Does anyone have a laptop w/ a pointing stick (ala IBM Thinkpad)??

[iamme]

Does your pointer sometimes move by itself? Just slowly drift in a certain direction? Is there a fix for this? My laptop is no longer in warranty, BTW.

 

[Keego]

my dell inspiron 8100 did that if I pressed too hard in a single direction.. I just didn't press as hard so it's not doing it

 

[MWink]

That sounds reasonable. The pointing stick on my Inspiron 8200 has done that a few times. I just move it in some other direction and it stops.

 

[MrBond]

My thinkpad does this too. No fix as far as I can tell, I just let it slide. Sometimes I try to fight it, but it's no use.

 

[dkozloski]

I don't own one of these but I recall dealing with one several years ago and the problem was a software issue that had something to do with a "dead zone" setting just like a gaming joystick. Somehow these things are supposed to learn and ignore an offset automatically if they are setup correctly.

 

[xfactordomine]

I've had 4 IBM Thinkpads, and they've all done this. Just don't press in any direction so hard, or just let it keep moving until it stops. Then you can resume your pointing.

-X

 

[ultimatebob]

Did you try pulling off the TrackPoint cap, and cleaning the little joystick underneath? Crud sometimes gets stuck under there, and affects the accuracy of your pointer.

 

[dkozloski]

The IBM website has literally hundreds of documents on the subject. If the cursor drifts just leave it alone for a minute and it is supposed to compenste and stop by itself. There is also a trackpoint utility that has some adjustments.

 

[corkyg]

Never had the problem, but I've heard of it. To me, the pointing stick is better than the touchpad - but both are suck compared to a real mouse. So, I always disable them in BIOS and use the tiny Atek optical mouse. Much nicer!

 

[dbwillis]

Mine does this as well, 770ED, I notice it happens more when the lappy's been on for a while...and heated up..

 

[KenGr]

As everyone is noting, this is a common but not universal problem with pointers. It's due to a electronic bias which unfortunately is not user adjustable. I had one Toshiba that was almost constantly drifting. I had to disable the trackpoint. This was not a problem since it was almost unusable even if it worked OK. The next Toshiba only drifted if both the mouse and trackpoint was simultaneously active. After it got to be a year old or so, the drift pretty much went away but it still didn't work well. I now have a ThinkPad and this is the first pointer that is a reasonable substitute for a mouse. Also, it doesn't drift at all even with the mouse enabled.

I suggest trying disabling the mouse when you use the pointer (and vice versa) and see if that helps.

 

[Narse]

My ThinkPad T23 does this sometimes also, I just wait a few seconds and it stops by itself, I have got used to it since this is my third IBM and I still love emm

 

[dszd0g]

The trackpoint on my work Thinkpad T23 drifts and overall stinks. It also sometimes catches my finger when I try and hit the "B" key. I much prefer the touchpad on my personal laptop.