ThinkPad T420 Trackpad and Trackpoint Issues

[cheddeyy]

Hello. About 6 months ago I bought a ThinkPad T420 for around $80 USD off of Facebook Marketplace (Now regretting that a bit... )

Ever since I got it, I've had issues with the Trackpad and Trackpoint working properly. From what I've seen, there's about like a 15% chance for the Trackpoint and Trackpad to actually work. What I mean by that, is I mean the computer detecting they exist at all. This isn't a driver problem, or operating system problem. When the rare times that they actually do work, and it happens to be on a new Windows install, it works fine. Speaking of it working, when they DO work, they work perfectly fine with no issues. And then the second I put the computer to sleep, or shut it off, and I turn it back on or wake it back up, they aren't working. If I check device manager, the computer detects no pointing devices of any kind, forcing me to use a mouse. It can't be issues with connection either, because the trackpad connector is firmly secured with a nice click, and every time I've taken the palmrest off to try and troubleshoot for the millionth time, it's still firmly in place. I've tried cleaning the contacts, and still the same issues. I've dealt with this since basically day 1 and I thought I could just tough it out until I could maybe get another laptop or so, but no, this is driving me insane. This issue happens on Linux too BTW, literally happens on any operating system.

[TPFanatic]

could be a hardware fault.

if you're willing to amputate, you can try running the laptop with the touchpad disconnected. the ThinkPad should then act like it is a Trackpoint-only model and if there's no fault in the TrackPoint that should then work perfectly fine moving forward.