HELP- my mousepad won't work

sheadakota · Nov 8, 2008

I have an acer 5150 laptop. It was working fine yesreday morning, I come home from owrk to check my email-the computer turns on and Iget my prompt to access my files- but the touch pad will not moves the cursur- ok it will move it but it has a delayed reaction time-I move my finger- a few seconds later the cursor will move- arrrggg-

when I finally did access a word doc- it would not let me type- the key boeard wouldn'teork either- any one out there have any suggestions as to what might be wrong? My husband thinks I am low on memory- I am but still not full and I got no warning about it!

Help me! Its nano time and my novel is locked in my hardrive!!

petec · Nov 8, 2008

Have you tried System Restore to take the computer back to how it was when it last functioned properly?

If you have WINDOWS: START. HELP & SUPPORT. UNDO CHANGES TO YOUR COMPUTER WITH SYSTEM RESTORE. PICK A DATE.

dpaterso · Nov 8, 2008

Workaround idea: plug an external keyboard and mouse into your USB ports. At least that should get you access to the laptop so you can investigate further, and backup your files.

-Derek

sheadakota · Nov 8, 2008

thanks I'll try both those suggestions- I have a spare keyboard but it doesn't fit into any ports on my laptop- I hate computers-

oarsman · Nov 8, 2008

I think the Acer has a FN key sequence that will turn off and on the touchpad (It might be FN & F7 key to disable/enable the touchpad..should be in the Acer user manual). But, you said the touchpad mouse is working slowly, right? Do you have a USB flash drive? If the mouse works slowly or if you get an external mouse like dpaterso said, you might be able to drag your word document file to a flash drive and then connect the flash drive to another computer to get the file.

Maryn · Nov 8, 2008

In my own limited experience, any time both the mouse and keyboard are running slowly, it's a RAM problem. It's quite possible that programs you're not using are eating your available working memory. While my present computer has plenty, my old one did not, and something as simple as leaving Yahoo Messenger open could slow me down markedly. So try turning off everything except security/virus protection and Word, and I do mean everything. If that improved things, even not all the way, it's probably your RAM.

I second the vote that using your computer has now assumed secondary status. Number one is backing up everything important, because computers which act oddly can often be computers contemplating hard disk failure.

Maryn, hoping it's nothing that serious

RJK · Nov 8, 2008

Sounds like you may have been hit with a particularly ugly virus or worm. It seems to be eating up your processor time. If Petec's suggestion doesn't help, you probably need to take it to a professional.

After the professional has cleared up your problem, please listen to what he/she says about virus protection and not operating your PC as an administrator. I learned the hard way, but since I've instituted the required security steps, (so far) I've been virus free.

Cybernaught · Nov 8, 2008

Might be Adware or Malware. Google Adaware Personal and AGV Free - Free Adware and Virus removal tools.

petec · Nov 8, 2008

Cybernaught said:
Might be Adware or Malware. Google Adware Personal and AGV Free - Free Adware and Virus removal tools.

I agree with that

Clair Dickson · Nov 8, 2008

I agree-- it's not the mouse or the keyboard. If you hit CTL+ALT+DEL and check the processor tab, you'll likely see that you're being maxed out. (BAD!)

Go clean up the computer. Trend Micro's Housecall and Avira are two other cleaners that work pretty well.

When I ended up with 18 Trojans on my computer (thank YOU stupid little brothers who downloaded no-CD cracks on my computer!) it used up all my processor and I could barely use my computer. Now that my comptuer is clean, it works quite nicely.

HELP- my mousepad won't work

sheadakota

part of the human equation

petec

Lurking

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

sheadakota

part of the human equation

oarsman

Salt water is the cure

Maryn

Baaa!

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Cybernaught

Decker

petec

Lurking

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud