Peripherals forum: Help me cure my jumping cursor while typing!

I had a frustrating effort to solve the jumping cursor while typing, changing windows without touching mouse, thing with my new Windows 7 64 Professional in HP Pavilion is solved.( I know its not the same make as your laptop ) but it may work with yours... I downloaded and installed the following microsoft update and my problem has not returned:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976972

Be sure to right click the file to "Run as Administrator" when installing it (if you saved it first). I had to validate my Windows using the "alternate method" before it would work.

This update had not automatically updated or even been shown when I update windows. I do not have a touchpad.

Maybe someone else with the problem could verify if it is the cure. I did all the "cures" like changing mouse, unchecking "hide cursor while typing", downloading new mouse/keyboard driver, connecting a wired keyboard and mouse, changing the mouse pad, blah blah blah...etc. etc. etc. It appears to have been a USB problemall along.

This other update happened automatically at the same time and also may be the solution:

Intel - Storage - Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller

So far the problem has not returned.......

That's an interesting solution, as opposed to turning off the mouse pad. I'm going to turn my mouse pad back on, and turn off "Tapping" in "Device Settings", and give it a shot. Thanks!!

If it doesn't work, I will turn off the mouse pad again, as I know that works.

I had the same problem on my Dell Latitude D520. I turned off my Touch-pad in Bios and bought a small (Laptop) USB Wireless Optical Mouse. The reason my cursor jumped was because it was so sensitive that my sleeve brushing over it when I was typing made it jump all over the page and insert whatever I was typing into text that I had already typed. According to my IT man this was quite common with laptops. I hope this helps. If you do not know much about the Bios or how to turn off your Touch-pad please go to an IT person that you trust and get their help to do it before it drives you mad!

a) Brushing the touch pad (but you say this is not the problem)

b) When Laptops like Lenovo have the "joystick" typing the three or four letters around it will sometimes jump the cursor and if you are really unlucky delete whole paragraphs

c) This one is interesting ... interference from adjacent PC's wireless mouses. ie if you are all using wireless mouses (mice?)this can cause this issue.

d) failing batteries in the cordless mice ?

e) Check your pointer settings to make sure the drivers and sensitivity settings look OK (via Control Panel)

f) By a new wired mice and your problems should be solved !!

PS.. did you know that your microwave and cordless house phone can interfere with each other !! ... this wireless technology isn't all it is cracked up to be !

Seriously!! ................

I have had to turn mine off to prevent the problem. I have always used an ergonomic mouse anyway so turning off the touchpad has not been a problem, just means I have to always take the mouse with me when using the laptop ......as a portable computer !!! 8-)) lol

Give it a try...go on...! lol

My MSI netbook has a similar problem and we have tracked it to a hyper-sensative touchpad. While typing, one of your fingers may drift close to or actually brush against the touchpad resulting in the cursor following the touchpad instructions.

I know my answer is short and sweet, but your problem has a simple solution. It's been around for some time, and I'm amazed products are still coming out without the fix already incorporated.

I simply downloaded the correct driver for my laptop (the driver that was installed was just a "ps2 compatible mouse"). Go out to the manufacturer's website for the latest update for the touchpad. After I downloaded the driver for the touchpad, I don't have the problem of jumping cursor. Good luck

Hi,I'm Yi Bai ,a student from China.I have the same problem.
My laptop is Dell Inspiron 1420 with Windows 7,and when i was chating,
I always encount this problem, i don't know why.
I have already taken many measures to change this,such as :different OS,shut dowm the touch pad ...but ,it did't work.i regarded this is my hardware problem.
But ,i receive your mail,i know that too many people have the same problem.
so i mail to you ,to know the way to solve this problem.

Best wishes!

yours ,
Yi Bai

I had/have a Logitec cordless mouse/curser that does a simular thing , the manufacturer didnt want to know about the problem , a search revealed there had been many reports submitted but no answers were given. I think they were removed from the market in the USA but not in Aust. Sorry I cant give any further advice .

I will admit I don't know why the cursur jumps, but Microsoft must becuase I have a touch button on the top of my laptop that needs to be activated so my cursor can't move while typing. This button is along the top of the computer where the wii fi and power lights are. Mine looks like a hand pointing inside a square. If you press this it will show a circle with a line through it and this will disconnect the cursor. You can type, but you can't use the cursor. Press the button again and now you can use your cursor again! My 12 year old showed me the feature I didn't realize I had!! It's a pain, but if you are writing a long letter...use it and save your sanity! Another point is that even though you are not touching the mouse pad but just hovering over it on the laptop...it will still act like you are touching it!! I must have a lot of strong energy field coming from my figure tips! This energy field only works short distances becuase I tried it on my 12 year old across the room and nothing happened..he didn't move!

Good luck!

Hello Mike,

I have a lenovo laptop and the same thing happened. I checked the manual and it states that if you press the Fn (function) key and F8 (which has a screen with a line going through it on it) this acts as a toggle which will switch on and off the touch pad. You will need a mouse attached instead. You will need to activate this command at each switch on etc. Hope this helps.

you can solve this problem by uninstalling dell graphical user interface software (QUICKSET) or else you can do it by disabling Quickiset programein the startup menu.
for that you have to type "mosconfig" in search option by click on start button then select startup and uncheck "Quickset" then restart you system but remember this will also remove graphics interface of keyboard short cuts.

I've had the same problem with a number of laptops myself. I know that you are sure that you never touch the touch pad at all, but I still feel that the touch pad is still our culprit here. Even though I never mean to touch the touch pad at all, sometimes it happens anyway! Usually the touch pad is located right in between the base of my thumbs when typing - so every now and then as I'm typing my big fatty hands brush up against the touch pad and bingo! the cursor jumps across the screen.
Hopefully it is not a hardware or software glitch. If it is, I have no advice. However, most new laptops have a button near the touch pad that allows you to turn the touch pad off. Just try turning it off for a while and see what happens. I know it's worked for me on numerous occasions.

while you're typing. At least, that's what I observed when my boss started complaining about it. Thumbs up, no jump, drop thumbs, unpredictable jump. And with some of the new gesture stuff, it only gets worse.

cursor jumping is pretty annoying, especially when you are gaming.
When I had a Packard Bell C3 series on win 7 there was: glitches driver incompatibility and worst of all: CURSOR JUMPING <scary music here>.
The easiest way to fix this problem is to go back to XP of course you will probably say "but I like win 7... lets me go online better!" so these are my alternate solutions:

1. viruses get killed with virus scanner! YAY!
2. get a new mouse driver!
3. may I suggest getting a computer nerd I mean guy who fixes computers to, you know, check if there are short circuits or crossed over wires.
4. If all fails get a new computer! Or go back to the dreaded XP