Chromebook Touchpad or Mouse Not Working? 13 Fixes to Try

One of these will be the lucky one

This tutorial covers troubleshooting fixes for touchpad and mouse problems onChromebooks. Use your touchscreen or external mouse to try these fixes if your Chromebook’s trackpad or touchpad isn’t working.

1. Clean Your Touchpad

Your Chromebook’s cursor may freeze or flicker if there’s dirt, dust, or liquid on the touchpad. Wiping your touchpad with a clean, dry, and lint-free cloth might get it working correctly again.

If using an external mouse, ensure it’s on a flat, dirt-free, and smooth surface. Place and use the mouse on a mousepad if you have one.

External mice sometimes malfunction when their batteries get low or die. Check your mouse’s battery level and charge it if low. Replace the batteries if they no longer hold a charge or die prematurely.

2. Drumroll Your Fingers on the Touchpad

Gently tap your fingers on your Chromebook’s touchpad to create a drumroll effect. Doing that for at least 10 seconds could dislodge dirt or particles stuck around or underneath your touchpad.

3. Adjust Touchpad Speed

Is your Chromebook’scursor too sensitiveor sluggish when moving your finger on the trackpad? Adjust your cursor/pointer speed in the touchpad settings menu.

Go toSettings>Device>Touchpadand move theTouchpad speedorMouse speedslider to your preference.

4. Enable Tap-to-Click

Tapping your Chromebook’s touchpad is equivalent to pressing the left button on a physical mouse. If your Chromebook doesn’t select items when you tap the touchpad, that’s likely because “Tap-to-click” is disabled.

Go toSettings>Device>Touchpadand toggle onEnable tap-to-click.

5. Change Touchpad Acceleration Settings

Touchpad acceleration enhances your Chromebook’s cursor movement and allows you to scroll pages quickly. Enabling touchpad acceleration can resolvecursor or mouse lag issueson your Chromebook.

Open theSettingsapp, selectDeviceon the sidebar, chooseTouchpad, and turn onEnable touchpad acceleration.

6. Change Scrolling Type

In ChromeOS, “Reverse Scrolling” moves a page down when you swipe up your touchpad with two fingers and vice versa. Disable the feature to move pages in your scroll direction—i.e., pages move up when you scroll up and down when you scroll down.

Go toSettings>Device>Touchpadand toggle offEnable reverse scrollingto disable reverse scrolling.

7. Enable Tap Dragging

“Tap-dragging” allows you to move or select multiple items by double-tapping and dragging your finger on the touchpad. You can’t drag or move items using your touchpad if tap-dragging is disabled on your Chromebook.

Go toSettings>Device>Touchpadand toggle onEnable tap dragging.

8. Press the Esc Key Repeatedly

Pressing theEsc keyseveral times can also fix touchpad problems on your Chromebook. Tap your Chromebook’sEsc keyrepeatedly for 20-30 seconds and check if your touchpad or mouse now works.

9. Reboot Your Chromebook

Press and hold your Chromebook’sPower buttonand selectShut downon the power menu. Wait 2-3 minutes for your Chromebook to shut down and press thePower buttonto turn it back on.

10. Update Your Chromebook

Updating your Chromebook might resolve touchpad issues, especially if its operating system is several versions behind the latest version.

Connect your Chromebook to Wi-Fi or Ethernet, open theSettingsapp, and selectAbout ChromeOSon the sidebar.

Wait while your Chromebook downloads the latest ChromeOS version and selectRestartto install the update.

If you use a school or work Chromebook, you may need to contact your administrator to update its operating system.

11. Perform a Hard Reset

Reset your Chromebook’s hardware if your touchpad still doesn’t work after trying the fixes above. A hardware reset (also called Embedded Controller reset or EC reset) restarts your Chromebook’skeyboard, touchpad, ports, battery, etc.

The hardware or EC reset process will vary depending on your Chromebook type or model. Note that performing resetting your hardware might delete some files in the “Downloads” folder. We recommend backing up files in that folder to Google Drive or a USB thumb drive.

Also, unplug devices and accessories (monitor, power cable, USB drive, mouse, etc.) from your Chromebook before resetting its hardware.

You can restart a Chromebook’s hardware by removing and reinserting its battery. If your Chromebook battery is detachable, turn it off, and remove the battery. Wait for 1-2 minutes, reconnect the battery, and turn your Chromebook back on.

To reset a ChromeOS-powered Chromebit, turn it off, remove its power adapter, and wait several seconds. Reconnect the power adapter, turn on the Chromebit, and check if the paired keyboard works correctly.

Some Chromebooks from Lenovo, Samsung, Acer, and Asus have a reset button typically hidden in a hole in the bottom case. Turn off your Chromebook, remove its power adapter, and press a pin, paperclip, or SIM card ejector down the hole.

Hold the pin or paper clip and reconnect the power adapter. Turn on your Chromebook and remove the paper clip when the display comes on.

12. Use Guest Mode or Re-add Your Account

Your Chromebook’s touchpad might malfunction if there’s a problem with your account. Using your Chromebook in guest mode can help determine if your account has a problem with the touchpad.

If there’s more than one account on your Chromebook, delete and re-add the account that doesn’t work with your touchpad. Perform a factory reset if you use just one account on your Chromebook.

Note:You won’t find the “Browse as Guest” option on your work or school Chromebook if your administrator disabled guest browsing.Contact your administratorto re-enable guest browsing on your Chromebook.

If your touchpad works in guest mode, delete and re-add your account to your Chromebook.

13. Powerwash Your Chromebook

Factory resetting orpowerwashing your Chromebookwipes everything on your built-in storage. Backup your files to Google Drive or an external hard drive before performing a factory reset.

Note:You might be unable to factory reset a work or school Chromebook. Contact your administrator to wipe your Chromebook and re-enroll it on your school or work network.

Go toSettings>Advanced>Reset settingsand select theResetbutton.

Get Professional or Technical Support

Contact your Chromebook manufacturerif you still have trouble using your touchpad or external mouse.

Sodiq has written thousands of tutorials, guides, and explainers over the past 4 years to help people solve problems with Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows devices. He also enjoys reviewing consumer tech products (smartphones, smart home devices, accessories, etc.) and binge-watching comedy series in his spare time.Read Sodiq’s Full Bio

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Chromebook Touchpad or Mouse Not Working? 13 Fixes to Try#

1. Clean Your Touchpad#

2. Drumroll Your Fingers on the Touchpad#

3. Adjust Touchpad Speed#

4. Enable Tap-to-Click#

5. Change Touchpad Acceleration Settings#

6. Change Scrolling Type#

7. Enable Tap Dragging#

8. Press the Esc Key Repeatedly#

9. Reboot Your Chromebook#

10. Update Your Chromebook#

11. Perform a Hard Reset#

12. Use Guest Mode or Re-add Your Account#

13. Powerwash Your Chromebook#

Get Professional or Technical Support#