Dell Inspiron 4000 Laptop

[Melodi]

Hello:
I have a laptop that I had reformatted for someone and loaded Windows Home Edition. Before I even did this, I noticed that sometimes the mouse would drift off and become usless for 5 to 10 minutes then it would recover. Both with an external mouse and the mouse pad. It seemed to happen when a 'bigger type' job was going on, ie..burning a CD. Sounds like maybe memory or resources, but it also happens while typing in MS Word. I have it back today because the girl says the mouse thing is annoying and that the machine shuts down by itself. The battery is no good, but it is plugged into the adapter. All window updates are down, I'm using bitdefender AV on it. I have it hooked up here at work, dialed into peoplepc and i just downloaded a 3 mg file and it's been on line for over an hour and i'm not seeing any problem other than the mouse thing.
Windows Xp Home
P3 902Mh
256 ram

[Raistlfiren]

Wait are you talking about a mouse then or are you talking about a mouse pad where you have a pad to the right of you and you have pen to write? If it is a mouse try this :

My first suggestion is too download the latest drivers from the mouses home website. After doing that you may want to check the settings for the mouse by going to the Control Panel ----> Mouse, see if there is anything you maybe able to tweak to fix that. The next thing I would check out is downloading TweakUI by Windows and see if you can't change some settings in that if that is the problem. I would then suggest using the mouses on another computer too see if that has anything to do with, but it looks like you have already done that, so it sounds like there maybe a problem with the computer itself...

TweakUI

I will see if I can't come up with some more information later. This should keep you busy for right now if oyu haven't tryed any of this first...

Rat

[Mobo]

Well seeing your last issue i have to ask...Is it plugged in

[Melodi]

hmmmm It IS plugged in. I think it might be overheating. What I mean about the mouse is while either using the pad or using an external/ps2 mouse occassionally the mouse will drift off to the bottom of the screen and you can't use it for awhile. Now I found, I've had it connected to dial up for about 2.5 hours at first it was doing fine, but now it won't change pages I can no longer navigate the internet. You type in an address it will say Done at the bottom but the page never changes, and it's definately connected???

[Mobo]

Hmmm strange indeed. I would run some online scans, use the cleanup utility and get all windows updates available. Then check the power options by right clicking the nic/modem and /or wireless nic in the device manager and selecting properties/power management.

[Raistlfiren]

I believe I have the reason for your problem! Check out this website. I believe this site will give you tons of information on how to solve your problem. Read the replies to the blog! It seems a lot of people have had trouble with the DELL Inspiron mouse!

Rick Strahl's Weblog

Rat

[Melodi]

I don't suppose I could get either of you to read the 'blog' for me and summarize it? Ok, that is a bit much to ask, I'll take a looksee. Thanks for the help. I gave the pc back yesterday and told the lady to just deal with the mouse. That was great advice, I know. Looking now.

I have to give my opinion of blogs quickly. What ever happened to diaries, I'm not that old, just starting my 4th decade but I would never 'blog'. I don't want strangers reading my private thoughts and even if you can keep your 'blog' private why would you put it on a computer in cyberspace anyway? Forum type blog like getting computer advice is different, I'm talking kids getting on the internet and detailing their lives day to day for people to read. I dont' know about anyone else, but when I get home, I want to forget what happened, not memorialize it in a space where 10 years later Forensic computer specialists can use it against me. And WHY would I want to read the ramblings of some teenaer I don't know or the intimate details of the life of a Perv? However blogs have been handy in catching child **** perverts........and murderers

[Melodi]

That was a good read. Seems it's the inspiron no matter the model has it's mouse problem, I have the dell latitude cpx which is almost the exact same as the inspiron 4000 which I was working on and the latitude doesn't drift at all. The delete key and arrow keys dont' work but the mouse doesn't drift. I wonder why two machines so close could have such different personalities.

[scratz]

I wonder why my inspiron never had any issues with the mouse. Im thinking a software conflict..

[Melodi]

Must be XP then because I did a clean install and added nothing and it was still happening.