Synaptics touchpad - scrolling issues after Win7 to Win10 upgrade

I have just done an in-place upgrade of Win7 to Win10 (v21H1) on my Samsung RF511 laptop, and I'm discovering various problems as I now try to use the computer.

One issue (being explored in another sub-forum) is the snail-like boot-up time.

Another seems to me slightly weird. The laptop has a Synaptics touchpad. The click and tap functions work fine. But there is a problem with scrolling.

The two-finger scrolling works fine when I have a website page open in Firefox, and the page moves smoothly up and down the screen.

Scrolling works more or less OK in, for example, a Word document.

But scrolling simply does not work at all on the Win10 start menu (I cannot, for example, scroll up or down the displayed list of apps and programs). Nor, when I open Settings, can I scroll up or down any of the pages within any part of any Settings screen.

When I try to do so, a little rectangular icon with an up/down arrow appears at or under the pointer. But the page does not move or scroll. The only way I can get it to move is to click on the 'slider' on the right-hand side of the page, or use the PgUp and PgDown keys. Neither is convenient or habitual for me.

Needless to say, the touchpad and scrolling worked fine in Win7 on this machine before the upgrade, and it works fine in the Linux Mint system which is dual-booted on this same computer. So the issue seems related to Win10 and the upgrade.

I have checked the Synaptics touchpad device properties, and scrolling is definitely enabled, with medium sensitivity (I have tried high and low too). The driver is v.15.2.20 and dates from 31 Mar 11, but Win10 says the driver is up to date and there is no optional driver update offered in Windows Updates. I cannot see from the Samsung support website whether there is any other or more recent driver which I should install (Samsung support has no automatic process to analyse or recommend drivers).

So I'm a bit stuck. I don't want to mess around with drivers and lose the touchpad operations which I have. And it puzzles me that the scrolling works fine in Firefox or Word (which indicates driver and touchpad are OK) , but not with the Win10 menu or Settings pages....

Any thoughts would be welcome!

Hello again @dalchina. Good of you to pick up on this separate thread - which I posted separately as it seemed to be entirely different from the slow boot-up and performance issue.

I take your point about Win10 and old(er) machines, although I didn't think my Samsung was that old. I have a couple of Lenovos of about the same vintage and with similar CPU and spec, which I have also recently upgraded from Win7 to Win10, and Win10 works flawlessly and fast on them.

But the more puzzling point in terms of the touchpad scrolling is this. It works fine on the Samsung machine when looking at browser/website screens. It works fine with Word docs and PDFs. From this I deduce that the hardware is not faulty, and that the driver is doing what it is supposed to. For what it's worth, all the functions of the touchpad work perfectly in Linux Mint on this same "old" (!) Samsung machine. So it's not obviously a problem of obsolete hardware or a defective touchpad or driver. The problem only exists when trying to navigate the Win10 Start menu and the Win10 Settings pages. So it's specific to those elements of Win 10.

Forum searches and Googling reveal that this is not all that unusual. Touchpad non-scrolling of the Win10 Start menu is mentioned frequently, by users of various laptops from Asus and Dell to Toshiba (harder to track down Samsung users...). I have tried the 'fix' suggested in older forum posts, of adjusting the touchpad/mouse setting in Win10 which says "Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them". That seems to have worked for others - on various brands of laptop. But not for mine.

To coin a phrase: "Go figure....!" It does seem to be an issue associated with Win10 rather than Samsung hardware or the Synaptics driver. But what do I know? I just look at the clues I happen to find - I need the help of others to join them up into a diagnosis.

PS: Yup, definitely a believer in imaging and backing up. I have a complete disk image of the pre-upgrade (Win7 plus Linux) system, so can always go back to that if I must. But Win7 is EOL. And after successful upgrades from 7 to 10 on the other (Lenovo) machines, I still cling to the hope that - somehow - I can get Win10 to work on the Samsung. I'm realistic enough not to expect miracles or lightning speed. I was just hoping for performance comparable to Win7, and the reliable functioning of things like the touchpad, the camera and other standard features. Is that an unrealistic hope?

Two finger scrolling works on my Synaptics Touchpad in all scenarios including Settings.

Start Menu as well, but very tricky and error prone there.

Touchpads are usually OEM for a particular manufacturer, so some random 'latest driver' may not be good.

Mine is on v19.4.3.38 April 2017 on SMB port.That would have been a Windows 10 driver update.

The Laptop manufacturer never supplied any Windows 10 hardware drivers at all. Initially it was on the Toshiba W10 compatibility list back in 2015.

All drivers come via Windows 10 updates.

As you are 6 years behind most people I would just check now and again and you should get some driver updates in due course.
Laptop cameras are in the same OEM hardware category.

In the mean time just plug in a basic scroll Mouse. A lot more solid functionality than a Touchpad.

My Samsung laptop has a Synaptics touchpad. Windows Update does not list or recommend any driver update for it, not even in the 'optional' list. If it did, I'd give it a go! For reasons of space and convenience, I don't use a separate mouse with a laptop. I'd rather use what's already there and built in - if I can.

The Samsung Support website offers a whole list of drivers for the RF511 - from Wifi and LAN to touchpad and battery-manager, as well as all the Samsung bloatware apps. But unhelpfully, does not always make clear which ones might be relevant. It offers two Touchpad drivers, neither labelled Synaptics. One is simply listed as v.4.1.0.0. of 20 Aug 2012, and the other as WXP v.4.6.0.0 of 28 Nov 2011. Neither seems to correspond or be in the same 'series' as the driver currently installed.

But the curious fact is that the present driver seems to work fine on my laptop. If it ain't broke, why mess with it? It's just that the scrolling doesn't play nicely with the Win10 Start Menu and the Settings pages. To me, that suggests it's an issue with Win10 - or those elements of it - not with the touchpad itself or its driver.

Hello @Bastet.....

To answer your question - there is an extensive range of options available under the Synaptics Touchpad settings, almost all of them configurable and adjustable. Scrolling (one-finger or two). Pinch Zoom. Rotating. Pointing (with adjustable sensitivity, momentum, edge motion and other enhancements). Button choices (left and right). Tapping (tap and drag and zone-adjustment). Application gestures (three-finger press, three-finger flick).

So there is ample choice, and more functionality than I could ever need. My requirement is not for something extra, new, different or unusual. I don't want yet more options.

So I confess I think the idea of installing an alternative Precision driver to give extra options is an answer to a question that hasn't been asked!

All I want is for the standard default scrolling function - which works fine in the browser, in Word documents, in PDFs, and in most other applications, and also works fine on the same machine hardware when booted into Linux Mint - to work in the Win10 Start Menu and the Win10 Settings pages. I'm no expert, but all the evidence seems to point to this being a Win10 configuration issue, not a touchpad driver problem.