cursor won't stop rolling down

ejn74

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13 Feb 2005
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I have a dell inspirion 2650 that sometimes the cursor just suddenly starts to roll down the screen. It seems start doing it when IE is opened. After it starts to do it it will then do it on any screen or application.
About to weeks ago I did add SP2. I run AVG, Spybot, & Ad-Aware on all my computers.
Thanks
 
Inspirion = laptop right?
Go to Device Manager (r-click My Computer, Properties, click Hardware tab, click Device Manager button.)
Click plus sign (+) next to Mice and other pointing devices to expand it.
R-click your mouse/touchpad and uninstall.
Reboot - it should reinstall automatically, or re-install driver from Dell's website or rebuild disk if they provide one.
If it's still doing it, call Dell, it might be the touchpad - tell them you have a drifting cursor, they might have other suggestions or set you up for repair.
This is usually fixed by reinstallying the touchpad driver.
 
I get the same thing in UT2004 once in a while. Never been able to fix it. Reboot solves it.

Options are;
Reinstall/update your mouse drivers.
If it's a ball mouse take the ball out and clean it and the little rollers inside with alcohol.
Borrow another mouse and see if that does it too.
 
It is a touchpad
Thanks for the suggestions I will try to reinstall the drivers
Thanks.
 
It has started doing it again. I've been to dell's site and reinstalled the drivers. Tried the latest drivers. It is upto date. I run Avg, Ad-aware, Spybot S&D, CCleaner, Hijack, and Cwshredder. It should be Clean. It is driving me nuts!!!

It is a Dell inspirion 2650 Laptop. I just up graded the memory. Which it was doing it before I did that. It has a fresh install of windows as of a month ago.
 
I have seen cases of this when it's caused by the laptop actually overheating. Try elevating the laptop so there are books or something else below it for a little while, which will expose the fans to allow for better circulation.

If that does the trick, I would look into warranty replacement if you have it. else you could get a full stand or laptop cooler.
 
it just beeped continously when I restarted it. like beep beep beep. I have a cooling plate for it just wasn't using it at the moment
 
I've made sure that it is clean inside and the fans are working. What else can cause it to start overheating.
 
Turn the laptop off, hold down the Fn key while you press the power button. This should boot it into Dell's diagnostic mode which will tell you if there are any problems that you haven't noticed that may be causing this by proxy.
 
Room temp too high,
dust in the air passages (use canned air),
substandard heat sink paste drying out, (clean and replace)
CPU degrading with age (very rare but it could happen),
turning off energy conservation features in bios,
windows update screwing up energy conservation settings/functions.
loose/dirty battery contacts or bad battery casuing low voltage to PSU
upgrades drawing more power than the battery/psu can support

That's just a few off the top of my head.
 
I noticed that the fans shut off right before it startes beeping. it is like something is failing to start. Right now I fdisk it to reload because of the scrolling issue that will not go away.

Called dell tech support. troubleshot the beeping. Sounds like it is over heating. it is afterhours for out of warranty service dept. so could not get cost of new fan. I don't know for sure if that is the problem.

Still have issues with the scrolling even with no operating system on the hard drive.
 
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As finchick suggested though, diagnostics will test your fan. It throws it through test of spinning up/down and off.

If you dont' have the diagnostic partition anymore, it can be re-installed but it is a pain in the arse.
 
Would that be the little partition on the drive it is like 31m I think?

I tried the Fn key but it did not seem to work. I will try again later.
 
Yeah the partition is around 31MB or so, although on some newer Desktops, the GX520 for example, it is 72MB

You can also get to it by hitting F12 at the Dell Splash Screen, that will bring up the boot menu and you can choose Diagnostics from there.
 
I just got some time to look at it. I pulled the fan off of the processor and noticed that there isn't hardly any thermal goo. it is dry. that could be the problem couldn't it? there aren't any short term quick fixes are there? I am on call and can't go to the city for a while. I will order some online. What is good for this computer? what is a good way to clean the old dried up stuff off, or do I need to?
 
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The instructions on that link are retarded. They give a long list of what you can use to clean with and at the end of each lengthy description they say:

"Use isopropyl alcohol to clean up the other stuff we just told you to do."

WTF - Just use isopropyl alcohol. Forget the other stuff it can damage the CPU or leave residues degrading the heat transfer.

Nice comment about thermal pads though. Never use them, they're bad characteristics stay with you for life, lol.

Back to the scolling touch pad. Same concept, some contamination may have gotten into it that is giving a continuous scroll command. http://gimbo.org.uk/archives/2005/11/fixing_mouse_dr_2.html
http://www.laptopsunlimited.com/dellmouse/dellmouse.htm
 
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The only problem is this one does not have the track point only the touch pad. good find though, Leejend
 

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