Asus A16 Trackpad failing?

[Birblover12]

The trackpad on my Asus A16 Gaming laptop seems to be failing. It only accepts touch from the left and right sides, with the "middle" giving little to no response (but sometimes it does?). The strange thing is that when I press down "firmly" on the trackpad, it seems to regain response, but shortly after it begins to reject my inputs and even sometimes the mouse will begin "gittering" or moving by itself, which is really annoying. 

 

Is there potentially an easy fix? I wiped down the trackpad with a microfiber cloth which didn't really seem to help at all, along with uninstalling the ASUS Trackpad drivers and installing the stock windows ones, and it still has the issue. I'm open to hardware fixes as well, though I'd like to do that as a last resort since I think getting to the trackpad requires removing the entire front of the laptop.

 

The warranty is long gone too so that's not an option.

 

Any help?

[SpookyCitrus]

Look into a replacement trackpad for it, sometimes they're pretty inexpensive, though you will have to take essentially the whole laptop apart to replace it.

 

Or go with the simplest solution, a wireless mouse.

[problemsolver]

On 5/23/2025 at 6:16 PM, Birblover12 said:

The trackpad on my Asus A16 Gaming laptop seems to be failing. It only accepts touch from the left and right sides, with the "middle" giving little to no response (but sometimes it does?). The strange thing is that when I press down "firmly" on the trackpad, it seems to regain response, but shortly after it begins to reject my inputs and even sometimes the mouse will begin "gittering" or moving by itself, which is really annoying. 

 

Is there potentially an easy fix? I wiped down the trackpad with a microfiber cloth which didn't really seem to help at all, along with uninstalling the ASUS Trackpad drivers and installing the stock windows ones, and it still has the issue. I'm open to hardware fixes as well, though I'd like to do that as a last resort since I think getting to the trackpad requires removing the entire front of the laptop.

 

The warranty is long gone too so that's not an option.

 

Any help?

It may be a loose ribbon cable as others have mentioned. However, here is another possibility that is fairly common.

The battery is underneath the trackpad, pay close attention, as the battery may be swelling and is now applying pressure to the trackpad and is bending it. It may be worth disassembling the laptop enough to check. (Videos are everywhere).
DO NOT PUNCTURE the battery. It will release lithium gas which is very unhealthy (but smells good) and means your battery needs to be replaced.

I bring that up, because a new trackpad probably won't fix that... and a wireless mouse won't fix the swelling battery which WILL start damaging other components.
 

[Birblover12]

On 5/23/2025 at 9:37 PM, problemsolver said:

It may be a loose ribbon cable as others have mentioned. However, here is another possibility that is fairly common.

The battery is underneath the trackpad, pay close attention, as the battery may be swelling and is now applying pressure to the trackpad and is bending it. It may be worth disassembling the laptop enough to check. (Videos are everywhere).
DO NOT PUNCTURE the battery. It will release lithium gas which is very unhealthy (but smells good) and means your battery needs to be replaced.

I bring that up, because a new trackpad probably won't fix that... and a wireless mouse won't fix the swelling battery which WILL start damaging other components.
 

Okay so been a minute, but I opened my laptop and checked the trackpad and battery. The battery seems perfectly fine (no apparent "bloat" of any kind from all sides) and I sprayed the trackpad area with compressed air along with making sure the ribbon cable for the trackpad was seated, and it didn't really fix anything.

 

Is the trackpad possibly just failing? Never had anything like this happen before. I could just use a mouse but it's a bit awkward when on the go.

 

Any ideas?

[problemsolver]

On 6/3/2025 at 6:37 PM, Birblover12 said:

Okay so been a minute, but I opened my laptop and checked the trackpad and battery. The battery seems perfectly fine (no apparent "bloat" of any kind from all sides) and I sprayed the trackpad area with compressed air along with making sure the ribbon cable for the trackpad was seated, and it didn't really fix anything.

 

Is the trackpad possibly just failing? Never had anything like this happen before. I could just use a mouse, but it's a bit awkward when on the go.

 

Any ideas?

I would say it probably is failing. I'm guessing the trackpad is capacitive and is failing for some reason. The clicking I'm not as sure about. Inspect where the trackpad mounts to the laptop and make sure that no plastic tabs or mounting brackets for the trackpad are damaged.

Here's a screenshot of how a capacitive touchpad works. If it's damaged, then there can be errant clicks, movements, etc.