richcornucopia Posted May 24, 2006 CID Share Posted May 24, 2006 This is something that has bothered me ever since I got this laptop. It's an omnibook 6100, kinda old but its got enough power for what I want to do with a laptop. The problem is that sometimes the mouse seems to move by itself, like it will drift in one direction so it's very hard to click on anything because you have to over compensate for the moving cursor. Generally the drifting seems to begin after the laptop is on for awhile, could it be something with heat?(once the laptop is one for awhile it does generate some heat) Any ideas, or anyone have similar problems like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted May 24, 2006 CID Share Posted May 24, 2006 its nothing with heat, i had the exact same thing happen on my Dell Insprion 8200 a few times. for me it turned out that it was a problem with the driver for the touch pad. but to get it working normal, i had to format and start over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richcornucopia Posted May 24, 2006 Author CID Share Posted May 24, 2006 I've formatted a few times over the years. Should I try and find a different driver for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted May 24, 2006 CID Share Posted May 24, 2006 I've formatted a few times over the years. Should I try and find a different driver for it? there should be a newer drive for it. what OS are you using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richcornucopia Posted May 24, 2006 Author CID Share Posted May 24, 2006 Xp pro. Should I look on hp's website? Or should I look for a generic driver? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted May 25, 2006 CID Share Posted May 25, 2006 look for the HP driver.. I have seen somethink like that on old laptop when the touchpad is really worn in.. it just kinda moves by itself.. driver might help or the touchpad is just shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelersFANinMA Posted May 25, 2006 CID Share Posted May 25, 2006 If the driver change doesn't help, (hasn't ever helped me) maybe this info. will. I've had a Gateway Solo 5300 laptop since Jan. 2001. I get this same problem every once in a while and it's been happening for years so I don't think that it has anything to do with wear on the touchpad. The pointer just seems to float. It will even, "try" to follow my finger if I hover it over the pad. It is reproducable in the correct setting. Here's what I've found. If my hand/finger is slightly wet or moist, either from just washing or humidity, my touchpad does the same thing. I've found only two things to solve the problem. One, reboot the computer and/or two, dry my finger/hand and keep it dry. I'll assume that since this happens in the summer if the AC isn't on, or in the winter when the heat is on, and has been happening for 5 years, that it has nothing to do with any drivers. My guess is that a hot, moist hand with lots of blood flowing through it, will conduct a bit more, (static or electro-magnetic?) electricity than a cool dry hand. I believe that this is my problem and it drives the touchpad crazy. If I find that my hand is in this state for whatever reason, I blow a small fan in the area of my hand/touchpad to keep things cool and dry. It works! If after reading this and thinking about it, you find that this could probably be your problem, try drying off your finger or putting a peice of cloth, (from your shirt or sleeve) in between your finger and the touchpad and see if the pad calms down a bit. If it does, you'll probably need to reboot and then keep your hand dry for it to completely correct itself and not happen again. I'll guess that if my findings are correct and a driver is still the proper fix, that the driver may turn down the power to the touchpad enough to negate the extra electric conductivity from a hot, moist, blood filled finger/hand. PS: I've also found that if you don't have the laptop on a flat surface, a little bit of pressure in certain areas will cause the mouse to move around on it's own. This pressure usually comes from resting your hands on the laptop. Of course, this is nothing more than a physical issue and can be corrected immediately by setting the laptop on a flat surface, or making sure you don't put too much pressure on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
resopalrabotnick Posted May 25, 2006 CID Share Posted May 25, 2006 interesting observation. when i use the notebook it is usually with an external key/mouse, so the touchpad usually isn't even touched and very rarely i see the pointer just wander off into a corner. i always thought it was just sulking because of lack of use but i guess it was the touchpad (or more likely the little eraser type widget on the keyboard) doing it. if it is the eraser type piezoelectric pointing widget then i guess it would explain the constant vector the cursor gets. usually just wiggling the mouse around will reset everything to normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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