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Author Topic: Geek help needed: cursor skipping problem
quidscribis
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I have a Compaq nx6120 laptop - got it last June. Today, it started having a problem with the cursor skipping around while I'm typing, which of course messes up the spelling and whatnot. I have to go back and fix it... It skips about every 4-10 characters.

I've already uninstalled and reinstalled the keyboard and touchpad drivers, but that didn't help. It's definitely not my thumb on the touchpad dragging the cursor around.

I've done a Google search, but haven't come across anything useful.

Ideas? Suggestions?

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quidscribis
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It seems to only happen in FireFox, so I'm going to assume that my profile is broken and replace it. Although, oddly enough (and here I am, jynxing it, I'm willing to bet), it's working properly again.

Huh. That was a weird three hours.

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Dagonee
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Pressure on the keyboard can trigger the touchpad even if you don't touch it, and the problem can be intermittent. See if turning it off makes the problem go way. If so, you have to decide whether the skipping around or not having a touchpad is more annoying.
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quidscribis
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It stopped.

I don't know why, but it did.

Bizarre behavior for three hours and now nothing. I just hope it doesn't happen again.

Thing is, when I type, except for the fingers that are currently pressing keys, my hands have very little other contact with the keyboard - I have a very light touch. And that's, like more than an inche away from the touchpad.

I watched it while it happened, and when it did, I had pressed on a key even further away than that, so is it still possible?

The other thing is that the cursor only ever jumped backwards, never forwards, and I was editing something for some of the time it was going wonky, so it had plenty of opportunity to. [Dont Know]

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rivka
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Is it at all possible the touchpad (or spacebar) got moisture trapped in it?
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Swampjedi
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I've had problems with Firefox doing crazy stuff with the cursor while playing Java applet games (especially Runescape). The cursor only goes backwards with me, too.

Solution - I don't play games with Firefox anymore. <cringe /> I use IE.

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quidscribis
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rivka - it's really humid here, so that's always a possibility, but if you mean in terms of spilled drinks, no. But this isn't a spacebar problem I don't think - I don't have extra spaces created after all. Oh, to reinforce the "it's humid here" point, CDs will grow fungus in a year or two here.

Swampjedi, I feel your pain. *cringes*

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