Arch Linux

synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

Bizzare, intermittent touchpad movement

I got a laptop used a couple days ago, a 1.6Ghz with 3D, DVD+/-RW, firewire, s-video out, etc ... PSYCHED!  So I popped in Arch and got the system up and almost fully configured in a couple days, haha.  My geek status has gone up about four notches with this thing ...

Anyway, my Synaptics touchpad has been kinda ... unstable lately.  Like, it'll behave for a minute, then I'll lose control of my cursor.  Sometimes, when this happens, I'll have to give it a heavy touch to move, and in that case, it moves wildly fast.  If I wait a second after I realize that this is happening, it'll go back to normal.  Very interesting.  I've been using a USB mouse too ... and to be honest I don't even remember if it does the same thing or not.  So it probably doesn't, otherwise I'd remember it.

But yeah, I thought I'd post this before I opened the case up to investigate.  Has anyone had any similar problems?  It sounds very hardware-related, but ya never know.

Thanks!

dtw

Forum Fellow

From: UK

Registered: 2004-08-03

Posts: 4,439

Website

Re: Bizzare, intermittent touchpad movement

I have very odd issues with my touchpad at the moment. It seem s to work ok but when i stop moving it it kind of shuffles about a tiny bit...but in a vague direction.  Then if I use a left/right click it will zoom off and get stuck in the corner!  Very annoying.  I am usb mouse dependent atm - very annoying!

synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

Re: Bizzare, intermittent touchpad movement

ha ... reminds me of the time where my friend Matt was dinking around with linux ... was running RH9 at the time.  His USB mouse wasn't functional out-of-the-"box" with the OS, and he didn't know how to configure anything, so he used a PS/2 mouse for linux, and his USB mouse for windows

synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

Re: Bizzare, intermittent touchpad movement

I hate to lay this on you guys cause I know ya'll get it all the time, but I know it's not a hardware issue now, cause it didn't do it in windows

I dunno what's going on or how to fix it so it's a drag!  Nobody's seen this before?  It's just a Synaptics touchpad, I wouldn't think that it would behave so strangely.  It happens with the synaptics X driver or without, but USB mouse movement is normal.

synthead

Member

Registered: 2006-05-09

Posts: 1,337

Re: Bizzare, intermittent touchpad movement

I updated the BIOS and so far it has been behaving!  Haven't tested it out enough to say it's fixed, but if that's all it was, then ... haha.