I have EliteBook 8230W with Synaptics touchpad and Win7. The virtual scroll is erratic. It doesn't seem to send the information to the right application. I force focus but the scrolling doesn't work unless I'm well to the right of the window boundry. When I move the cursor to the right of the window, the virtual scrolling continues to work. It's as if there were some offset being added to the window information.

The driver software is Synaptics TouchPad Driver (International) which you can get from HP's support site.
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=3740643&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4054

Device settings > Synaptics touchpad > settings > virtual scrolling > untick the "enable vertical scrolling" box.

The "enable horizontal scrolling box should be there too.

Step 1:
The touchpad of Hewlett Packard Compaq notebook computers comes equipped with vertical and horizontal scroll capabilities. Dragging your finger on the top or side of the touchpad will scroll in windows equipped with scrollbars. This feature takes some getting used to if you're used to a regular mouse or a wheel equipped mouse. If you prefer to not have vertical and horizontal scrolling performed from the touchpad, one or both features can be disabled.

Double-click the red Synaptics icon on your task bar. If it's not displaying, open the Control Panel and click on "Mouse" in Windows XP. In Windows Vista/7, type "Mouse" in the search field of the "Start" menu and click on the Mouse result. Click on the "Device Settings" tab and then click on the "Settings" button. The Properties for Synaptics TouchPad dialog box will appear. Click on "Virtual Scrolling" in the "Select an Item" box on the left. Clear one or both scrolling features in the "Virtual Scrolling" section. Click "Apply," and then "OK."
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To access Mouse Properties, select Start - Control Panel - Hardware and Sound -Mouse.

Use Mouse Properties in Windows to customize settings for pointing devices, such as button configuration, click speed, and pointer options.

There's a tiny orange light near the upper left corner of the touchpad to the left of the touchpad. If that is lit, you may only have to tap the upper left hand corner of the touchpad a couple of times to get it to go out. and start the touchpad working.

Barring that, see if the synaptics driver is installed. Go to "Control Panel," change the "view" in the upper right hand corner to "large icons," and see if "Synaptics Touchpad V8.1" is listed.

If not, go to "Control Panel," locate device manager and click (with a usb mouse) "mice and other pointing devices," click "Synaptics PS/2 Port Touchpad," and check to see if it says, "device is working properly." If not or if it still doesn't work, click the driver tab, and click "update driver."

two options:
first: go to system tray, locate the Synaptics icon, right click it and left click open. then go to device settings then click "settings" and locate on the left "virtual scrolling". UNCHECK "enable virtual scrolling". Click apply and ok.
second: click START, then CONTROL PANEL, then DEVICE MANAGER, then MICE AND OTHER POINTING DEVICES, then right click on PS/2 COMPATIBLE, the left click on DISABLE, click apply and close

You mean, the cursor is erratic and moving all around here and there?

Decrease the Touchpad Sensitivity...

I see that your Laptop was shipped with Windows Vista and it seems you are using a Retail version of Windows 7. Specially, HP/Compaq Laptops is designed for Retail versions and you can face some device/driver functionality issues. But, you can still try the followings.

As per my knowledge, your Laptop has the Synaptics Toucpad.

To Change the Sensitivity of the Touchpad:
1. Right-click on the desktop and select Personalize > Mouse Pointers . The Mouse Properties settings window will open.

2. Select the Device Settings tab. Select the Synaptics TouchPad device and click Settings. In the Properties for Synaptics TouchPad window, expand the Sensitivity topic.
3. Select the PalmCheck option to adjust the sensitivity (decrease it) of the touchpad to avoid erratic cursor movement caused by accidental touching of the pad during normal typing.

If the Device Setting tab is missing.....

1. Click Start, in the Start search field type Msconfig and press enter.

"System Configuration Utility" box will pop up on the screen.

2. Click the Startup tab.
3. Search for "Syntpenh" entry and select the checkbox beside it.
5. Click OK. Restart the computer. Perform above step.

If you are still not able to perform the steps, update the driver from following link.

Synaptics TouchPad Driver: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp44501-45000/sp44969.exe

Restart the Notebook and check for the problem. It should be resolved now.

1. Right-click on the desktop and select Personalize > Mouse Pointers . The Mouse Properties settings window will open.
2. Alternately, click Start and type Mouse in the Search field, and select Mouse when it becomes available in the program list. The Mouse Properties settings window will open.
3. Select the Device Settings tab. Select the Synaptics TouchPad device and click Settings . In the Properties for Synaptics TouchPad window, expand the Sensitivity topic.
4. Select the PalmCheck option to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad to avoid erratic cursor movement caused by accidental touching of the pad during normal typing.
5. Select the Touch Sensitivity option to adjust how much finger pressure is required to move the mouse on the screen and how responsive the touchpad is to taps.

Hi,

The notebook model you have is shipped with the Synaptics touchpad driver. Please follow the below steps to enable scrolling features:

1. Open Control panel -> click on Mouse . It will display Mouse Properties dialog box.
2. Under Mouse properties Window click the Device Settings tab
3. Click on Device Settings -> Settings button. This will display the Properties for Synaptics TouchPad on PS/2 port.

4. Follow the steps below to enable the Tapping Feature :

Highlight Tapping in the Left hand side , and Check the Enable tapping in the Right hand box .

5. Follow the steps below to enable Scroll feature:

Highlight Virtual Scrolling in the Left hand side and Check both the boxes in the right hand side.
6. Click OK .
Alternatively you can anble scrolling by reinstalling touchpad driver.

Touchpad driver for Vista:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp39501-40000/sp39534.exe

Touchpad driver for Windows 7:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp44501-45000/sp44940.exe

press Fn key and F12 at the same time.......(note Scr lk is written below F12 key)