Jumping Cursor - Help Appreciated !!

I am having a problem with my 9 month old Dell XPS 1530. When I type for a while (a paragraph or so) the cursor will inadvertently “jump” from the end of the sentence where I am typing to somewhere in the middle of the paragraph. This is a real annoyance and at first I thought I might be hitting a key on the keyboard causing this. However, I gave the laptop to my father in law and had him use it for a short while. He experienced the same thing at least 6 times over the period of 10 minutes. I guess I’m going to have to call Dell, but I was wondering if anyone here has ever been plagued with such an issue.

Thanks.

 

Are you sure you're not accidentally tapping the touchpad?
Disable the touchpad and see if the issue occurs.

 

What is the easiest way to disable it? I don't really see a reference to it in the device manager.

 

Start > Control Panel > Mouse

There should be a tab pertaining to the touchpad.

 

Unfortunately I do not see any such tab. I am really wondering if my thumb has been hitting the touchpad though, and would like to (dis)prove it by disabling it. Any other suggestions?

Thanks again.

 

Control paned > mouse > device settings > highlight touchpad > click disable

That is the path for both my gateway and HP. Probably the same for a Dell.

 

I assume from this description that "Device Settings" should be a tab in "Mouse". There is no such tab. The available tabs are "buttons", "pointers", "pointer options", "wheels", "hardware", "bluetooth", "set point settings".

 

Hey there!
I'm looking at my 1530 right now...you can either disable your *touchpad* from your taskbar from the *Dell Touchpad* icon:
Go to > Device Select > It will show *Touchpad* and *Touchpad Buttons* with the option to *Enable or Disable*.
Simply *click* what options you want from there, click ok..and you should be good to go.

Or, access thru: Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Mouse > Click *Dell Touchpad* > *Device Select* > and Enable or Disable (as shown above).

Hope that helps!

Cin

 

Thanks Cin, but there is no "Hardware and Sound" option and no icon in the taskbar for the touchpad. I now am wondering if I need to reinstall the drivers for the touchpad as I would think that my explain some of this.

 

Are you viewing your Control Panel in Classic View, by chance?

If, so try: Control Panel > Mouse > Dell Touchpad (should be the first tab option on the left) (It will show: Dell Touchpad, Buttons, Pointer, Pointer Options, Wheel, Hardware)

Now, Click on Dell Touchpad, it then brings up the Touchpad Options (4 of them) you want Device Select...where it give you the 2 options of enabling or disabling.


Cin

 

Okay folks. The touchpad drivers needed to be reinstalled. Drivers have been reinstalled now and I have disabled it and should know soon if this is the reason for my "jumping cursor". Thanks for all the help!!

 

Ok, good luck to you! Keep us advised on it! Having that Touchpad option is a nice way of being able to *control* things when and how you want to!

I had done a quick print screen of what the TouchPad setting would look like under Mouse Properties for you:


and, here is the second part: (Dell Touchpad)




Cin

 

I'll be curious as to the result. I've had the same issue on my M1530 since installing Windows 7. It never occurred under Vista. I'll be typing along and I'll glance at the screen to see that I'm typing in the middle of the paragraph. No reason at all. And no way I'm hitting the touchpad.

I dismissed it as a Windows 7 driver issue, but maybe not.

 

Well, preliminary testing has not reproduced the problem now that the touchpad has been disabled. Although the results are certainly not yet conclusive, it does appear that it may have been the touchpad. It is rather odd. This is possibly my fifth laptop and they have all been the same size (15.4") and the location of the touchpad does not differ much from one machine to the next - and I have never before run into this problem. As a result, I would have dismissed the touchpad as being related to the problem, but I must admit it may be just that. Perhaps my thumbs are growing.

 

Well, it still could be the touchpad malfunctioning as opposed to you actually hitting it. Your disabling it would eliminate the issue either way, no?

 

While I suppose a malfunctioning touchpad would indeed yield a similar result, I don't know how likely it is.

 

Yeah, disable the stupid touchpad options. The motions, circles, etc. just don't work for me. Also, clean your touchpad... I noticed that over time, oils, and buildup that is hard to see on top, screw up the sensor.

 

If you have driver issues and want a good solid independent program that has worked very well for me and others in the past, get TouchFreeze

http://code.google.com/p/touchfreeze/

it actually works better than my drivers palm detection.