Occasional stuck trackpoint

[princeatul]

Occasionally, trackpoint would just lock and keep moving my mouse cursor in upward-left direction, even when NOT touched! It takes an effort to move trackpoint left-right several times before it stays stable when left untouched.
Though not a very serious problem, it irritates the hell out of me.
Is this normal? Should I be worried about something? Or an early sign of something more serious?

BTW, my TP is just a few weeks old, and I really handle her with utmost care. I don't remember assaulting the trackpoint ever

[tfflivemb2]

This has actually been covered several times throughout the forum. The reason the cursor drifts, is because it is trying to recenter. If you slightly press your trackpoint in ANY direction, just enough to move the cursor, it will start to move in the opposite direction....in an effort to counter what it thinks is a "stuck" or drifting trackpoint.

Do you rest your finger against the trackpoint? If so, this might be the immediate cause. It could also be that if you have done this in the past, that the trackpoint is wearing down.

[princeatul]

This has actually been covered several times throughout the forum.

OOps sincere apologizes for not searching through. Will go through the archives. Meanwhile...

The reason the cursor drifts, is because it is trying to recenter. If you slightly press your trackpoint in ANY direction, just enough to move the cursor, it will start to move in the opposite direction....in an effort to counter what it thinks is a "stuck" or drifting trackpoint.

That's where lies my problem. Slight pressing in opposite direction doesn't make it move in opposite direction. Only after moving it several times does it stand still.

Do you rest your finger against the trackpoint? If so, this might be the immediate cause. It could also be that if you have done this in the past, that the trackpoint is wearing down.

Nope, I don't rest my finger against trackpoint, I rest them on 'f' & 'j'.

Thanks for reply, I'll definitely check the archives...

[tfflivemb2]

Does it always move in the same direction?

It could just be that your trackpoint is wearing out. This might require replacing the entire keyboard. Very simple procedure and not too expensive.

One thing to try though, remove the trackpoint cap and see if it continues to move. Sometimes the trackpoint cap causes the trackpoint to become off centered.

[princeatul]

Does it always move in the same direction?

Yeah, always in same direction.

One thing to try though, remove the trackpoint cap and see if it continues to move. Sometimes the trackpoint cap causes the trackpoint to become off centered.

Thanks, will try this out. For that matter, I'll also put another cap and try it out for a few days.

[sparta.rising]

I got excited when I first read the title because I've got a problem. But its different, i get the drift too, but I'm used to it.

My problem is that randomly the trackpoint will stop working entirely. It wont response to touch, so I'll switch to the trackpad for like 5 seconds and the trackpoint will work again. Its not the system stalling because the trackpad works, and I dont physically do anything to the trackpoint to get it to work. Any ideas?

[dr_st]

The drift is normal. You just leave it for a couple of secs and it stops. The trackpoint stopping is not normal and may indicate a physical problem with the device.

[jhonyl]

The drift is a "normal" bad design of the TrackPoint software driver. They could have done it much better, but they don't care.


The stop responding at all is not normal, if it is new, do what I do whenever a new thing get (bad f word+ed) up by something - system restore - it is much easier then figuring out the problem and its solution.

MOD EDIT: Edited, Please refrain from using really bad language.

[ThinkPad R]

the inwardly hollow trackpoint makes my computer look so beautiful!

seriously.

it makes my R40 look much smaller & thinner.

also it has this unique feeling to it whenever i use it