Acer Aspire 5610-2738 laptop computer

Question

The mousepad on my laptop keeps going on strike for a few months at a time. I bought a usb mouse, but it's inconvenient to keep losing the mouse on the computer. Actually, I bought a wireless usb mouse, but it punks out when the mousepad does. The wired one is the only one that works when the mousepad decides not to work for awhile. Any suggestions?