Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

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Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

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    0% [Working]E: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/c/chromium-browser/chromium-codecs-ffmpeg_24.0.1312.56-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb: 404  Not Found
                                             
    E: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/c/chromium-browser/chromium-codecs-ffmpeg_24.0.1312.56-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb: 404  Not Found
et al:

Moving this post over to a new topic, I searched the forum here, as well as google, and saw reference to mouse/cursor moving erratically, or losing control of mouse, and there was a bug report from Sept '12, that I couldn't find buried in the list of bug reports with a similar issue as mine, but no solutions found. The problem is that the mouse/cursor will suddenly jump back in an email, usually in a browser, and the typing will just start there; and more annoyingly, sometimes the text between where it was and where it ends up, will be erased. It might be in this post, after almost getting to the end, suddenly it will all be erased. I couldn't find any insights into this problem, so I'm posting here. Actually there was a post from someone in LM14 with the jumping cursor problem, the answer given by someone was to update the xserver-xorg-core file . . . I checked mine in synaptic and it's as new as it can be for LM13. Perhaps someone can offer some insights? The code above is showing the errors that came when I tried to install Chromium . . . in both Synaptic and Terminal.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Previous post moved to here]:
Yes, problem happened again yesterday while typing in a forum post, so in FF . . . no spare fingers touching the touchpad, just suddenly the cursor moved back in the text, erasing almost everything that was written . . . . Fortunately I was awake and noticed what happened and could ctrl-z it back. But, this really isn't acceptable behavior from an OS, is this passive-aggression from somebody where a glitch is placed so that we keep it real?

Anyway, in the interest of trying to figure out if it's an FF problem I tried synaptic to install another browser, I tried chromium, but got the above error(s) . . . seamonkey did not show up . . . . Is FF the only browser that works with LM13? I did see a post somewhere about how the cursor will up and move 90 degrees, but couldn't find it again and couldn't remember if it had to do with apple computers or any computer. So, haven't been able to confine the problem to being cursor related, touchpad, or browser . . . and then it seems like FF is the only big box browser we have?? I like to have several browsers to choose from depending on my mood . . . .

e.e.p.

P.S. Later that same day: Managed to install Midori thru synaptic and fiddling around getting it set up . . . looks like it was a 3MB download, seems fast enough, doesn't seem to have auto-fill for log in windows. I'll be testing it to see if the same erratic cursor and lost data problem happens in Midori, or if it's just confined to FF. [Comment]: The problem happened in Midori as well yesterday, so it's not just FF that is causing the problem.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

Yes. Problem just happened again, but in some sense escalating. Typing an email, back in FF and in MATE . . . which I was using for several hours, including posting this initial post with no problem, suddenly cursor jumps from email text box to the send to address, erasing the address and typing the word I had been typing there. I erased that word and tried to restore the email address which provided a drop down of email addresses to choose from, when I tried to click on the correct address . . . nothing happened, basically the screen froze . . . and clicking on stuff like trying to log out . . . nothing happened. Had to shut the computer down with the power button. Is this a normal part of LM 13 operation?

e.e.p.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

Folks:

I'm still looking for a little direction into solving this problem, the erasing data problem makes the system unreliable and reduces the use of it as a frontline system . . . . I see other posts talking about the cursor jumping around or posts on touchpad issues, traced to software . . . but nothing solid in terms of a fix coming from the more experienced users of LM. I'm wondering if changing to an XFCE DE would do anything to alleviate the problem, adding another DE would be the least time consuming way to go, but if it's a "core" issue then that wouldn't do anything except spend time. I'm seeing that someone in LM14 had similar problem with cursor, so question is whether even doing re-install would eliminate the problem?

e.e.p.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

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et al:

Yes, but no . . . I added the XFCE DE, seemed to be only 4.8.3 . . . it's an "older" looking desktop than what seems to be on the LM13 XFCE 64 LiveDVD . . . . And, it's more or less OK, but today, again typing in a forum and there was a "blink" and didn't notice that what I had typed in one sentence was now gone. And then I tried to move the words back, and the cursor jumped again to another place and started typing there; so the problem was not solved by going to the XFCE DE. I'm now trying out the "GNOME" DE, which might be the "GNOME Shell"???? I have a few gnome options, and then "ubuntu-2" . . . . Thanks for listening . . . .

e.e.p.

PS: A few hours later . . . after posting the first part of this threa I booted into the "Ubuntu" DE, and I like the "Dash" feature, but while typing an email the cursor was jumping around for no reason, starting the new letter at the new spot . . . . I also ran "apt-get autoremove" and it removed a number of the older "linux-images" . . . . So far the problem is continuing, and might even be increasing in frequency . . . . I guess it's just business as usual, stuff disappearing . . . no big deal . . . ?????

PPS: It's like system grafitti . . . sometimes it looks good, but it's a little destructive and you never know when it will happen. It's the same thing when your data gets erased . . . . Perhaps it's a "bug"????

PPPS: I opened a bug report. https://github.com/linuxmint/community. ... issues/152
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

Yes, testing continues, I added "xfce4-goodies" yesterday and upgraded the system . . . I'm still looking for some direction or insight into how to figure out what is causing this problem of data being erased as the cursor suddenly jumps to a new location . . . . So far, nothing found or offered, no reply from bug team, etc.

e.e.p.
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eanfrid

Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by eanfrid »

este.el.paz wrote:

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    0% [Working]E: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/c/chromium-browser/chromium-codecs-ffmpeg_24.0.1312.56-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb: 404  Not Found
                                             
    E: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/c/chromium-browser/chromium-codecs-ffmpeg_24.0.1312.56-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb: 404  Not Found
These versions are no longer in the repos. You must run "sudo apt-get update" before installing updates or new software from repos.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

@eanfrid:

Thanks for your post, I didn't get an email notification on your post . . . so this need for "apt-get update" would also apply to a synaptic install? I tried both the Terminal, where I may not have run "update" first, but "chromium" showed up in synaptic, but failed to install.

@et al:

So, before "eanfrid" posted this was one of the more lonely threads, with postings from just me and stuff I'm trying to do to solve the issue. Today I spent some time googling the problem and found lots of posts . . . just like mine, where the OP was talking to himself . . . . This is a sample from the Ubuntu forums from 2010 or '09 . . . for which this was the only post in the thread . . . but it describes what I am experiencing and I see quite a number of other people with the same problem, but no solid fixes.
Erratic cursor when typing in text boxes in 8.10

Hi,
I am a newcomer to Linux who recently installed Ubuntu 8.10 on a Dell Latitude D630 laptop. It is a dual boot configuration with Windows XP. I have installed all available updates.
Everything is going smooth except for one thing. While I am typing text in a textbox (like I am doing now) the cursor may jump to a different position within the same textbox or to another textbox in the same window. When that happens the text I am typing ends up in the middle of the text I have already written. This does not happen in Windows so it is unlikely to be a hardware issue with the keyboard.
I noticed these problems after having installed Eclipse, but I hadn't done much typing before that so I am reluctant to believe Eclipse to be the source of the problem.
Any idea about the source of this problem and how it could be resolved?

/Roggi
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

Yes, problem just happened again in default MATE session and typing in FF Gmail, this time seemed to happen when press shift key to capitalize a word . . . previous sentence gone.

e.e.p.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

este.el.paz wrote:Yes, problem just happened again in default MATE session and typing in FF Gmail, this time seemed to happen when press shift key to capitalize a word . . . previous sentence gone.

e.e.p.
Yes, problem just happened again in a Cinnamon session, typing a post in a forum, this time after releasing the shift key from capital letter to type a small letter, cursor appeared above the first sentence and began typing there . . . . Problem continues . . . no solution or ideas about how to troubleshoot the problem . . . at hand.

e.e.p.
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donny662

Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by donny662 »

I read through the whole thread and wanted to let you know that I empathize with your situation. I am glad to see that you are trying things and keeping this post updated.

About Synaptic and apt-get, Synaptic is a graphical front end, that runs in a desktop environment, for the Apt system, which keeps track of software packages installed and can fetch new packages from online repositories. The "(sudo) apt-get update" command fetches the latest list of packages available in the online repositories. Since Synaptic uses Apt, running that command will update the information in Synaptic. You can also accomplish the same task by selecting the "Reload" button in Synaptic.

About your cursor problem, when the "cursor" moves, is it just the flashing vertical line in the text box that moves or does the mouse "pointer" also move? The normal ways to move the "cursor" would be to move the "pointer" and perform a "left click" or use the keyboard arrow keys. My thought is that the application (Firefox) is receiving some type of mouse pointer or keyboard input when it shouldn't, which would suggest a problem with the system that handles mouse and keyboard input.

Have you seen the problem in Midori or any other applications? It'll be good to know if this is an application problem, in which case you would want to take your problem to the developers of that application, or if its a problem with the hardware driver or something else.

I'm hoping someone else more familiar with the input device system chain can at least point you to where the problem may lie, and you can ask the question in a place the developers of the relevent software would help you.

Personally, I've had problems when moving a window with the mouse: while clicking and dragging, the window and mouse pointer will sometimes shift suddenly to the lower right corner of the display. It does that for me in Mint 13 XFCE and has done that in the past on every Linux flavor (mostly Ubuntu based) I've tried on this PC.
eanfrid

Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by eanfrid »

Did you at least replace or try another mouse/keyboard on this machine ?
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

About your cursor problem, when the "cursor" moves, is it just the flashing vertical line in the text box that moves or does the mouse "pointer" also move? The normal ways to move the "cursor" would be to move the "pointer" and perform a "left click" or use the keyboard arrow keys. My thought is that the application (Firefox) is receiving some type of mouse pointer or keyboard input when it shouldn't, which would suggest a problem with the system that handles mouse and keyboard input.

Have you seen the problem in Midori or any other applications?
@donny:

Thanks for the post, yes it would be good if someone who understands how the system works would weigh in on the topic. This is a flashing cursor problem, not the pointer . . . as mentioned it has happened in FF and Midori, and in a number of DEs. Eanfrid's earlier repsonse helped me to try another way to install Chromium, so that will be the next step, to test if the problem happens in a third browser. I have seen other people complaining of your problem with dragging windows, might be an xorg.conf isue? My latest thoughts about my problem seems to involve the shift key, when capitalizing a letter--the cursor may jump, etc. It happened about 4 times yesterday--seems to be more in Cinn & FF, but not exclusively.

@Eanfrid: This is a laptop . . . built-in keyboard, problem doesn't happen in OSX side . . . I do use a plug-in mouse most of the time, but this is not to my mind a "mousing" problem, but seemingly a keyboard issue. "Disable touchpad when typing" box is checked off [edit: meaning it is selected, with a check mark, and is on].

e.e.p.
Last edited by este.el.paz on Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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eanfrid

Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by eanfrid »

A touchpad may be used to point and click by finger tapping, without using any button. The touchpad should be manually disabled while you use an external mouse i.e. "Disable touchpad when typing" box checked on.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

eanfrid wrote:A touchpad may be used to point and click by finger tapping, without using any button. The touchpad should be manually disabled while you use an external mouse i.e. "Disable touchpad when typing" box checked on.
Yes sir, that is exactly what I said I have done . . . "Disable touchpad when typing" is checked and is on. I'm not sure if you are providing anything additional besides explaining what a touchpad is, which is an interesting way to start the day . . . . But the idea of manually and completely turning off the touchpad each time I want to plug in a mouse??? would be a disruption to workflow . . . sometimes I don't use a mouse, if it was turned off, then each time I would need the touchpad I would have to plug the mouse in to navi to the "touchpad" GUI, turn it on, unplug mouse . . . is this what you are suggesting as an answer? As your signature line suggests . . . erasing the system is not the answer, but might solve the problem, no?

e.e.p.
Last edited by este.el.paz on Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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eanfrid

Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by eanfrid »

If the touchpad is not disabled while you use an external mouse, there are 2 pointing devices and 2 drivers trying to direct the pointer at the same time. One of them, the touchpad, is then somewhat out of control if you point and click with the mouse. If you ever touch/tap accidentally the touchpad's surface when typing on the keyboard, the mouse pointer may go wild, jump and click anywhere. This looks like what actually happens to you.

Regarding OSX, it is specifically and natively designed for your hardware. So it probably manages the simultaneous pointing devices issue when you plug a mouse in a better way than linux can ever do.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

eanfrid wrote:If the touchpad is not disabled while you use an external mouse, there are 2 pointing devices and 2 drivers trying to direct the pointer at the same time. One of them, the touchpad, is then somewhat out of control if you point and click with the mouse. If you ever touch/tap accidentally the touchpad's surface when typing on the keyboard, the mouse pointer may go wild, jump and click anywhere. This looks like what actually happens to you.

Regarding OSX, it is specifically and natively designed for your hardware. So it probably manages the simultaneous pointing devices issue when you plug a mouse in a better way than linux can ever do.
@eanfrid:

Possibly this is a language issue, "checked off" in English means it is "checked" and "on" as opposed to "un-checked" and therefore "off" . . . . So, I believe I mentioned in earlier posts that I have "Disable touchpad while typing" selected . . . which is another way of saying it is on. Having said that, in the last couple of years I've played with a number of Linux systems on my PPC computers, and while there are many more "problems" compared to OSX, I didn't have the problem of data being erased . . . ever. And, I would have had a mouse plugged in, and maybe even used the touchpad as strange as that may sound in the LM world.

Having said that, laptops have been around for how many years now? Many. I've used a mouse plugged into a laptop . . . and . . . and . . . I also use the touchpad . . . it doesn't seem like that should be "pushing the technological envelope" of Linux . . . to the point where data is erased . . . due to a mouse being plugged in. If so that does render LM more or less of a novelty system and seemingly not able to reliably handle practical tasks that a laptop does routinely. I'm trying to grasp what the take home message is here . . . we can't do stuff . . . technical stuff like using a mouse and a touchpad, even though there is a "Mouse and Touchpad" setting window . . . hopefully that doesn't make sense to others on this forum????

The problem remains unsolved, I'm seeing it happen more often with the keyboard while hitting the shift key, but not always perhaps I'll try removing Cinnamon and see if that resolves the problem . . . . The problem might have started when I added Cinnamon, perhaps it will go away when it is removed . . . .

e.e.p.
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donny662

Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by donny662 »

If it is only the flashing cursor that moves and the mouse pointer stays in the same position, I'm inclined to assume that the problem isn't mouse or touchpad related, anyway. But, to see if the problem is pointer related, consider the following:

Maybe there is an issue when the touchpad in enabled when typing ends. If you pause to use the shift key, does the software think you stopped typing and enable the touchpad? If the touchpad is enabled when you aren't actually done typing, is your hand on the touchpad causing the cursor to be moved or is there a bug in which enabling the touchpad causes a signal to be interpreted by the OS as a mouse move and click?

If the software for "Disable touchpad when typing" is enabling the touchpad when it shouldn't, try turning that setting OFF (yes off), and be more careful when typing. Or, use an external mouse and manually disable the touchpad.

The other option is to use an external keyboard, to make it impossible for you to accidently touch the touchpad (set "Disable touchpad when typing" to OFF or manually disable the touchpad). If the problem persists, you will know that accidental touchpad use and that the "Disable touchpad . . ." feature are not the cause.

I'm not saying you should make these temporary measures permanent, but it would be good to know, for sure, if the problem is related to physical accidental touchpad activation.

One thing related to the cursor moving causing data loss versus typing in a different area of the text box without data loss. Consider what happens when you click in a different area of the text box or in another text box. If you click in the same text box, and begin typing, data is added at that point but no data is lost. If you hold the shift key and click in the same text box, text is highlighted, and when you begin typing, the highlighted data is lost. If you click in another text box, like an address bar, the text may be highlighted (depending on the application), and when you begin typing, the highlighted data is lost.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

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@et al:

So I "removed" Cinnamon last night (synaptic) . . . and then for good measure I installed LXDE (terminal) . . . so far the problem hasn't happened again, but then, I haven't had to use it to type any emails or posts or word processing either . . . . So to solidify the solution, after I zeroed the dark forces of Cinnamon, I sacrificed a chicken, and while smoking a Cuban cigar and taking shots of vodka to maintain the computer in a trance-like state . . . I sprinkled some of the chicken blood (thinned with vodka) over the mouse, the touchpad, and the keyboard . . . that should probably, nothing is 100%, stave off the bad micro-bug-spirits that are trying to take over the mouse and touchpad controllers . . . . I'll provide a follow-up report on how using magic works out for dealing with this problem--desperate times call for extreme measures, what's the life of a single chicken when it comes to data/identity erasure . . . . : - )

@Donny662:

Alrighty, thanks for the additional thoughts, it seems we both agree it probably isn't the mouse or keyboard . . . and for testing purposes, the ideas you have suggested might provide some additional data that might give an idea to the problem. But, I'll have to say that this problem is not a one time occurrence for which I immediately posted a thread about--it's ongoing, but intermittent, it doesn't announce when it's going to happen, and I don't always have time to play around with, etc. Sometimes it's a once a day thing, sometimes several days go by before it happens again . . . the problem pre-dates the initial posting, so it's at least two months old. And, since it's happened enough times that actual work was deleted I have become hypervigilent about watching whether or not anything swipes the touchpad . . . . I have been wrong many times and we do know that most of life's problems are "operator error" . . . the question is how to figure out the exact nature of the error . . . but, I'm still thinking "bug." A bug report seems to be languishing in bug report purgatory as we speak . . . .

I do have a plug-in mouse and external keyboard that I could plug in and try, at some point, but that computer is now the "work" computer that travels with me to the several places where I work, so finding time to set it up as a stationary unit, again defeats the purpose of having a laptop . . . but at some point I might have the time to try it out. I'm actually hoping that it related to Cinnamon install on top of MATE base, the computer seemed to be much hotter when doing the usual stuff in Cinnamon than in all the other DEs. I'd still like to get some idea of how to eliminate this problem, I'm hoping that voodoo science will take care of it, so far it's the best shot at the problem . . . .

e.e.p.

[Edit 4/13/13: Using "eanfrid's" tips on running apt-get update, then apt-get install chromium-browser . . . I was able to install Chromium . . . so, had some time to log in to LXDE session, use a plug-in keyboard (w/o changing the "disable touchpad settings) . . . and typing this in Chromium . . . so far, all is well, but this is the longest word-processing I've had to do. Have to go to work later today, so I'll be reverting to built-in keyboard and just plug-in mouse, so I'll be looking to see if the switch to LXDE is a factor, or if removing Cinn solved the problem . . . if that could be figured out. I suppose if nothing happens in LXDE, I could re-install Cinn and see if the problem reoccurs . . . that might move the voodoo science out of the way . . . . : - ))
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by este.el.paz »

Latest update:

Well, was hoping that switching to LXDE and Chromium would solve the problem . . . but it just happened again . . . just after typing the letter "Z" . . . so some relation to the shift key? Kind of made a "splash" in the Gmail email window . . . and the cursor disappeared this time . . . it didn't relocate . . . it was gone. Hit CTRL-Z and the text disappeared . . . very irritating, but I hit CTRL-Z again and the email was back . . . . This was after trying a lot of things to change the system . . . did an "upgrade" then a "dist-upgrade" and it brought in a new kernel? "Linux header" image 40 . . . which had previously been "held back" . . . ran auto-remove . . . also for fun installed cairo dock . . . but the black box around it was a problem, tried a few things, seemed to go away, then came back--made me remove it again. So, for several days, not much emailing or posting on forums, so no problems. This AM, tried again with "autoremove" . . . but then ran "autoclean" and autoclean removed a lot of files . . . continued using and thought it was OK, until I had to type a brief email. Seemed like LXDE was the "solution" . . . but, no . . . now the cursor is disappearing, not just jumping to another place. It just keeps getting better and better, thanks for listening.

e.e.p.
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Re: Why does cursor move erratically & erase data?

Post by viking1au »

This is a very long shot, but I had a similar problem with S and T. --Sometimes S would keep running & fill a screen, T on the odd occasion and W frequently would not show. -- Add to all this, my mouse cursor would suddenly take a mad dash across the screen.
Things got bad one night when using Audacity & listening to a bit of stuff on Banshee. - On activating Audacity to record some vinyl, the speakers howled.--Could not fix it so I built up a new computer. ----On pulling the old computer apart I discovered that a service job may have been the culprit. --- A box I had bought & assembled, had the power supply give up the ghost. I took it back to the guy who sold me the bits, who agreed to replace the power supply & do the job. It took a long time to play up but when I dismantled that computer I found every screw holding the motherboard down to the chassis was VERY loose. Scarce ever touching the board. Screwing it up fixed the problem but I dismantled it anyway as I had new bits to go into the box to build this new computer.---Should also mention, playing music (Banshee) was erratic. Sometimes I had no left channel & sometimes it would cut back in. For all the world it seemed the computer was bit by bit, breaking down.

This computer is very nice but I will also be re-building the old one. There is nothing wrong with it. -- AS I SAY, A LONG SHOT, BUT ONE THAT CAN BE VERY REAL. --- Go over your machine thoroughly with a screwdriver.
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