Here’s a pattern we see weekly in our Perth workshop: someone brings in an HP Pavilion or Spectre because “the trackpad feels wrong” — it clicks strangely, sits proud of the palm rest, or has stopped clicking entirely. They’re expecting a trackpad repair. What they actually have, more often than not, is a swelling battery pushing up from underneath.
Why HP laptops show it in the trackpad
On most Pavilion, Envy and Spectre chassis, the battery sits directly beneath the trackpad. Lithium cells swell as they degrade — gas builds up inside the pouch — and the path of least resistance is straight up. The first millimetre of swell lifts the trackpad; the next one starts flexing the keyboard deck and can split the case seam.
Other tell-tales: the laptop no longer sits flat on a desk, the bottom cover bulges, or the screen doesn’t close flush anymore.
Why you shouldn’t wait
A swollen battery isn’t just an ergonomic annoyance:
- It gets worse, and faster. Swelling accelerates as the cell degrades — a slightly lifted trackpad can become a split chassis within weeks.
- It damages parts around it. We regularly see trackpads, keyboards and bottom covers wrecked by a battery that was left to grow. What starts as a battery job becomes a battery-plus-trackpad-plus-case job.
- Punctured cells are a genuine fire risk. Never press the bulge down, never keep charging a swollen battery, and don’t fly with it.
If yours is showing the signs: power it down, unplug it, and stop using it until it’s been looked at.
What the fix involves
Battery replacement on these models is straightforward workshop work: bottom cover off, swollen pack out (carefully — we handle and dispose of damaged cells properly), a capacity-tested replacement in, then a calibration check. From $249, and usually same-day when your model’s battery is in stock. If the swelling has already marked the trackpad or case, we’ll show you the damage and quote any extras in writing before touching anything.
The trackpad, in most cases, starts clicking normally again the moment the pressure underneath it is gone — no separate repair needed.
The five-second check you can do right now
Close the lid and set your HP on a flat table. If it rocks on its base, or the lid gaps unevenly, look closer at the underside. Caught early, this is a tidy $249-ish fix; caught late, it’s that plus a trackpad and sometimes a case. Early wins.