Hey everyone.. some help here would be great.
my touchpad on the inspiron isn't working anymore.. i can move it and it doesn't do anything much. it barely moves. It's to the point that the computer isn't even usable. I was looking on ebay for another one but they have the whole palm rest and stuff.
how would i go about replacing it?
thanks.
As far as I know, the way the Inspiron 1501 is designed (from here), you can't actually replace just the touchpad, it's a part of the palm rest. (Instructions).
If you're patient and can handle a screwdriver, replacement is a breeze.
Good luck! 
I thought most laptop users packed a mouse?...
im thinking about buying a usb mouse for now. i seen an actual touchpad on ebay.. wasn't really sure about it.. i saw a lot of palm rest. it looked like it would be really hard to replace.
thanks for the input.
it made me mad. i had os x leopard running perfectly on it and vista both on one hard drive.
Sometimes if You have checked "Disable touchpad if external mouse is connected", when You plug some usb stuff touchpad stop working. I haved such problems when I was connecting usb camera. Try to reinstall touchpad drivers.
i've never had a USB mouse plugged into it... how would i reinstall drivers?
what is the four finger salute? i seen something about that to recalibrate.
my last resort is having to open it up and replace the whole thing... that seems like it would be a lot of trouble. i know i could get it done but... damn..
thanks for the help
it does work sometimes... like it's working right now. im using mac os x leopard 10.5.2.
native install. running as dual boot with vista.
it seems to mess up more in vista.
hey..
i think it should be some issue with the keyboard.. may be a key struck... slightly touch all the keys and check it out.. which key cause the problem... i had the same issue?.. is it displaying the cursor?
it shows the cursor, it's working right now... but it messes up every time i use it. it gets less and less responsive.
in mac os x it's still working.. it seems to mess up more in vista.
im using safari right now and leopard and it isn't messing up yet. I probably will though.
if i replace it i'll let you all know how it goes.
edit: I checked to see if any keys were sticking and they weren't. I've had that happen on a different computer. It hasn't happened on this one. It has some key guard thing so stuff can't get in between the keys.
