touchpad and mouse behave erratically

I installed Windows XP on my Inspiron 4000 and since then I only had trouble with the laptop. The most recent one is that the touchpad have become unusable, the pointer drifts slowly to either side of the screen and recovers very hard or not at all. It used to drift every day, then every hour, now it drifts every minute (assuming that it recovers...today it was in this state almost continually). I have updated the touchpad driver and the BIOS, both from the Dell website, no difference.
It seems to work for a few minutes when I turn on the computer then it goes crazy. The mouse does not respond whatsoever when the pointer is in this "drifting mode". I read in this forum one user's suggestion about pressing down firmly the sides and center of the touchpad with the flat side of the fingernail, I did that and it seems to work, pointer is stable and responds to commands (for now). I cannot find the "moodpad" menu though in Win XP to check the sensitivity of the pad. Can anybody help me find it please ?
Also in the "System Information" (components->input->pointing device) the status of the touchpad says "degraded". Is there something I can do like unmounting it and cleaning it from underneath ?
If worst comes to worst, I would like to deactivate the touchpad and use the mouse alone. How do I "separate" the two of them ? Right now they are set to be used together and sure enough I can't use either one...

Thanks a lot for any suggestion !
Miki

Responses(4)

billwhite

2 Posts

0

February 27th, 2004 17:00

I'm also having a Synaptics TouchPad problem. I've had the Inspiron 1100 (very standard build) since about August '03 and it's been quite successful for my intent. However, a couple (few) months ago the touchpad starting acting erratically, jittering about, not following my control and now recently it will stall in some random position and refuse to move again. Escape will sometimes help to release the stall but eventually that fails and as of today, nothing but a reboot will get it moving again.

I've tried various Synaptics settings to my wits end, I've restored defaults, tried the ten second kill switch and I've updated the Synaptics driver from the Dell download site. Even that fails and has to shut down, returning me to 'standard drivers' which revert to the same symptoms as above. I downloaded FlashBIOS and tried to install but got a message that it was 'not a supported system' and only offered a cancel.

At this time, I'm trying to create a document as a reply to an issue at hand and the cursor is in the above 'stalled' mode and just won't move again. Now, I've got to manually manipulate the instructions to save my work, exit and again shut down the computer. This message is being created on my 3 year old desktop ships anchor.

I need resolution. Positive resolution, not some we don't know but try this and call us in the morning. I'm ready to convert the 1100 into a TV tray and get something.......

nick_pent

2 Posts

0

March 4th, 2004 16:00

I am having the exact same issue with the touchpad on my Inspiron 5100 with O/S windows XP. Got the laptop in Sept/03, worked great for about 4 months, since then the problems with the touch pad have gotten worse. I'm think about getting an optical mouse. I've been on the phone with Dell support a number of times, reinstalling drivers, flashing bios, nothing has worked yet. Dell really needs to address this issue, or I'll never buy another Dell product!

DB

DELL-BobT

3.1K Posts

0

March 4th, 2004 18:00

nick_pent,

Remove the system from the docking station, if applicable.
Determine if there have been any recent hardware or software configuration changes.
Disconnect external peripherals.
Upgrade to or reinstall the latest touchpad drivers.
Flash / Upgrade the BIOS.
Change the sensitivity settings for the pointing device.
Apply pressure to the right of the touchpad.
Disable the touch-pad.
- Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
- Double-click the Mouse icon.
- The Mouse Properties window appears.
- Click the Device Settings tab.
- Click to highlight Pointing Stick and click Disable.
- Click OK.

Further troubleshooting ideas can be found in the following knowledge base articles:

One more idea, often third-party mouse drivers can cause performance issues with the system's touchpad. If you are using an external mouse and it requires additional drivers, I would suspect that these drivers are likely conflicting with those for the touch-pad. You should remove the drivers for both pointing devices and then reinstall those for the mouse that you wish to use.

If these ideas fail, then you should consider contacting Dell Support for a solution.

B

blackblackhamme

65 Posts

0

March 9th, 2004 08:00

*******************************************

Hi, I have an inspiron 8000.

This notebook has a pointing stick + touchpad.

I WAS experiencing eratic cursor behaviour.

The HARDWARE problem(s) was RESOLVED by Dell under Part Only Warranty as follows:

"The WANDERING OFF BY ITSELF mouse POINTING ARROW problem":
Replacing my apparently faulty palm rest assembly (part number 9C938 A00) with the latest part number 06G500 rev A05 in June 2003 solved the cursor racing over the screen all the way to e.g. the corner of the screen problem.
(I think part 06G500 is for both the i8000 and the i8100.)

"cursor jumping around when typing" aka "erratic mouse self clicking" aka "random cursor jumps" problem:
A few months later,
replacing my apparently faulty keyboard (part number 03609Y rev A00) with the latest part number 03609Y rev A03 in December 2003 solved the unintentional jumping of the active cursor to other parts of the word processor whilst typing problem (aka "ghost clicks" or "cursor jumping" problem).

Cursor works fine now.

IN GENERAL:
-Run the Dell diagnostics and see if a hardware problem is located.

-The pointing stick nub between the g and h keys may be stuck - wiggle it a couple times

-Adjust the sensitivity of the mouse in the Mouse entry in the Device Manager. Drag the Touch Sensitivity towards Heavy Touch and the Palm Check towards Maximum.

-Disable the pointing stick for a few days, if the problem is gone the keyboard may need replacing or cables are not properly connected.
If the problem is not gone the palm rest unit may need replacing or cables are not properly connected.

Contact Dell Tech Support.
I think Dell gives great service.

Hereby 2 links on the "cursor jumping around when typing" aka "erratic mouse self clicking" aka "random cursor jumps" subject that may be related:

LINK: http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_input&message.id=16253.

LINK: http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_input&message.id=16425.

For those interested in a link on "The WANDERING OFF BY ITSELF mouse POINTING ARROW problem" see:

LINK: http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_input&message.id=12447.

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touchpad and mouse behave erratically