Cursor Jumps all over screen

[badger906]

While its probably software related I'm going to throw in a curve ball. Does it happen only when plugged into the mains!?

My old man had a faulty charger causing it to earth intermittently. This would cause the curser to be all over the place at time and other it would just lag. I tried everything I could think of when it came to drivers and setting as well as taking it apart.

A light bulb moment struck and remembered he had a charger issue a few weeks before, tired one of my spare and problem solved that still rates highest in my list of pain in the ass fixes that wasn't broken lol.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

 

[bwv565]

OK I resolved the issue (I hope). I noticed that even though I had disabled the TouchPad (showing as ALPS in Device Manager), I had also disabled the icon from the system tray (I'm using Vista), so it wasn't showing in order to configure. I went to customize desktop and selected the checkbox next to the Touchpad in order to show it in the system tray.

Still having problems, so Googled the name of the touchpad and downloaded the latest drivers, installed them.

Then the "control panel" for the touchpad is enabled off of the system tray icon and I was able to disable the offending hardware (I never use it anyway).

So far, so good. I'll keep an eye on it, but this is a good thread, I'm grateful for all suggestions here!

 

[bwv565]

While its probably software related I'm going to throw in a curve ball. Does it happen only when plugged into the mains!?

Interesting point. My Dell laptop is always connected to the power source, so I've never thought to check into that option, but I will do so as soon as I get home (will re-enable the touchpad and remove the charger to see if that exhibits the same behavior!).

Who knew?

 

[pazamor]

pazamor

With my older HP laptop running XP Pro I never ever had a skipping cursor problme. I have a new ACER with Windows 7 Pro and it is entirely frustrating to use Word, because the cursor has a mind of its own. Tried all the fixes suggested on online forums, tried working it out with ACER through some Indian dude who just wanted to send links about how to completely restore my computer to factory settings--not on. Tried for the past five months to work it out with Microsoft and have had emails and registered letters to their Redmond HQ ignored. Finally wrote to the Washington State AG Consumer office last month. MS wrote that I must work it out with ACER. Round and round the mulberry bush the monkey chased the weasel--Microsoft in this instance. I am going to ask a mate's assistance to install my retail copy of XP Pro (several years old but still with one license remaining) on my ACER. I despise Windows 7 for many reasons other than just the cursor problem. XP Pro was a good workhorse. If any of you folks have an inside track to Microsoft management please advise so all of us can unite on this one.

 

[SingleMalt64]

Toshiba Tecra R850 i7 with Windows 7 Pro

Solved the problem disabling the touch pad. In the system tray, there is a touch pad icon, double click it and an Advanced Feature Settings panel will show up. Click the Others tab and check the checkbox that says Touch Pad and Accu Point are automatically invalidated, under the USB mouse connection fieldset. Even though I use a bluetooth mouse it still detected it and disabled the touch pad.
Thanks so much for the suggestions.

 

[truckinguy]

I had the same issue. It would jump every 3 seconds 3 or 4 inches by itself. With my hands off the Dell E6520 totally. This wasn't like this until recently..I've had the notebook for almost a year now so I figured it must be something I installed or virus etc.
I cured it it seems. Not sure what I did as I did a lot of stuff at once because of the irratation it gave me. I uninstalled the Touch Pad software in Add Remove Programs. Also I ran Malwarebytes which detected alot of stuff and had it removed. Ran it twice and found 3 more items.. reinstalled the Touch Pad with the Driver/Software that came with my new notebook (Dell had the old driver as well as newest) and this seemed to fix it so far. Also in the Touch Pad settings I backed off on some stuff like less sensitiveity,scrolling but kept the cursor speed up. So far so good.

 

[sks1282]

Install updated driver for touchpad

I have a Dell Latitude E6400, Win 7, 64 bit.

I installed the updated drivers from : Drivers | Synaptics

I was able to fix the problem right away.

 

[truckinguy]

I have a Dell Latitude E6400, Win 7, 64 bit.

I installed the updated drivers from : Drivers | Synaptics

I was able to fix the problem right away.

I tried this and it doesn't work nearly as good on my Dell 6520. I find installing the older driver at Dells driver site works great.

I should try the newer one again as It may have been Malware. During this problem I ran Malware and found alot of items infecting. I usually don't have those items.

 

[kgkicker]

similar issue with windows 7

I'm seeing an issue where windows pop between my 3 screens. I have windows 7 enterprise 32 bit on a dell E6410 laptop. i am using a docking station, driving one monitor via DVI, and another through a USB-VGA converter (only way i could figure out to use 3 monitors). I'm using a separate keyboard through the docking station.

Anyway, the problem I'm having is that every once in awhile, if I type 1, 2, or 3 on the main keypad (not the number-only keypad to the right with num-lock on), the active window will jump to monitor 1, 2, or 3. I think I may have killed it just by hitting the windows button, but I'm not sure. Something strange is happening that I haven't resolved yet. It doesn't happen all the time and I'm not sure what triggers it to start happening or stop happening.

 

[tonyw]

Consider cause is a driver confilict

I've tried adjusting the mouse and touch pad sensitivities. I really think the jumping cursor is a driver conflict. I have a brand new laptop and methodically installed the drivers one by one, attaching the hardware as I went. The laptop worked just fine for a few days then on installing one particular program I messed up the SQL 2005 server so needed to restore the laptop to a previous image that did not have the hardware drivers yet installed. I made the mistake of dropping the laptop into the docking bay. All the hardware was connected to the docking bay and Windows 7 started to load the drivers by itself. That's when the jumping cursor problem started.

It took about a week of reading forums, removing and re-installing drivers and hardware. Finally I'm back to work again with a stable laptop. I narrowed it down by trial and error to a conflict between a Wacom pen tablet driver and the driver for a Microsoft LifeCam VX webcam. The two do not co-exist nicely however they did on my first round of installation. I have since removed the Lifecam driver and software, rebooted, and I'm on day 2 now with a stable laptop.

I know it's not my touchpad because the laptop is in a docking bay and I use an external keyboard, external Cirque Glidepoint touch pad and a Wacom Bamboo pen tablet and the laptop is on the corner of my desk, so my hands are at least 2 feet away from the touchpad on the laptop at all times. The other clue was I kept having an "unknown usb device" show up in Devices and Printers. Unplugging the LifeCam cleared the error message and icon so I suspected the camera might be related to the problem.

So if you've exhausted all the laptop touchpad fixes, consider that it may be a driver conflict. Then it's a case of trial and error to see which device it may be. I have 9 USB devices plugged into the docking bay and a 10 port USB hub, so lots of peripherals.

[added] I ran virus scan and Malaware several times and there were not keyloggers or other viruses or spyware detected. I'm pretty sure the jumping cursor was a driver conflict. My preference is to load most drivers by downloading the latest version from the manufacturer's site and installing myself rather than let Windows find them. I had no issues when I installed drivers manually. But I had issues when I accidentally let Windows find the drivers by itself.

[Added] Day 3 now and laptop running fine. Not one instance of a jumping cursor or text ending up all over the screen while typing, and no text mysteriously being selected and then overtyped. What a relief.

Good luck.

 

[truckinguy]

I don't know what I did but I haven't had an issue since last postings. I believe I might of uninstalled then installed..can't remember. I might of run malware,anti virus programs too. Plus other stuff off the web after Googleing about it.

 

[oopsmx]

I have an HP TouchSmart 520 PC that is having a problem with the cursor jumping all over the place while I am either typing or browsing, or doing nothing at all. Or it will minimise open windows/programs to the taskbar, open the clock in the bottom right hand corner or disappear to the right of the screen. It does this with both a wireless and wired mouse, and when there is no mouse connected at all. I have attempted to update all of the drivers, using driverupdate and even driver genius, but it still happens.
As this is not a laptop, there is no touchpad to accidently touch.

Any ideas?

 

[oopsmx]

Is anyone reading this post? Thought I would have had a reply by now! Same problem still existing, giving me the shits.

 

[Andy272727]

I've had the same problem for ages. EXTREMELY frustrating. And actually costing me money. I play a bit of online poker, and on one of the well known sites, when you are playing in a hand there is a tick box option to 'fast fold to any bet'. On occasions when i am about to take a big pot, but just before the other guy comes in with a final bet, guess where the cursor jumps to? Bam, the cursor has hit that button and 'folded' for me automatically, tossing away a winning hand, and a bunch of cash that should have been mine, in the process.

Sometimes the cursor seems to jump pretty randomly, sometimes it seems to be particularly 'drawn' to such tick boxes (total randmomness would mean it would hit these far less frequently than it does). I also get the same stuff everyone else has described re web browsing, word processing, etc. Frequently if i'm trying to read a web page, the cursor will jump to bottom right of vertical scroll bar and 'hit' it fast multiple times so i get zoomed way down to the bottom of the page. I manually scroll it back up and *try* to start reading again, and it just repeats.

Seems to be very little rhyme nor reason to when it misbehaves, however. Writing this just now, for example, it's doing nothing. I bought my laptop (a dell XPS L702X running windows 7 64bit) around April 2012, and for a good while this problem did not exist. It seemed to just start gradually, can't remember quite when exactly. When the free macafee anti-virus that came with the machine ran out, i uninstalled it and downloaded free avast instead. That seemed to stop it, or lessen it for a while for some reason, but gradually it has returned again.

I don't do a lot of 'work' - typing etc - on this laptop at present, so have kind of ignored the problem, but now it's starting to cost me money on poker tables, i have GOT to find a solution to this before i pull all of my hair out in sheer fury and frustration. As others have said, i am sure it is not a touchpad sensitivity issue, as my cursor can jump about when i'm not even touching the laptop. Unless there is any crap that has got in there and is somehow affecting it internally. But i'm not very techy, and would be pretty nervous about trying to open my machine up and clean it out, as someone else suggested. Likewise not to sure exactly how to go about trying to implement some of the suggested solutions on here, but i will have a go and post back on any findings/progress.

You managed to find a fix yet, oopsmx? Maybe this thread has kinda died a death now...

Sorry, rather a long and rambling post, haha.

 

[andrew129260]

For cursor jumping to dialog boxes, go to the mouse options in control panel, choose the pointer options tab and uncheck automatically move point to the default button in a dialog box.

Also, if your having problems with your mouse-replace it.

 

[Andy272727]

Many thanks for your response, Andrew. However, that option already is unchecked. This is just random cursor jumping, as described throughout this thread - although, as I already stated, it does seem not to be entirely random, as the cursor can seem to be particularly 'attracted' to buttons etc when it jumps.

Also, I don't have a mouse, I use the touch pad. That is probably the first thing I'm going to try, to get a mouse and disable the touchpad - though again, others elsewhere on this thread have said that that has not necessarily fixed it. But I will try it and repost. (On which note, any advice on best brand/models of wireless mice appreciated - though maybe I should enquire about that in a new thread...)

 

[MrWhoopee]

I have battled this issue on several laptops, some worse than others. I found no mention in this thread (or may have missed it) of TouchFreeze, a utility which disables the touchpad whenever you are typing.

TouchFreeze Free Download

I have also found that disabling "Enhance Pointer Precision" on the Pointer Options tab of Mouse Properties in the Control Panel can help a lot.

Neither of these fixes completely solved the problem on all machines, but they improved the situation a lot.

HTH

 

[kulana]

Had to completely reinstall my Samsung RV510 this year with W7HP-64bit SP1 DVD and had exactly this manifest keyboard problem. eg Random leaping cursor movement etc -

Z3r010 - thank you - upon reading your comment about touchpad drivers went to Samsung site and found at Drivers section WINDOWS 7(32BIT,64BIT), 87.91 MB, ZIP, MULTI LANGUAGE VERSION : 1.1.0.0 18 AUG, 2010 at NP-RV510I (NP-RV510-A05UK) | Support | SAMSUNG UK. Reboot and OK.

NB don't even use the touchpad on this box - use USB mouse - Have recently seen this solution logged on others sites as well.

 

[gregrocker]

Often one must install the OEM touchpad software even to use a notebook mouse. This is because there is a setting to disable the touchpad which will then appear on a tab in the Control Panel>Mouse for your specific touchpad maker to prevent the phenom of "palm drag" that causes the cursor to jump around.

Otherwise without a notebook mouse palm drag is also resolved by turning down the touchpad sensitivity until it stops as Rich discussed 3 years earlier.