Inspiron 1721 Cursor Moves While Typing

I had this problem on my Vista Inspiron 1720. It was terrible when the notebook was new last October, but I was having worse problems with my cursor inadvertently picking up chunks of open windows and moving them somewhere else on the screen or opening applications etc. I managed to improve things by tweaking the touchpad settings but I never got it right and, eventually, Dell swapped out the touchpad. The new one is much better and I don't seem to get the cursor jumps any more. It (the cursor) still occasionally seems rather unresponsive, though.

Thanks, Durdie.  I've tried changing the touchpad settings and it hasn't helped.  I also read an article in the Dell self-help area and I went all the recommended steps.  It's just as bad as ever.  Even typing this reply, my cursor has jumped back to a prior insertion point at least 5 times.

Also, I do have the problem with apps opening, apparently because the cursor has jumped there, and I've hit enter at the end of a paragraph. 

I guess I'll have to contact Dell for a replacement touchpad.  ARGH!  I spent way too much money on this system for it to be causing me so much aggravation.

Sounds like you did get lucky!  Albeit, it took six months to get the touchpad replaced.  Another thing Dell said in their email to me was that when you're typing, if your hand even comes near the touchpad, it is likely to act up.  I was surprised they took this position, since my dh has used Dell laptops for many years without this weird problem, and my 9 year old son has a macbook with a touchpad, which he has used for 2+ years, with no similar problem.  I have observed his little hands brushing against the touchpad while he types, and he still doesn't have this aggravation.

It's very annoying and frustrating to know that it could take Dell six months to fix this problem.  Tonight I am going to try out my DVD player, since I haven't done so yet.  In fact, there are a lot of features I have not yet tried.  Guess I'd better get busy, so I can get everything corrected at once.

Last night, I posted more comments with the intention of comparing notes with you but I included a link containing my service tag etc, so the moderators deleted it. (Sorry, Dell, I'll try not to do that again :smileysad:). I'll have another go tonight.

As I said, my last posting was deleted because my service tag showed in the hyperlink in the Dell response. I've changed it below, hopefully so it now confirms to forum rules; it leads to essentially the same place. Hope you can make sense of it. New readers start here :smileyhappy: ................

This was the original response I got:

__________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for contacting Dell Hardware E-Support.

I will be assisting you with your Dell Inspiron 1720 running on Windows Vista operating system.

I understand from your email that you have been facing issue with the touchpad of the system. Sometimes, the cursor jumps itself to another location. Please do not worry; I will take care of the issue.

In order to resolve this issue I would suggest you to update the system touchpad driver once using the link provided to you below: -

http://support.ap.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=nz&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R165804&SystemID=WRK_NBK_PNT_P4_M4300&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=14029&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=17&fileid=223709 {hyperlink changed to protect the innocent}

Once you install the driver from the link provided to you below, you need to restart the system. After system restarts, check if the issue still persists. If the issue still persists, perform the following steps: -

1. Click the Start button, in the open search box type control panel and hit enter. The Control Panel window will appear.
2. Double-click the Mouse icon. The Mouse Properties window will appear.
3. Click the Touch tab.
4. Drag the Touch Sensitivity towards Heavy Touch and the Palm Check towards Maximum.
5. Click Apply and click OK.

This should fix the issue. Please perform the steps given above and reply back if the issue still remains the same. I will be glad to assist you once again.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to assist you. Your case number for this interaction is 523102318. Please keep this number for your records; it will help us keep track of this issue so we can better assist you if you have any further questions or concerns about your issue.

Thank you again for contacting Dell Hardware E-Support.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Nothing in that advice seemed to help matters, though I did get a subsequent message saying that by PalmCheck they meant TouchCheck. Not a peep about not going near the touchpad when I was typing.

Incidentally, my DVD problem was that Dell MediaDirect would not play films though Windows Media Center would.

Out of interest, my main concerns so far, apart from the DVD and touchpad issues, have been what I see as poor webcam picture quality, buffer overrun error on boot up, inability of the wi-fi to connect to a modem/router using WPA-PSK security and the fact that, when the lid is shut, a paperclip could easily gain entry and damage the screen. Any of these seem familiar to you? I still have the webcam issue; I might even still have the wi-fi problem - it's about time I revisited that one."

Here's some great irony for you:  when I was scrolling through the thread, the cursor jumped over and selected "Solution" on your post.  So it now appears that my problem has been solved.  :-0   Of course, it hasn't been!

When I go to control panel and Mouse Properties, I do not even have a tab for Touchpad, so I'm getting even more frustrated.  Any idea why I wouldn't have a tab for Touchpad?  How can I adjust the sensitivity if my computer doesn't even seem to know I have a touchpad?

As for the other issues, honestly, I only use the laptop at night at home and haven't had a chance to check out most features yet.  I will keep you posted, though.

Thanks again for all your input.

That's the problem!  When I get to the mouse properties display, there is no Dell Touchpad tab!  I also have an external Logilech mouse, which I bought from Dell with the laptop (matching color - Green), and only the mouse appears in the mouse properties display.  It is not connected.

By the way, I'm still having the problem with the insertion point!

UPDATE:  I uninstalled my external Logitech mouse (which Dell sold me as compatible with the laptop), then found the driver for the touchpad and reinstalled it.  Now, I can at least access the touchpad settings when I click on Mouse in Control Panel.  I changed the sensitivity, and, while typing this message, the cursor has only jumped once (when typing the third line, it jumped up to the first line). I could actually live with it this way, but I don't think I should have to!  I've changed the touchpad setting such that tapping on the touchpad is practically entirely disabled; I have to use the buttons.  It's less frustrating than the previous situation, at least.