My laptop locks up and freezes when I use the touchpad, but never freezes when I use the attached mouse
Hi, I’ve been experiencing lock-up or freezing problems with my laptop for about 6 months. The model is Satellite A55-S306. I’ve spoke with a few repair shops and they insisted I must have a virus or adware. My antivirus is up to date and detects no virus, also I’ve downloaded Spybot Search and Destroy and it detects no adware. Here is the odd thing we’ve noticed the last few days. I always use the touchpad and my fiancé always uses an attached mouse. The laptop never freezes up when using the attached mouse. The last 2 days I’ve attached the mouse but continued to use the touchpad—-no freezing for hours. Detach the mouse instant freeze???? Does this make sense??? Have you ever come across this problem before or any ideas??
Yeah, that’s a very odd problem. I think that if it would be a hardware problem, then the laptop would freeze up regardless the attached mouse. It’s possible that you have some kind of software problem. Not necessary a virus or an adware, may be just a corrupted driver or corrupted system file. But it doesn’t make any sense why the touchpad works fine when the external mouse attached.
Here’s what I would try to do to troubleshoot, detect and eliminate the problem:
1. Go the Device Manager and locate Mice and other pointing devices entry. Click on “+” to expand it and uninstall PS/2 Compatible Mouse. Restart the laptop and see if the problem is fixed.
2. Restart the laptop in Safe Mode by pressing F8 key as soon as Toshiba logo appears on the screen and selecting the Safe Mode line. If the touchpad works fine in Safe Mode, then you have a piece of software that conflicts with the touchpad in Normal Mode. Go to step 5.
3. Another troubleshooting step (more advanced) is to boot laptop with Knoppix CD (live Linux CD). This OS runs directly from the CD bypassing Windows installation on the hard drive. If you still experience the same problem in Linux then the problem is not related to Windows. Knoppix CD will boot the laptop into a Windows like environment where you can use the touchpad.
4. I would also try to reflash/upgrade the laptop BIOS.
5. The final step would be reloading the hard drive back to original Toshiba defaults. You’ll have to boot the laptop from the recovery CD and follow the wizard. Reloading the hard drive will erase all your personal data, so do not forget to back it up before you run the restore CD/DVD.
If re-flashing the BIOS and reloading the hard drive doesn’t help, then you might have a hardware related problem.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite X205-S9800 and have the same problem. Every time I boot up my computer my mouse freezes. It’s more of a complication rather than a problem because it only occurs during boot-up and I simply restart my computer via Start -> Arrow Keys and the problem is solved, but I just want to know what I can do to stop this from happening.
Any ideas?
September 4th, 2009 at 5:58 am
I would definitely say screen and keyboard are the most important buying decision for me as the specs are fairly standard across brands anyway.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I recently work on a toshiba laptop m35x-s109 the cursor/ mouse/touch pad kept freezing up seconds after the computer booted up. I went to toshiba. com and download file after file download nothing.And many other sites nothing, i even disable features in device manager 0 zip nada. Then it dawned on me http://www.logitech. com I installed the software from a disk i had and, it worked. my buddys laptop works great. after going to logitech.com click on, go support center search by name/ mice , next scroll and click cordless optical mouse for notebook click search and download the file and reboot good luck
April 19th, 2009 at 2:50 am
i have the same prob…but only happen after 2-3month after i bought the universal charger….so what trigger the problem
March 4th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I had a similiar problem with an Acer Aspire 5100 that occured when I attached a new power adapter to it.
It turned out that the voltage and/or the polarity were not compatible with my model.
If you have recently replaced your power adapter that may be an issue.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:56 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro L300. When I plug the ac adaptor in, my ‘Synaptics’ Touchpad freeze’s. When you try to move it, the cursor just goes mental, and quite often flies off in a complete different direction.
Does anybody have any idea’s as to what is causing this. Its getting to be a pain now. Also i have tried and external PS/2 Mouse, but this has the same problem????
Please Help!
Woody
December 1st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I got the same problem with my acer travelmate 2310 , it freezes when I try to use mouse but does not happen if I boot with the battery out. I think it could be a problem with the battery application. Will investigate further. My batter is not great (only 20 mins power) but I noticed if I leave it in Bios till the battery goes flat it actually took about an hour to run flat. I expected a few more minutes due to more processing even when windowss is idle but not that much. Maybe the voltage is not stable and the program for the battery is getting fluxtuating readings. Not worth buying a battery as it costs half what the laptops worth and I use it on the table, never round the house.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Hello, I’m trying to fix my roommates laptop Toshiba Satellite – A30 – PSA30C-00YS5.
One of his old coworkers wiped the drive in the process of trying to fix it for a months ago, now I’m trying to get it working again. My problem is that the ALPS touchpad will freeze up after 10 seconds of being inactive or if a new window pops up, so I continue moving the on the touchpad it will keep going.
I tried booting in safemode and it will not work at all, so I don’t know if it may be an internal problem or software issue.
Any help at this point would be greatly appreciated.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Bud,
Really weird problem, I’ve never seen something like that before.
Make sure your new AC adapter outputs exactly the same voltage. The amperage could be the same or higher. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you. Really weird.
Please let me know if you can figure it out.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 5100-3949 (out of warranty)and my dog chewed into the AC adapter/charger thereby creating a small break in the wiring. It will still function somewhat if wiggled but I also have had arcing thereby making it possibly dangerous to continue to use.
That being said, I have tried to purchase replacements from sources like EBay and had each seller confirm that it was compatible with my specific laptop.
I have had to return them because they made my touchpad act erractically (i.e., cursor not responding, cursor only moving in certain directions, etc.) however once operating on either battery or original adapter the touchpad acts normally.
I have checked Acer’s website and the model adapter/charger that seems to be compatible is out of stock.
Any ideas on what would cause this behaviour and what to look for, in terms of specs, to attempt to avoid the problem on the next purchase.
Thanks in Advance,
August 30th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Hi I have a laptop ACER ASPIRE 5315-2326 I bought it a month ago and I noticed (since I bought it) that when Im typing for a long time and I try to use the mouse the mouse is frozen it will not move, I can style type and even when I press CTRL ALT DEL I get the little endtask window, but I cant move the mouse, its like if it falls asleep or something; I have to lower the screen like Im going to close it, then It will start working again, What is the problem??
August 14th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
thanks for the prompt reply, really appreciate it. I suspect you are spot on. Is it major to replace the keys? Or is it poss for me to attempt it on my own (keeping in mind i havent done that before). thanks.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
nick,
If the cursor moves on its own, most likely there is a problem with the blue pointer in the center of the keyboard. In this case you’ll have to replace the keyboard.