Thinkpad 600...cursor problem, possibly BIOS?

[hopelesslylost]

My Thinkpad 600 (model 2645-51U) has been doing great since I replaced the system board several months ago. Suddenly today, the cursor went out of control....I would try to guide it, and it was all over the place...top of the screen, bottom of the screen, anywhere but where I was trying to get it. Luckily, I had bought a wireless notebook mouse for a family member for Christmas (mine now, I guess), so I plugged it in...and though it is more controllable than the trackpoint, it too is somewhat out of control most of the time.

I rebooted and got an error message (unfortunately I didn't copy it down at the time and couldn't remember once I got the system up and running....it now boots fine and doesn't give the error code). I looked in the device manager and several components are showing errors (the yellow symbol with exclamation point in it).

Is this a BIOS problem? Anyone have any suggestions to try and remedy the problem (other than a new laptop?). Appreciate any input.

[pkiff]

This is not a BIOS problem.

Is your mouse still erratic now, or was it just a temporary thing? It is possible for your mouse pointer to be affected by other things. Even something as simple as hard drive activity can make your mouse appear to behave erratically, if you are trying to move the mouse while intense hard drive activity is occurring.

Have you tried adjusting the sensitivity of your mouse? Do you have the TrackPoint Utility installed?

You say several components in device manager are showing errors. Which components? Maybe your mouse problem is related to these other components?

Also, which operating system are you running?

Phil.

[hopelesslylost]

No, it's still doing it...whether I use trackpoint or the wireless mouse (though the problem isn't as bad with the wireless mouse). I am using Windows XP (SP2). I did try adjusting the mouse...it's still all over the place. It's even moving when I'm not touching it.

The devices that are showing errors are:
Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller (shows this twice)
Communications Port (COM 1)
Crystal WDM MPU-401 Compatible

The IBM Thinkpad Fast Infrared Port was showing error earlier also, but isn't now.

[AlphaKilo470]

I had similar troubles once on a 380ED when I had the ribbon cable improperly seated. If this issue can't be fixed on the software side of things, it might help to check the connector for motherboard and keyboard for any obstructions and/or bent pins.

[pkiff]

AlphaKilo470's suggestion sounds good to me.

Here are two other suggestions:

1) Disable TrackPoint and then check with wireless mouse again
You can disable the TrackPoint through the ThinkPad Configuration Utility. Normally people set the TrackPoint to "Auto-Disable". Instead, try setting it to Disable. Reboot and then try using only your wireless mouse. If you still have erratic mouse problems there, then I would suspect the problem is software/Windows related and not hardware related.

2) Run Hardware Test for your TrackPoint
If your TrackPoint hardware is failing, you may be able to discover this by running a built-in hardware test. Go into Easy Setup (Restart your computer from cold and press and hold the F1 key once you see the memory post, and don't let go until the Easy Setup screen appears). Move the birdie pointer to select Test. Then click on the TrackPoint test. While you are in there, you might as well run the full battery of tests just to see if anything else shows up (clicking the icon in the top left or top right will run all the tests).

Regarding your list of devices with errors. Well, it's always better not to have any errors, but those particular errors would not be particularly worrisome to me. They look like resource allocation problems (Communications Port, Crystal WDM MPU-401, and ThinkPad Infrared Port), combined with some leftover junk from an alternate hardware configuration (the Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller). It would be nice to get rid of these errors, but my guess is that you'll be able to narrow down the TrackPoint problem without fixing those other errors.

Phil.

[cmarti]

No, it's still doing it...whether I use trackpoint or the wireless mouse (though the problem isn't as bad with the wireless mouse).

Get a PS2 mouse, connect it and turn your on your computer.

With that you will disable the internal mouse ( Not the same with a USB mouse ) and test it if it's stops moving and works perfect with the PS2 mouse that means that you need a new keyboard.

[hopelesslylost]

Thanks for the responses. It was the keyboard. I got one for cheap off of ebay, switched it out today...seems to be doing okay now. I'm still working out other problems that came up during it's little "freak out"...i.e., it crashed hard and Windows had to be reinstalled. Still cleaning up the mess...but at least I my trackpoint is working. Thanks again.