Then you will need to restore from a disc that came with the computer. Restore from Recovery Media 9 Insert the first recovery disk into your optical drive, then restart your computer. 10 Press "F12" as the computer begins to boot up and you see the initial BIOS screen. 11 Select "CD/DVD option" in the menu by using the arrow keys, the press the "Enter" key. 12 Click on "Recovery of Factory Default Software," then "Next." 13 Click on "Recover to out-of-box state," then click on "Next." 14 Click on "Next" to begin the restoration process. 15 Allow the Toshiba recovery program to work. This may take several minutes. 16 Press any key on the keyboard when prompted to do so to restart your restored Toshiba Satellite A135 laptop. Information taken from here: Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_6772145_restore-toshiba-satellite-a135-laptop.html#ixzz2hcyDhiVP

Ms. Rose, do you have a Micro Center in your area? They have a web site but when you go into their stores, unlike a lot of the Best Buy folks, the people who work there are VERY educated in what they sell and the prices are great. My uses are very similar to yours. I've owned a lot of laptops and have paid a lot of money for extra's I never used. My favorite so far has been smaller sized, inexpensive HP's and Compaqs (400.00 or less) with a key pad on the board. They have all the features needed like micro card slots, usb ports, ample ram and hard drive space but are lighter and easier to move around with. After having an 18 inch mammoth HP and hating it, I'll never go larger than 15 inch again. It hasn't happened yet, but I am glad that if after a couple of years something does go wrong with the unit, it won't cost an arm and a leg to replace. Micro Center also has a great warranty program if that's something you are interested in. One thing that people don't usually think about but is really important is to know where the vent fans are for your system. HP used to build them on the bottom causing the units to get very hot. They've now redesigned them to vent on the side, but I'm not sure if all manufactures have done that yet. Also, I know a lot of people are happy with them, but my husband is an IT computer guy and a Dell employee; he's very familiar with their products and feels they are not what they used to be and are over priced for what you get. Here is a link that might be useful: Micro Center

This is certainly repairable but I'm not sure if I, personally, would bother, but if you wanted to go for it. This site shows how to take everything apart. I didn't dig too deep into it so I'm not sure if the touchpad itself can be separated from the top unit, but even so it shouldn't be an expensive part, relatively speaking, if you look at parts recyclers, ebay and the like. To buy the part from Compaq, if even available, it would be more than a new unit I'd be pretty sure. Compaq goes for volume sales. There's likely a lot of units out there and being Compaq, there's likely a lot of junked out units so parts shouldn't be tough to find if you're willing to look and buy from a parted machine. As far as a DIY project, if you have some basic mechanical skills and can follow directions you should have no trouble. The things to be careful about include remembering that this is a cheap, delicate unit so don't force anything. Keep good lighting available and a magnifying glass. Have heavy items like a cups or something to keep the small parts in and keep them in order so they don't fall down on the floor into the carpet. When you work on it, pick a time that you're not likely to be stressed or interrupted. Getting into the middle of a tearapart and leaving it to come back later to finish is not a good thing to do. Be rested and ready to go at it. I doubt this should take long to complete with any luck. It gives a real sense of accomplaishment to do a job like this should you choose to tackle it. Or you might choose to just use a mouse! Good luck on whatever option you choose.

As I said, on the Gateway NE71B it is the F6 key and the Fn key does not need to be pushed. Better if ti did as that would prevent what happened to me, accidentally pushing the F6 key and thus not knowing it, only knowing the touch pad was dead. I tested just now and confirmed what I say. All made by Acer, no argument here, but it appears some functions are in different physical places on different models.