Mouse cursor moves on its own.

Question

I have an inspiron 8600. For the past couple of weeks the cursor wanders all over the screen, usually towards one of the edges. It is difficult to control. I have a logitech mouse connected to the USB. However I have disconnectd this mouse, but the same thing happens with the touchmap and the pointer. Can anybody help? alizarin

cademetz · Answer

As a temporary fix, have you tried disabling the touchpad?

alizarin · Answer

Thanks for your reply. How do I disable the touchpad. will I still be able to use an external mouse? Alizarin

cademetz · Answer

Assuming the Touchpad drivers have been installed, open the 'Mouse' control panel. There should be a tab there which allows you to disable the touchpad. This should not affect any external mice. There is one thing to note: if your 8600 does NOT have the little blue thumbstick on the keyboard, you may not be able to disable the touchpad. If you are unable to disabled the touchpad through the mouse control panel, you can disable it via the device manager.

alizarin · Answer

if your 8600 does NOT have the little blue thumbstick on the keyboard, you may not be able to disable the touchpad.

Yes, it does have the thumbstick.
I will try your suggestion and hope it works. If not, what other options are there?
thanks again
alizarin

alizarin · Answer

i DISABLED THE TOUCHPAD BUT THIS STILL DOESN'T RESOLVE THE PROBLEM. WHAT NEXT? Alizarin

cademetz · Answer

Since you do have the blue thumbstick, try disabling the thumbstick. The software will not let you disable both the touchpad and the thumbstick (for obvious reasons) so re-enable the touchpad and disable the thumbstick. I would THINK one of the two is causing problems.

LorinP13 · Answer

Hi I've been having the same problem on my Inspiron 4000.  My brother told me it was the pointing stick, not the touch pad that was the problem.  Disabling that seemed to work.  On a related note.  The computer tech people at work recently updated my computer.  Now my pointing stick is enabled again, and my mouse moves on its own again, but I can't disable it.  When I go into my mouse control panel, I can't switch between my touch pad and pointing stick options and most of the other options are unabled to be accessed (ie you can't change the settings or click on them).  It wasn't like this a month ago.  Does anyone know what happened and how to fix it? Thanks

AussieChris · Answer

LorinP13,

It was a common problem on the I4000. There is a new keyboard that will fix it. Another fix is to cut the cable to the touchstick, and insulate both ends.

Regards Chris

alizarin · Answer

I disabled the thumbstick and this seems to have resolvedd the problem. Thanks. alizarin

FarazAbbas · Answer

Yea, i have also been having the same problem. Usually, disabling the track stick will stop the cursor from moving by itself, but now the cursor moves strangely when i use the touchpad. It doesnt move smoothly, and it lags a bit. I think i have to get a new trackstick.

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