Dell Precision M6500 Problems

http://support.dell.com/

Bounce it back to the uni IT people and get them to sort it out.

I typed the model in wrong. It is a M6500. Thanks for the replies I will give them a try.

Thanks,

I'll have to get permission to make a change to the computer so if I screw it up I do not have to hide it.

That would make sense as the mouse pad is real sensitive. Also makes sense as why the wireless keyboard is not having the same problems.

Yep...accidental touchpadding.

The latest and greatest touchpads work off of capactive effect. You don't have to actually "touch" the "touchpad" in order for it to work.

Are you working in an area which encourages static electricity? Are you wearing nylon or wool and sitting in a nylon or other type plastic chair? This would increase your skin charge and encourage the overzealous touchpad to do whatever it wants. Plus, the material that the laptop is actually made from may encourage electron skimming and result in the same effect.

Of course, your laptop could just be screwy.

GA to Lyn.

Well I thought I had the video camera disabled. How did you know I was sitting here in the wifes nylons???

Jokes aside, carpeted office, nylon chair, cotton pants and cotton shirt. Same problems in shop with wood work benches, steel counter tops, and painted concrete floor. I had considered the touch pad and tried to type like playing the piano with arched wrists. Did not know the capacitive issue existed so I had ruled it out.

i have dell inspiran has same problem i have disabled the tuchpad and connected a mouse the problem is solved!

GA. There are two cursors on the screen at the same time. One marks where text is being inserted the other is the mouse (or touchpad) cursor. If you inadvertantly click the touchpad, the text insertion cursor will jump to where the mouse cursor is. Unless you use the touchpad, turn it off.

I agree with Lyn, it's probably the touchpad. I have had the same problem on 2 or 3 different laptops. Different manufacturers, different OS's even. Every time, when I disabled the touchpad the problem went away.

Anonymous Hero deserves the GA's for my answer. I was just passing along information he provided to me over a year ago.

I should get an "R" for retention.

I have downloaded the file and have been using for the last 30 minutes or so. No more problems. Granted not long enough to be totally conclusive but it sure looks like it so far. I dropped a GA your way as well. I guess if you don't want it send it to AH when his CR4 anniversary rolls around. Sort of like a birthday present.

Side note:

Funny how it also affects the wireless mouse. Could be a cool April fools joke in the office. No harm in a little fun so long as no one gets hurt and the joke is revealed in a timely manner. Of course "timely" is determined based on the person being pranked.

Thanks for the help guys. I am considering the computer fixed. This is exactly the quick fix I was hoping for. I have talked to the department chair and we are going to continue testing on my computer and then install on all laptops. Funny thing about the software. You can have it set to beep when the mouse pad is bumped or brushed while typing to let you know the action has been blocked. I thought I was being careful and not hitting any extra buttons or the mouse pad. While typing this message it as beeped 3 times. I can only imagine when I relax it will sound like a pinball machine and I will turn the beeper off. For now I want to know when the action is blocked.

Yes, I've seen it while running Windos 8 on a brand new lap-top, you can minimize it by lowering the mouse sensitivity, but what will make a remarkable difference is disable both, sideways and top SWIPE fuctions from your touchpad. Give that a try before you are forced to wait by the IT guys.

More than likely the problem is connected w/ the on board mousepad. I've dealt w/ several of these situations on behalf of subordinates who have brought their laptops to me complaining of this same issue. Most likely your left hand is touching the mousepad- ever so slightly- while you are typing.

When you are typing, the software is supposed to freeze input from the mousepad so as to prevent signal input from mousepad and keyboard simultaneously. It doesn't work- that is- it doesn't successfully freeze mousepad input because the time constant is set too low and is not user configurable. This is NOT related to the OS you are running. I have demonstrated this issue w/ everything from W/XP forward up to W/7, Vista, and everything in between. I haven't yet tested a unit w/ the new W/8.

You can try disabling the onboard mousepad if the s'ware permits, and use a separate off board mouse. Disabling the mousepad completely is not likely to be user configurable. You have already demonstrated that using an outboard keyboard & mouse resolves the problem so the contention that it is the OS is clearly wrong. Your IT guys are NOT helping you, here.

Have you shown them that using the outboard keyboard/mouse obviates the problem ??? What was their response ??? I have even seen Linux distros on laptops w/ the same issue for the same reason and solved by the same solution that you implemented. With Linux as the OS, however, much more is user configurable than w/ any windows iteration. I run Linux on 3 of my own laptops and have eliminated the problem via the terminal window & disabling the onboard mousepad. But I don't think that can be done w/ a windows OS.

So, bottom line is: find a way to disable the onboard mousepad using the s'ware (go to start, then control panel, then select mouse functionality and see if a setting there can be made to help you); or continue to use the outboard keyboard and mouse approach. This seems to be a persistent problem w/ laptops that have large size onboard mousepads and they all seem to do so.

This is the best advice I can give you.

Lyn: you will not be annoyed by my contributions any further. I'm finished here.

Not annoyed.

Just afraid you didn't read #11.

That could have saved you all that typing.

Your contributions are welcome, since it seems that you know what the problem is.

I have also purchased DELL Inspiron Model with Windows 7 loaded. I am also facing similar problem. I had to be careful while typing, I think its keyboard is very sensitive which make the cursor go backwards by slight touch of left hand fingers. If you try to control your left fingers then may be problem will get solved.

I think the problem may be that you are inadvertently touching the built-in touchpad while typing. This would cause the cursor to jump back in the text.You might want to try decreasing sensitivity or using touchpad blocker.

I've seen this a couple of times, and I don't believe it happens because of touching the mouse pad.

Supposedly you can un-check the option for hiding the mouse pointer in your hardware setting to fix this. Others have been talking about a program called touchfreeze I think. But I would say that would be more if you keep bumping your touch pad.

I thought I would give an update. Since using the touch pad blocker program I have not had any other problems with the cursor jumping around the screen. There has to be something going on besides the possibility of me touching the mouse pad as my palms rest on bottom of the key board and do not bump the mouse pad. I have paid very close attention to this. Possibly capacitive or maybe just simply a bad case design that is flexing and making a false trigger. Either way it is working fine. I have the delay set at 1/2 second. For my typing speed it is fine.

Thanks again to everyone for the help.

If you enable the "dinger" it will help you discover that you may indeed be touching the mouse pad.

I thought the same thing, but found that I really was brushing it.

But my typing is all H&P and my thumbs do flail when I type.

Dinger is on. My errors maybe more proportionate the amount of grounds in the coffee pot rather than the amount of stray electrons in the dry winter air. Still plugging along with a happy cursor.

I have been trying to get the keyboard to make a mistake and have found the left mouse button just above the mouse pad may be the culprit. As someone else had mentioned there are 2 cursors on the screen. If the pointer cursor is over a the text and I bump the left mouse pad button the typing cursor jumps to that location. If I accidentally hit it a couple of time in a row the word or phrase becomes high lighted. Then pressing the letter e it erases the word or phrase. As the left mouse button is just below the space bar it is most likely I have been hitting both at once with my thumb.