[SOLVED] Elan PS/2 Touchpad Driver for XP

[RainyShadow]

In 8.1 disable touchpad programs, so your settings are not loaded.

Start the .bat file. It should modify 3 registry values and "touch" 3 files. If this alone doesn't activate your settings, try starting AsusTPHelper.exe as well.

 

You may try it in XP too, but probably some paths need fixing.

[Dave-H]

OK, I disabled the Smart Gesture entry on the Windows Task Manager Start-up tab so the programs wouldn't load.
I ran the batch file (as an administrator or it wouldn't write to the registry), and it appeared to run successfully, but no difference, the settings were still wrong.

Incidentally that "windows.old" folder is a hangover from an OS update many years ago, I'd forgotten it was still there as it's hidden!
It's gone now.

[RainyShadow]

Did you try starting the helper .exe?

[Dave-H]

Just tried it again after running AsusTPHelper.exe.
No difference I'm afraid.

[RainyShadow]

Well, time to give up.

Wipe drive, put win10 and be happy

[Dave-H]

OK, I thought we were perhaps getting to a point of diminishing returns here.
Unless @jaclaz has something up his sleeve, I think it is time to call it a day on this, you can't win them all!

@RainyShadow, thank you so much for all your help with this, it really is much appreciated, and even if we didn't get the result we wanted, I still learnt an awful lot from this.
I've been through several problems like this with people on this forum over the years, and in most cases we did get a result in the end, but it's not always going to be possible.
It's never for want of trying though, and you and jaclaz have been so helpful with this, no-one could have done more.

I'm not going to put Windows 10 on the machine. It had Windows 10 on it when I acquired it, I assume an update from Windows 8.1 which is what these machines were shipped with.
It was crawlingly slow with Windows 10, which is why swapped the drives and went back to my old Windows 8.1/Windows XP dual boot from my previous netbook.

I'm intending to try Windows Vista, if only because I should be able to update to it from Windows XP without having to do a clean install and have to rebuild the whole thing.
Vista is also one of the only two domestic Microsoft operating systems that I have absolutely no experience of (the other being Windows ME!) so I thought it would be fun to have a play with it and see if it's really as bad as many people say. If it's truly awful I should again be able to update it to Windows 7 without too much problem.

Thanks again!
Cheers, Dave.

[cc333]

I've been following this interesting adventure, and have a radical thought:  is the trackpad the same physical shape/size between the new and old machines?

Perhaps you can swap trackpads between them or, if they're incompatible, find another variant of this model whose trackpad is 1) similar to tthe one on your new machine, and 2) known to work on Windows versions earlier than 8.x or 7 and swap that into your machine?

If it requires too much hacking (it might), it's probably not worth the effort, but it's nevertheless something to consider.

c

Edited April 20, 2020 by cc333

[Dave-H]

Yes, I'd already thought about that quite a while ago!
The trackpad in my previous netbook is a much better one anyway, and if a physical swap were possible I would have done it by now!
Sadly they are just too different for it to be feasible, although I could look around and see if there is another one I can buy for the present machine which will physically fit in and be a better hardware match for the readily available Elan or Synaptics drivers. I'm still convinced that Asus have customised my trackpad in some way so it will only work with their driver.
I suspect it will be more trouble that it's worth though just to be able to keep XP on the machine!

 

[jaclaz]

What I would still try would be what happens with the Samsung "unified" drivers .

Latest I could find is Touchpad_4.9.0.0.ZIP, it is 256 MB of pure bloat  as it contains both the Synaptics and the Elantech drivers:

https://www.helpjet.net/Fs-52207751-65343120-34459956.html

The good news are that the various .exe's are 5/1 and the driver is up to Windows 8 (unfortunately not 8.1).

IF (and it is a huge IF) the Windows 8 drivers can install on 8.1 , after modifying the .inf to (hopefully) install on ETD0108, than maybe (and it is still maybe) even if the ETD.SYS doesn't make it functional it would be possible to replace only the ETD.SYS (and the ETD.cat) with the version that has been already tested working on 8.1.

And from that (again IF we manage to have it working on 8.1) it should be a breeze to port it back to XP.

jaclaz  

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by jaclaz

[Dave-H]

OK, I uninstalled Asus Smart Gesture from 8.1, and tried installing this version, as is.
Tellingly, running TouchpadSetup.exe produced "I cannot find the Touchpad device".
However, running setup in the Elan folder did install, with interesting results.
There is now a control panel, which is fully populated, and the settings can be changed, and appear to be remembered.
However the changes are not reflected by any changes to the behaviour of the touchpad.
The Mouse Properties window now has a "Touchpad" tab, which looks the same as before, with "Standard PS/2 Mouse" displayed as the device.
"Options" is still greyed out and does not invoke the control panel.
In Device Manager, the mouse is now a "Samsung PS/2 Port Input Device".
I will uninstall it and add my touchpad to the INF file and try again.
It does look more promising than many of the other drivers though, great find @jaclaz!

Edited April 21, 2020 by Dave-H
Addition

[jaclaz]

Yep, it looks like a start

Modifying the .inf may be tricky, AFAICU it is a win or lose situation, a teeny tiny error in the way it is edited and it won't work (without excluding that with a slightly different change it would work) .

Post original and changed lines.

jaclaz

Edited April 21, 2020 by jaclaz

[Dave-H]

I thought that having a control panel whose settings were actually remembered between sessions was quite a breakthrough!
It doesn't appear to be talking to the driver though.
Here's the original INF and my last attempt at modification.
I commented out the two lines that seem to result in the basic non-functional driver being installed, and added lines to hopefully support ETD0108 mimicking the "ETD0B00" lines.
Without those lines it doesn't install at all, although it goes through the motions.
With those lines it installs as it does unmodified.
I haven't yet tried adding ETD0108 lines matching the "ETD0B01" lines.

I notice that although the package is version 4.9.0.0 the actual Elan driver is version 11.7.5.5, which may well be one of the ones I already tried, which I never got working even on 8.1.
The one that did work on 8.1 was 15.14.4.1, a lot later.

ETDOriginal.inf

ETDModified.inf

Edited April 22, 2020 by Dave-H
Addition

[jaclaz]

Yep, the modifications seem fine to me.

But the test would be, now that the inf is modified, if the driver installs "normally" via TouchpadSetup.exe. (or maybe - no idea - the mod in the .inf is enough to trigger some other error).

Next attempt is:

1) copy the ETD.SYS and ETD.CAT from the version that works (15.14.4.1) to the directory where you have the (11.7.5.5) i.e. the Samsung 4.9.0.0, overwriting the existing files
2) try again reinstalling, via TouchpadSetup.exe and/or from the setup in the Elan folder.
3) try again "forcing" the driver from "have disk" of the device.

jaclaz
 

[Dave-H]

TouchpadSetup.exe still throws "I cannot find the Touchpad device", both before and after copying the ETD.sys and ETD.cat files from version 15.14.4.1.

Running setup from the Elan folder after copying the files produces an installation with no control panel, and a tab in the Mouse Properties which is completely greyed out with no device entries.
Device Manager says that the mouser is a "Samsung PS/2 Port Input Device" and says it's working properly.
Forcing a driver update in Device Manager only offers "Samsung PS/2 Port Input Device" and installing that makes no difference.

[jaclaz]

7 hours ago, Dave-H said:

TouchpadSetup.exe still throws "I cannot find the Touchpad device", both before and after copying the ETD.sys and ETD.cat files from version 15.14.4.1.

That is a problem.

As I see it, it means that the modification to the .inf is not correct (or that the touchpadsetup.exe has those ETDB00x device ID's hardcoded somewhere else).

7 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Running setup from the Elan folder after copying the files produces an installation with no control panel, and a tab in the Mouse Properties which is completely greyed out with no device entries.

This makes little sense. it may mean again that the .inf "is wrong" or that it is missing something.

7 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Device Manager says that the mouser is a "Samsung PS/2 Port Input Device" and says it's working properly.
Forcing a driver update in Device Manager only offers "Samsung PS/2 Port Input Device" and installing that makes no difference.

But is the driver actually loaded ETD.SYS?

Is the ETDCtrl.exe running?

etc.

I mean, it is well possible that the driver (the actual .sys) is running (as it is when you install the working (15.14.4.1) version untouched) BUT that all the rest (ETDctrl.exe, etc. ) do not communicate with it (as it happened when you installed the "samsung" driver "as is") , but what you are reporting now is that all the rest is now not installed at all.

Try again, removing the semicolon in front of (two instances):

;%SamsungDeviceDesc%         = ETD0B00_Inst_Win8, *PNP0F13,*PNP0F0E,*PNP0F03,*PNP0F12,*PNP0F0B

jacla