Adding important context and correcting one thing from my earlier post (which may or may not have cleared moderation yet).
The corrected diagnosis:
The TabletInputService start-type flapping (SCM 7040 ~2/sec, Win32k 267 ~1/sec) happens about 98% of the time on this machine. Occasionally — maybe 2% of the time — the service goes quiet for some minutes or hours. In BOTH states the touchscreen is non-responsive to physical touch. It enumerates as an HID device with Status=OK in Device Manager, but Windows still reports "No pen or touch input is available for this display," and tapping the screen does nothing.
So the quiet state isn't a recovery — it's just a different failure mode of the same underlying problem. The touchscreen is fully non-functional regardless of which state the system happens to be in.
Relevant history I should have included earlier:
About 9–12 months after I bought this machine (refurbished, 2018-ish), the battery swelled. A local shop told me the motherboard was damaged by the swelling and they "couldn't get a replacement board shipped to the US." I never got a second opinion. The laptop has worked for general use ever since on AC power only (no battery installed).
The touchscreen worked at some point — I distinctly remember using it — but I can't pin down exactly when it stopped. It's plausible it stopped right after the battery event and I just didn't notice for a while because I was already using mouse/keyboard.
Why this matters: Razer's own KB documentation (Answer ID 3209) explicitly states battery swelling on Blade laptops "has broken the ribbon connector on the motherboard, making touch inputs unworkable." That's the exact pattern I'd expect to see: controller enumerates (power lines intact), but actual touch data path is broken (signal lines damaged).
What I'm hoping to get from this thread:
- The ELAN driver itself — if anyone has hardware ID HID\VID_04F3&PID_2355&REV_1112 archived (from a Synapse 2 install, a working 2017 Blade Pro DriverStore, anywhere), I want to install it as a definitive software-vs-hardware test. If touch starts working, the OS just needed the right driver. If it doesn't, hardware is confirmed.
- Anyone who had the same battery-swelling → touchscreen-dies sequence on this exact model. If yes, what was the actual damage when a board-level shop diagnosed it? Ribbon connector? Trace? Full board? What was the repair?
- Recommendations for board-level repair shops that have actually worked on a Razer Blade Pro 2017. I'm currently considering Geekmatics (Palm Harbor FL), Laptop Board Repair (Bay Area), and Logistics (CT) for a mail-in diagnostic — anyone used them on Razer hardware specifically?
- Replacement battery sourcing. I want the laptop to be portable again. iFixit lists the OEM at $89.99, but I'd appreciate any pointers on whether the iFixit one is the right SKU for the 2017 Pro 17", or if there are better sources.
Happy to share my full event-log forensics if it helps anyone who's seeing the same symptom. Thanks all.