computer might be disabled.
If you are attempting to connect a pointing device to a PS/2 port and
Windows 95 does not know that the port exists (i.e., a "PS/2 Mouse"
device doesn't show up in the Device Manager's Mouse page), you should
tell Windows to search for one. To do this, click on the Add New
Hardware icon in the Control Panel and follow the instructions that are
displayed; when it asks you if you want to let Windows 95 search for new
devices, say yes. If Windows 95 does not find a PS/2 port there may be a
BIOS setting that has disabled the port.
To access the BIOS settings of the computer you must restart your PC and
watch the screen carefully for instructions on how to "Enter Setup".
These instructions appear prior to the PC beginning to load Windows 95
and may be displayed briefly. Refer to your PC's documentation for
proper procedures to access the BIOS setup.
If the PS/2 port is disabled by a BIOS setting, it must be enabled and
the new configuration must be saved. Windows 95 may not find this port
automatically upon restarting and you may have to follow the above
instructions for Adding New Hardware again. Once the PS/2 port has been
found by Windows 95, try using the Setup program again to install the
TouchPad drivers.
B) Windows 95 MOUSE Settings
Some computers include a standard PS/2 mouse port on the PC's
motherboard, but do not provide any connector for a PS/2 mouse. In this
case, Windows 95 will still try to find the PS/2 port when it configures
itself, and if found, will install the software to support it
automatically, even if no PS/2 device (or even connector) is present.
If you have a PC that automatically adds its PS/2 port to the list, you
may have an entry in the Device Manager's list of Mouse configurations
that has a yellow circle with an exclamation mark over it. This will
always be present and will not cause any problems for Windows 95
operation.
If you attach a serial pointing device to the PC, and do not attach
anything to the PS/2 port, Windows 95 will automatically use the serial
device even though Windows 95 is configured to use a PS/2 mouse. In this
setting Windows 95 has used a fall-back procedure that supports the
serial pointing device in a basic mode without any of its special
features.
However, there is another way to install mouse drivers left over from
earlier Windows operating systems, and which is now less preferred than
the Device Manager, that might cause a problem in this circumstance. If
you double click on the Mouse icon in the Control Panel, and then click
on the General TAB in the resulting window, it will show you the driver
that Windows 95 is currently using to control its pointing device.
If you select to change the driver from this point, it will allow you to
mistakenly instruct Windows 95 to use a serial mouse driver
configuration for the device connected to the PS/2 port. The resulting
changed mouse definition will mislead you into thinking that a serial
pointing device is installed, even though it is not. What has occurred
is that a particular driver is configured for the PS/2 port, which you
are not connected to, and Windows 95 is using its fall-back procedure to
provide pointing ability over the serial port, which may not have any
specific driver configured for it.
To repair the above condition, use the Add New Hardware icon in the
Control Panel. Do *not* let Windows search for new devices, but force
Windows to install a serial TouchPad in addition to the PS/2 port that
is already present. This will provide a serial mouse driver that can be
used when Windows "falls back" to using a serial device.
C) Windows 95 SERIAL PORT Settings
When Windows 95 was installed, it found the serial ports available on
the PC at that time. If new serial ports are added (e.g., by plugging in
a new serial card), or the current ports have had their addresses
changed, Windows 95 may not know about the changes.
Once changes in serial port addresses have been made at the BIOS level,
Windows 95 needs to be updated with new configuration information. The
easiest way to ensure that Windows 95 correctly identifies each port is
to delete all the Communications Ports found under the Port section of
the System's Device Manager. Next, shut the system down and power off
and then on again. If Windows 95 did not automatically detect the new
ports, run the Add New Hardware application from the Control Panel, let
Windows 95 search for new hardware, and it should find the reconfigured
serial ports.
3. Other potential conflicts with the TouchPad driver.
Conflicting Software:
The new Microsoft application "IntelliPoint" may cause unintended
behavior for some users. IntelliPoint interferes with the operation of
internal TouchPads and external pointing devices on some computers.
Please refer to the readme file included on disk 1 of the IntelliPoint
installation disk set.
Some other types of "Mouse Enhancement" software may interfere with the
operation of your Synaptics TouchPad. If all else appears correct and
you are still having difficulty remove or disable the other software.
Issues related to keyboards with integrated TouchPads:
Some keyboards with TouchPads built into them have a port on the back of
the keyboard is called a "pass through" port. This port supports
plugging in another serial pointing device, which can be selected by
switching a switch on the bottom of the keyboard.
**CAUTION**
Some pointing devices (particularly inexpensive serial mice), can cause
conflicts with the built-in TouchPad simply by being plugged into the
port (i.e., even if they are switched off by the switch on the bottom of
the keyboard). If all else appears correct with your Windows 95 setup,
but you are still not seeing the TouchPad icon in the control tray,
unplug the other pointing device from your keyboard, make sure that the
switch on the bottom of the keyboard is set to TouchPad, and restart
your computer.
WHAT TYPE OF CONNECTOR DO I HAVE?
A PS/2 port is round and is about 1/4 inch in diameter. A serial port is
either a 9 pin connector about 1 inch wide or a 25 pin connector about
2 inches wide. Neither serial connector appears round. The type of port
is critical for the successful operation of your Synaptics TouchPad. The
TouchPad's type of connector controls which type of port you must use.
Windows 95 mouse setting's port and the TouchPad's port type must match
exactly.
WHAT TYPE OF PORT DOES WINDOWS 95 THINK I HAVE
To determine what Windows 95 thinks it is using as your TouchPad port,
go to the Device Manager from the System icon of the Control Panel.
Click on the "+" symbol beside the word "Mouse" if it is not already
open. The mouse types that Windows 95 knows about are each represented
here. Any installed driver that Windows 95 thinks is not functioning
correctly will have a yellow circle with an exclamation mark over it.
If there is more than one definition and you have only one TouchPad
connected to your computer this might be the source of some difficulty.
If there is only one definition present then this is the one Windows 95
will try to use.
Double click on the definition which says Synaptics, if present. If
there is a TAB on the resulting window which is labelled "Resources"
then Windows 95 thinks it is using a PS/2 port for the TouchPad, even
though you may have told the computer to install a Synaptics Serial
TouchPad!
3A) If your TouchPad has a Serial connector
The TouchPad must be connected to a serial port. If the Mouse item in
the Device Manager does not show a serial port mouse/TouchPad defined,
then the Add New Hardware icon of the Control Panel MUST be used to add
a new serial TouchPad. Follow the instructions in the Setup program to
add your new TouchPad.
3B) If your TouchPad has a PS/2 connector
Your TouchPad must be connected to the PS/2 port of the PC. If there is
no other pointing device except the PS/2 connected TouchPad, you should
be able to install the driver using the setup program.
4. Upgrading from TouchPad Driver Versions Prior to 4.0
Prior versions of the Synaptics TouchPad drivers were actually Windows
3.1 drivers that operated in the Windows 95 environment as well. Prior
versions did not require the user to specify to which port the TouchPad
was connected.
Upgrading to the port-specific Windows 95 version of the Synaptics
TouchPad may create problems, or the TouchPad may not appear to perform
as expected.
We have observed the following problem occuring:
A) The user begins with a Windows 95 PC that operates properly with a
mouse connected to the PS/2 port.
B) The user purchases a new keyboard that has a serial TouchPad
connector and a PS/2 keyboard connector.
C) The user follows the installation instructions included with the
keyboard which advise the user to: double click on the mouse icon
in the Control panel, click on the General TAB, click on the change
driver button, click on "have disk" and install the driver for the
Synaptics TouchPad.
D) This installation has installed a serial TouchPad that is
incorrectly operating on the PC's PS/2 port, as mentioned above.
E) The user then downloads the Synaptics Windows 95 driver, version
4.0 or higher, and performs the change driver operation through the
mouse icon of the control panel.
F) The TouchPad TAB of the new driver remains greyed out and/or
mysterious and faulty behavior is observed under Windows 95.
To correct this misconfiguration:
A) Remove all the mouse drivers from the Mouse section of the Device
Manager of the System icon of the Control Panel.
B) Reboot.
C) Windows 95 probably will find the PS/2 port and automatically
install software for it. Windows 95 will then ask to reboot. Do
so.
D) Once the Windows 95 desktop is fully displayed follow the section
of this document to add a new serial TouchPad by starting the
"Add New Hardware" icon of the Control Panel.
E) Reboot and the TouchPad should be properly identified as a serial
TouchPad and the enhancements will work as expected.
5. Description of the manual installation procedure
---------------------------------------------------
This section contains a description of the information encapsulated in
the Setup.exe program. It can be used if, for some reason, you cannot
successfully run Setup.exe.
Installing a PS/2 TouchPad
--------------------------
Generally, there will be a "PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port" installed,
since Windows goes out of its way to notice that the PS/2 support
hardware exists at boot time. Therefore, installing a PS/2 TouchPad
requires changing the current pointing device driver to the Synaptics
driver for the already recognized PS/2 port.
1) Power the system off.
2) Plug in the TouchPad and reboot.
3) In Control Panel/System/Device Manager, make sure that
"View Devices by Type" is checked, and click on the
"+" next to the Mouse icon.
4) There should be an item for the PS/2 mouse, with the name of its
manufacturer. Double-click on this item or select it and then
click "Properties".
5) Select the "Driver" tab in the dialog that comes up.
6) Click "Change Driver".
7) Put the installation disk in the floppy drive, and click
"Have Disk".
8) Make sure that "Synaptics PS/2 TouchPad" is selected, and
click "OK".
9) A list of files to be copied is displayed - click "OK".
10) When all files have been copied, the Device Manager window
comes up. Click "Close".
11) Reboot.
Installing a Serial TouchPad
----------------------------
If your system DOES NOT currently have a serial pointing device driver
installed:
1) Plug the TouchPad into any serial port.
2) Go to Control Panel/Add New Hardware, click "Next".
3) Tell Windows not to search for new hardware, then click "Next".
4) Double click on the Mouse icon.
5) Click "Have Disk".
6) Put the installation floppy in the disk drive.
7) Select "Synaptics Serial TouchPad", "Next", and "Finish".
If your system already has a serial pointing device driver installed
(except for Synaptics drivers older than version 4.0):
1) Power the system off.
2) Replace the current serial pointing device with the Synaptics
Serial TouchPad, and reboot.
3) In Control Panel/System/Device Manager, make sure that "View
Devices by Type" is checked, and click on the + next to the
Mouse icon.
4) There should be an item for the serial mouse, with the name of
its manufacturer. Double-click on this item or select it and
then click "Properties".
5) Select the "Driver" tab in the dialog that comes up.
6) Click "Change Driver".
7) Put the installation disk in the floppy drive, and click
"Have Disk".
8) Make sure that "Synaptics serial TouchPad" is selected, and
click "OK".
9) A list of files to be copied is displayed - click "OK".
10) When all files have been copied, the Device Manager window
comes up. Click "Close".
11) Reboot.
If your system has a Synaptics TouchPad driver installed that is older
than version 4.0, please refer to the section below entitled "Upgrading
from Versions Prior to 4.0".
In either case, after the driver is loaded and you have restarted
windows, you should see the TouchPad Icon in your task bar next to the
clock. If the TouchPad icon is NOT present, click on the Mouse icon in
the Control Panel, click on the TouchPad TAB, and ensure that the
configuration selections are not greyed out or unavailable. Also, a
dialog box, "Information about your TouchPad" should come up unless you
have checked the "Stop showing me this message" checkbox. Either choose
"Tell me more..." from this dialog box, or double-click on the TouchPad
Icon in your task bar, and choose the "Help" button.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.