Comment 146 for bug 549727

But....

It is clear the button to 'disable' my touchpad and 'disable while typing' puts some set of variables in a state where my touchpad does not work.

going to try:

removing 'psmouse.ko' > add it back
xinput list
gconftool-2 --type bool --set /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled true

If that doesn't work, I might try reinstall w/ apt-get.