Screwy laptop keyboard

[steveak]

Wife is screaming in frustration, so maybe somebody has some ideas.

When typing, the keyboard on her computer sends the cursor moving randomly all over the place. Most typically, of course, this happens when using her Gmail account, as she does the most typing with email.

But it also happens when typing in website addresses, in password forms, etc.

Sometimes the cursor goes up or back some lines to a new position and this deletes all of the typing past that point. It does not do it all the time, however, and there is no telling when it will happen.

Computer: AVA Direct custom built, purchased approximately 5 years ago. Vista, 2GB memory. It has a touchpad, but she's using a USB wireless mouse. Batteries in the mouse are always fresh, replaced when old.

Could it be the wireless system? (I forget what wireless mouse this is; I'm writing from work right now.)

Uninstall and reinstall the mouse?

New mouse?

 

[Ripster55]

New tech savvy wife?

Wait until you get home and start plugging in new HW to isolate the problem. Then the whole driver isolation drill.

Reboot usually fixes my wife's problems but she has good karma. That and she keeps turning on stickeykeys.

 

[Ponder]

Are we talking flash text cursor or the mouse cursor?

If it is the text cursor then likely the problem is the keyboard needs to be cleaned or replaced.

If we are talking the Mouse pointer/cursor then the mouse or trackpad is likely broken. Remove the mouse and try a new one. If it was just moving the pointer and is optical/laser clean the optics. The problem here is that it is deleting things etc which implies the mouse is dead. Simply remove the mouse and replace with a new one. Normally best to have a spare mouse just for this reason. Allows you to buy them when they are onsale versus rushing out and possibly paying full price. When you start using the spare mouse look for a deal on a new one. Normally less cost then buying one mouse at full price. Five year old mice tend to act this way.

The wild cards are trackpad, drivers/software or other hardware. I would focus on them after ruling out the mouse and keyboard.

 

[Fix Me]

If you're saying the keyboard has a touchpad or the touchpad is anywhere near her wrists and it's not being used, disable it. Updating the drivers may fix it if it's needed. I've seen that kind of behavior before and it's always wrists brushing against the touchpad.