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touchpad and stick-pointer issues - need advice
I have an Inspiron 8200 (about 3 years old now) and a few months ago I noticed my mouse pointer moving on it's own in one direction. It's similar to when you're pushing the stick-pointer at a constant pressure and it re-calibrates itself which in the end makes your mouse pointer go in the opposite direction you were going when you let go (I'm sure some of you have seen this). Anyways, when it locks up I noticed on my systray the touchpad icon doesn't show anything when I touch it, I assumed it locked up. The touchpad keys will color accordingly to what's pressed, but not the touchpad itself. So I wait a few and the touchpad fixes itself somehow and I gain control of my pointer again. I've tried disabling the touchpad in mouse properties and just left the stick on, yet it still has this issue.
Has anyone experienced this or know what the cause could be? I've already formatted so it's not a software issue, I'm just assuming there may be a loose connection or something bad with my hardware.
Has anyone experienced this or know what the cause could be? I've already formatted so it's not a software issue, I'm just assuming there may be a loose connection or something bad with my hardware.
922
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Posted December 24th, 2005 19:00
Yeah, sometimes I pound on the touchpad to fix it, lol. When I get back from vacation I'm going to stick in knoppix (a linux distro on cd) and see if it happens at all in that OS. If it does then I doubt it's a software issue (I'm already doubting that since I recently just did format when trying to solve this issue and the problem still happens).
I thought about changing the touchpad but, when I have the touchpad disabled and it still happens, that makes me think it's something else (like the connection where the touchpad/stick connect to the motherboard)922
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Posted December 24th, 2005 22:00
I have found it to happen on other machines with optical mouses. I havent tried the linux box. will you post your findings.
Until the fix, i will just keep pounding.
Merry Christmas
922
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Posted December 25th, 2005 03:00
Will do, won't be till after the 30th though. I do have an optical mouse on my laptop but when I formatted I didn't have anything installed or even my optical mouse plugged in and it still had that issue953
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Posted December 30th, 2005 00:00
I had this same problem on my Dell at work and they came and replaced the keyboard. A friend suggested taking the key board off and disconnecting the touch pad.922
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Posted December 30th, 2005 00:00
None yet. I have decided to leave the computer on all the time... with out turning it off when i dont have too. This helps limit the amount of time the mouse moves on its own.
I also grab the computer on a spot not close to the mouse pad. However the mouse begins to float away as soon as I start typing but settles down soon after.
I have found that squeezing, tapping, pounding (which ever mood I am in) on the wrist pads moves the mouse in that particular direction. Do you find this to be true as well?
Do you think Dell reads these threads? I will be doing a complete OS re-install in the next few months. I think this might help.922
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Posted December 30th, 2005 00:00
I have the same problem with an Inspiron 4100 about three years old. It is driving me crazy. Have you found a solution for this problem? My cursor floats, no flies away diagonally across the screen, and even when I try to drag it back into use, it seems to have a life of its own. It seems to settle down after my computer has been on for a while, but I need to find a fix. Have you found any solutions?953
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Posted December 30th, 2005 10:00
Found a other solution:
Tape a piece of static shielding bag over the mousepointer on the bottom of the keyboard.
Fixed the problem for me.467
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Posted December 31st, 2005 01:00
I just remembered this. Before my cursor became stable I had noticed that if it hadn't floated for a few days, if I put the pc on standby it would usually start floating again953
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Posted December 31st, 2005 01:00
I have an Inspirom 8100 and had the floating pointer so bad at times I had to hold the stick with one finger and type around it. I got a cordless keyboard and mouse and had the same problem. I have mashed on the touch pad, set it up on blocks (some suggested that) but mine quit when I stopped changing drives. I have a cdrw and a floppy. They share the same bay. Hven't changed them in about 20 months and pointer hasn't floated any .Was that the cause? I don't know. GrannySue
JohnBGoo
4 Posts
922
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Posted December 24th, 2005 18:00