Acer Travelmate 4001LMi Trackpad/Power problem

My Acer Travelmate 4001LMi started to have the following symtoms:

(I am using this laptop with the AC charger connected and the battery installed.)

While using the trackpad (with no mouse attached), the system would freeze -- cursor stops moving, no response from any keys or the trackpad; forced shutdown by holding down the power button.

When attempting to restart, I press the power button and it illuminates for about one second, but then nothing happens and the power led turns off. I try this repeatedly, but I get the same result. Finally, the power comes on and stays on. However, at some point during the startup sequence, after the Windows XP (home) has appeared, the system freezes again.

Now, here is the weird part... if I connect a mouse to a USB port, then when it agrees to start up it works apparently normally, as long as I don't use the trackpad. After a couple of hours, if I disconnect the mouse and use the trackpad, there is no problem.

If I shut the machine off, then the power button problem is still present, whether the mouse is connected or not. When it finally powers on, as long as the mouse is connected, it works normally.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Sounds like an earth problem. Could be even a USB port problem.
Try to look in the usb port you are using for the mouse. Is it looking like the other ports - no latch free and connecting to another latch?

Does this problem happens on Battery and AC? If it only happens on AC - try another power outlet.

Try to give the notebook a little earth - grip the VGA outlet and grip something that has earth - e.g. the water outlet ...