I would recommend running diagnostics on that system to verify the functionality of that hardware. To run the diagnostics, boot the system with the Dell Diagnostics diskette in the floppy drive, select Run Specific Test, and run the pointing device test by highlighting that test and pressing Enter twice. If the test fails, the hardware may be nonfunctional and need to be replaced or repaired.

NOTE: If you have the diagnostic CD instead of diskette(s), go into the system BIOS and set the boot order to CD-ROM first. Then boot with the diagnostic CD in the CD-ROM drive.

I'm experiencing ther same problem of a drifting cursor. I'm in a corporate environment and don't have the Diagnostics disk. The company tech support staff made a service call and ran the full set of diagnostics with no errors found. (We paid special attention to the fan and pointer tests.) I suspect an overtemperature problem is the cause. At one point the cursor drifted offscreen and couldn't be retrieved. I shut down the computer and let it cool for 30 minutes, after which it operated normally. (The fan does come on and at times runs for a very long time.) On this occasion, the underside of the laptop was warmer than I've ever felt it.

At this point, the problem seems to be intermittent. I can run for a full day with no occurrences or have multiple momentary instances of drift or the pronounced zoom offscreen condition.

Have there been any reports of overheating, fan failure or bad motherboards for this model?

Gary Cohen

DELL-Cynthia wrote:
- I would recommend running diagnostics on that system
- to verify the functionality of that hardware. To run
- the diagnostics, boot the system with the Dell
- Diagnostics diskette in the floppy drive, select Run
- Specific Test, and run the pointing device test by
- highlighting that test and pressing Enter twice. If
- the test fails, the hardware may be nonfunctional
- and need to be replaced or repaired.
-
- NOTE: If you have the diagnostic CD instead of
- diskette(s), go into the system BIOS and set the
- boot order to CD-ROM first. Then boot with the
- diagnostic CD in the CD-ROM drive.
-
-

---

-
-

I've been able to duplicate the problem by quickly tapping on the pointer stick (J-mouse). If done fast and hard enough, the mouse will take on a mind of it's own. It drifts around the screen; or gets stuck in the corner, etc.

I've yet to find a good solution to this problem...

gmcohen wrote:
- I'm experiencing ther same problem of a drifting
- cursor. I'm in a corporate environment and don't
- have the Diagnostics disk. The company tech support
- staff made a service call and ran the full set of
- diagnostics with no errors found. (We paid special
- attention to the fan and pointer tests.) I suspect
- an overtemperature problem is the cause. At one
- point the cursor drifted offscreen and couldn't be
- retrieved. I shut down the computer and let it cool
- for 30 minutes, after which it operated normally.
- (The fan does come on and at times runs for a very
- long time.) On this occasion, the underside of the
- laptop was warmer than I've ever felt it.
-
- At this point, the problem seems to be intermittent.
- I can run for a full day with no occurrences or
- have multiple momentary instances of drift or the
- pronounced zoom offscreen condition.
-
-
- Have there been any reports of overheating, fan
- failure or bad motherboards for this model?
-
- Gary Cohen
-
- DELL-Cynthia wrote:
-- I would recommend running diagnostics on that system
-- to verify the functionality of that hardware. To run
-- the diagnostics, boot the system with the Dell
-- Diagnostics diskette in the floppy drive, select Run
-- Specific Test, and run the pointing device test by
-- highlighting that test and pressing Enter twice. If
-- the test fails, the hardware may be nonfunctional
-- and need to be replaced or repaired.
--
-- NOTE: If you have the diagnostic CD instead of
-- diskette(s), go into the system BIOS and set the
-- boot order to CD-ROM first. Then boot with the
-- diagnostic CD in the CD-ROM drive.
--
--

---

--
--
-
-
-
-
-


gmcohen wrote:
- I'm experiencing ther same problem of a drifting
- cursor. I'm in a corporate environment and don't
- have the Diagnostics disk. The company tech support
- staff made a service call and ran the full set of
- diagnostics with no errors found. (We paid special
- attention to the fan and pointer tests.) I suspect
- an overtemperature problem is the cause. At one
- point the cursor drifted offscreen and couldn't be
- retrieved. I shut down the computer and let it cool
- for 30 minutes, after which it operated normally.
- (The fan does come on and at times runs for a very
- long time.) On this occasion, the underside of the
- laptop was warmer than I've ever felt it.
-
- At this point, the problem seems to be intermittent.
- I can run for a full day with no occurrences or
- have multiple momentary instances of drift or the
- pronounced zoom offscreen condition.
-
-
- Have there been any reports of overheating, fan
- failure or bad motherboards for this model?
-
- Gary Cohen
-
- DELL-Cynthia wrote:
-- I would recommend running diagnostics on that system
-- to verify the functionality of that hardware. To run
-- the diagnostics, boot the system with the Dell
-- Diagnostics diskette in the floppy drive, select Run
-- Specific Test, and run the pointing device test by
-- highlighting that test and pressing Enter twice. If
-- the test fails, the hardware may be nonfunctional
-- and need to be replaced or repaired.
--
-- NOTE: If you have the diagnostic CD instead of
-- diskette(s), go into the system BIOS and set the
-- boot order to CD-ROM first. Then boot with the
-- diagnostic CD in the CD-ROM drive.
--
--

---

--
--
-
-
-
-
-

I had the same problem. I noticed that pressing on the case about two fingers to the right of the touchpad (where the heel of the right hand rests while typing) I could reproduce the problem. Guy at technical support suggested i tighten down the screws on the underside of the case. this has not solved the problem but it has improved it considerably.

I also have same problem when undocked and have tried the following:

Tried using ps/2 mouse - still happens
Restarted w2k in safe mode - still happens
Upgrade the bios to A17 and mouse driver to a10 - no luck
Tighten all screws - no luck
Had the touchpad assembly replaced by Dell - no luck
Had Dell technician tighten all screws - no luck
The Dell technician alluded to the eraser pointer causing problems, but there is no way to disable that with the a10 driver (see below)

I can also confirm that by pressing near the touchpad where the right wrist rests during typing recreates the problem.

I have looked in the Settings - Control Panel - Mouse (using the a10 driver) for some way to disable the eraser pointer, but that setting doesn't exist. If I disable the touchpad, my ps/2 mouse doesn't even work.

I unfortunately don't have any answers, but thought that I would share some of the ideas that I have tried that have not worked. Hopefully this will save some of you from additional troubleshooting that has not worked for me...

I have the same problem with the c810, the pointer moving itself only when the cooling fans started, when stoped the problem stoped (check for this). Result: go directly to the nearest service for repair.

Hello Fellow "Possessed Mouse Pointer" Friends,

I thought that I would check in today to see if everyone is still having problems and it seems that our list of affected users is growing.

I have been able to solve my problem by doing the following sequences:

1. Update to latest drivers
a. Mouse = TPA10w2k.exe
b. Bios = c600-a17.exe
2. Unplug any mouse attached via ps/2 or serial
a. Restart laptop if mouse was attached after unplugging it
3. Disable the pointer stick via the mouse properties
a. Start - Settings Contol Panel - Mouse
b. Go to the "Touch" Tab
c. Without a mouse attached, you should be able to disable the pointer stick, while still having the touchpad enabled.
4. Reboot and test

I have had no issues after performing the above sequence. Everytime that I have attached a ps/2 mouse to my c600, I have problems. I have written up the problem to be associated with the pointer stick. I have NOT been able to tell if the fan is on or off at any points, but I can assure everyone that I have seen the problem immediately on first bootup of the morning with a ps/2 mouse attached (read: fan probably not on yet). Fortunately for me, the c600 has a relatively quiet fan and it only comes on very rarely.

Just to assure everyone that the problem is not associated with the touchpad itself, I have had it replaced by Dell. Also, the problem was able to be reproduced the afternoon that the Dell technician left my desk by pressing on the right wristrest or by slightly heavy typing near the H,J, U, N area on the keyboard.

I hope that this helps someone, as I have had no problems now that I have limited by pointing device to the touchpad only.

If anyone would like to reach me to discuss further, please click on my name in the Posted By area and drop me an email.

Thank you and good luck,
Jason

I am using BIOS version A21, Synaptics version 6.0.20, A04. Windows XP Professional. I can always duplicate the problem. I would like to know whether everyone can duplicate as I do.

Put four finger horizontally at the right of touchpad. Apply enough force and you will see the mouse pointer moving up-right.

However, this procedure only apply when the pointing stick is enable. If the pointing stick is disable, then the procedure does not work.

Has anyone experienced this problem with a C800? We've updated the drivers, bios, but still having problems. Any ideas appreciated!

I've got this too. In fact two others in the office are getting it as well. I've a C600, there's another C600 and there's also a Inspiron doing it. It's driving us all quite mad. I've followed the steps outlined in the possible fixes listed in here, to no avail. I'm running R42157 (ver 6.2.14 Apr02) drivers and A21 BIOS with Windows XP. I've a 1GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM. I'm using the dock's NIC. I have a USB hub, printer, scanner, a Palm IIIC with serial dock. I use a Dell 21" P1110 monitor, Dell QuietKey keyboard, and a MS Intellimouse Optical via the PS2 port.

It happens intermittently, so far only when docked in the standard dock. I can't disable the pointer when it's docked as it doesn't appear in the control panel for the Synaptics Touchpad. I've undocked the C600 and done it there, restarted outside of the dock, shut down, docked and the system booted normally, but then after a while it's back.

Solar flare activity? Poltergeists? Should I try an exorsist?

I've had the same problem on my inspiron 4100, but only really bad in the past month. not sure why it took so long to manifest, I had the machine for just under a year now. barely two months of warranty left to get this fixed.

if you update to the latest synaptics drivers you can disable the pointing stick and use solely the touchpad. unfortunately, for fast typists and keyboard maniacs, the pointing stick is far more convenient than the touch pad since you don't have to remove your fingers from the proper keys in order to mouse.

with the pointing stick disabled you will not have a problem with erratic movement. but I really like the stick, so I need to get this fixed.

It's now fixed!

I called Dell Support in Australia, gave them my service tag no. and the next day there was a guy downstairs with a replacement track-pad. I sat there and watched this guy fly through the replacement going hell for leather like he's done this a million times before. It's been perfect ever since. Impressive, no?

Now I just got to get EXPLORER.EXE to stop using 100% of my CPU resources now that I'm running XP. When I use the Start menu to navigate my HDDs, sometimes it gets EXPLORER.EXE a little flustered, where it will use 100% of the CPU and keep doing so until I force the process to exit (!!!) and then start it again manually (!!!!). I've found that I might need to do this about 3 times a day. XP's caused nothing but pain and anguish. I've done about 12 Win2K installations on all sorts of b*stard combination systems, but an bog standard OEM laptop, I can't get this pig to behave... Sigh!

Thanks for your replies to my calls for help with the trackpad...

em

got same problem - but loading the synaptics drivers did not disable my stick - dell 600
In fact I cant - anybody know how?

I have the exact problem with my C600.  Did you fix yours and if so, how.

Thanks,

Fletchlu

Nice to see I am not alone, or is it ? I have recently purchase 30 DELL Latitude units and all exhibit this fault. It looks to me to be a case issue. Pressure applied near to the mouse pad causes mouse pointer float sometimes to the extreme. Come on DELL lets have a solution