Christoph has a problem with his laptop and I'm hoping that somewhere in hubland we have a puter geek with a solution.
Chris' cat took a catnap on his laptop keyboard while it was running and now the pointer is stuck and he can't move his mouse. He doesn't have a peripheral mouse and uses the built in mousepad. He's able to e-mail me...and perhaps SEE the forums on his old mac...but he can't reply.
Any help would be appreciated!
I'm pretty sure he probably restarted it already.. so tell him to plug his old computer mouse into his laptop and see if that works.
Unfortunately he doesn't own a mouse and doubts his laptop would handle one...
I'm sure it would...with the right connection. It has to have a USB or something somewhere on it externally, right? Did they ever make laptops that couldn't accomodate peripherals?
there are usb mouses he can go into control panel click the icon with the picture of a mouse next to it then in settings see if something is arrye (spell?) USB mouses don't require installing anything they just work... he should always have a backup usb mouse anyway, their like 10.00. for 20.oo at walmart you can get a wireless usb mouse and keyboard set
logitec.
Jerrico
Can you uninstall a mouse on a laptop and then reinstall it? Or is it too much of a pain in the butt?
I'm booting up my laptop to take a look...
It has a port for the mouse... if he plugs the mouse in, it will detect it. Might have to restart, but, yeah, it will pick it up. (Unless his laptop is like 15 years old or something)
Okay...Chris...if you can read this. I'm going off what I've found in my own laptop, so I can't guarantee it's compatible with your...but...
1. Open up MY COMPUTER
2. Select VIEW SYSTEM INFORMATION
3. Select HARDWARE from the tabs
4. Select DEVICE MANAGER
5. Select MOUSE AND OTHER POINTING DEVICES
This should give you a list of what you have...then select the device that is listed beneath the last option
6. Clilck TROUBLESHOOT
Now I don't know what you have to use on your keyboard to get to all these places since your mouse is the problem...but that's my only advice atm.
Id guess it might be a physical problem - is a pad of stick thing - the stick things can get tsuck - shaking upside down can help!
did his cat recently have kittens? if he did the "utters" will leak milk into the keyboard as he sleeps which makes things stick
Oh, and Christoph, if you have a laptop with Vista on it.. just keep restarting it.. it will fix itself. My laptop has mouse issues (and blue screen stuff, and hard drive fatal errors) that go away after a restart or three. (Vista is pretty bad, lol).
I have Vista on my desk top puter...and I've never had an issue
My laptop runs on XP though...but it's strictly a gaming computer. Built for SPEED!!!
98 is the speed system. Nobody is hacking it and the gamers have optimized the crap out of it.
Anyway...I think Christoph has gone to bed and given up for tonight. Hopefully things will be better for him tomorrow and he'll be able to find something useful in here.
Either that or it's time to go back to the stone age where it's safer for him. Electronics and household gadgets don't seem to be agreeing with him lately.
N'nite all!
Just got an email from Christoph. He'll be checking the forum but might not be able to reply. Let's all wave to him...
*waves to Chris*
Ok. I can reply here. Yea. I don't have a pc mouse, just 3 mac ones. I do have two usb ports and a 15 pin connecton (like a parallellagram - wider at the bottom than the top. Ok. I'll look for a mouse tomorrow for a usb mouse. I've rebooted many, many times, and tried all kinds of shaking and key tapping) I have been into the mouse controller area but couldn't really do anything and everything looked ok anyway. But maybe I can try some more as described above. Thanks for all your help. I am very frustrated. BTW, it's op is windows xp home edition).
I think you will find that 15 pin connector is for an external monitor if you don't like the screen on your laptop?
Hi Ag: What's up? Yea, I know, just pointing out that that's what I have for ports on my computer. No, monitor is good.
Lazur: Thanks so much for the drops. I love 'em and can't stop eating them. They're addictive!
That's what you get for being a hippy rebel and trying to buck the corporate juggernaut. Suffer you commie pinko. Next time buy a PC and stop all that "proletariat" mumbo jumbo so we don't have to send a brute squad to your house.
What the heck are you talking about? Isn't anything that ain't a mac a pc?
anything that can't be fixed is not a PC. PCs break, yep, they do. The differnce between Mac and PC is subtle but huge.
PC breaks all the time, but can be fixed.
Macs "never" break, but when the do, wow, c'ya man.
yea. The computer in question is a PC. The computer I am using now to write this is an old Mac.
And I've had my PC's in the shop several times, so I know it can be fixed but don't want to be without if for several days if I can help it.
Thanks everybody:
Spryte for all your help.
Shades - I'll keep rebooting - thanks..
Lizzie - I'll keep shaking. i appreciate the suggestion.
Jerrico - I've been to the mouse area in my control panel (not easy getting there) but nothing seemed wrong. I'll try it again. Also, I'll go get a mouse tomorrow. And, my cat is a male so unless he was doing something else that would make it sticky....
Lazur - For the delicious drops.
Did I get everybody? Thank you all.
If you can get there again, maybe you could try to change pointer speed to "slow" to make it easier?
i'm going to tease some elderly now.. Good luck!
Dude, if you learned anything from your waterheater, you know not to wait for a fix. If it doesn't reboot right tomorrow, go buy a new computer. (Yes, I do that. Seriously, when my computers act retarded, I replace them. I never fix them. I don't have patience for technology with an attitude.)
I regret to inform you that I cannot afford that at this time. This one is a very expensive one, and I could only replace it with a crappy one. I think I will make this one work.
From here, it looks like the cat's got the attitude. What is it with cats and computers, anyway?
I'd invest in a USB mouse (you can usually find 'em for under/around $20, and they make cute little ones for laptop users) before replacing the whole shebang ... and transferring All That Data.
Thanks, Marian. That's what I'm going to do first thing in the morning. I agree...there is another way out of this stupid mess than just scrapping the whole computer.
Hi Christoph - maybe you should think about buying an external drive as well as the mouse so that if the thing completely decides to go to God you have everything on an unassailable disc.
sleep well Peace.
Hi ajcor: A friend of mine who I work with a lot has some at his office and said i could store my stuff on there. So, thanks, i have thought of that, because losing everything on it would be murderous.
That is great Christoph because when I lost my computer tower/hard drive about 6 weeks ago now - i was really grateful that I had done this and did not lose anything at all - apart from the fact it works well as a daily back up. hope it all works out well tomorrow. cheers.
Yeah, backing up info is huge. Especially given how hard good porn is to find. I mean, assuming you do that, which, obviously I wouldnt', but, being thoughtful, I think of stuff like that in situations like this because I can only assume it's hard to sift through all the garbage to find those few gems worth keeping if you were into porn. Or like, other stuff people might keep on their hardrives too, business crap or whatever, which I'm sure is also important... like the stuff I keep too, obviously, that is not porn.
You know, I don't have any porn on my computer. I'm more of a DVD guy.
Hi guys, you wont believe this but my mouse (USB one) also stopped working. nothing worked rebooting, switching on and off. plugging into a different USB port, etc. So I plugged in my backup travelling little (very little) mouse and viola. I then replugged my dormant mouse (dormouse?) and he started working again too. I dont' know why but I thought I would share that with you.
Computers eh like women can't live without em?
have to say I have such a love/hate relationship with my computer!!!
annie how was the roast chicken?
has your tower arrived yet?
Chris - Any luck?
I talked to the hubby about your problem and he said that the only other thing he could think of was to check for two things...
The first, is an obvious on off button near the pad (one of his laptops had this) and do the whole on/off thing.
The second...sometimes within the keypad area there is a small red switch (might not be red in all cases) and it's also an off switch for the mousepad. Sometimes it gets depressed and stuck too. Not all laptops have them...but some do.
Hi Spryte,
No Luck. There aren't any on/off switches for my mouse pad. I went and bought an external mouse this morning and it doesn't work either. I can't get to the program that controls the pointing device so I don't know if it's on or off. I guess I'll keep trying. (Plus I have a 3rd computer that is really in bad shape, but maybe I can get it working.) Otherwise, the razor blades are nearby. Thanks for all your help. Please remember me when I am gone. Goodby, cruel computer world....
Is there anything you can do to cheer up a depressed mousepad switch?
Does giving it some good news or telling it a joke help?
Spryte: Don't be silly! I WOULD NEVER...use razorblades. XXOO
Lazur: I WOULD NEVER...before I finished my drops. (wink)
Ag: Oh, pretty much the same. No luck on the stuck mouse pad on my main computer (PC). A friend is going to help me troubleshoot it over the weekend. After that, if it doesn't work, it has to go into the shop. Still trying to get the Mac working on hubpages. I've just about got everything to work, except can't view videos and no avatars next to comments, and I can't leave comments. I am searching for plugins that will help. Just upgraded Quick Time, which helped some small things but not the big ones mentioned above. I'll keep trying. Thanks for asking.
I'm surprised that a USB mouse isn't working (a P/S2 mouse, yeah, that'd almost be expected).
If you haven't already done something rash -- and who would blame you? -- you may be able to access the Start Menu by hitting the "Windows" key, then you can use your keyboard pointers to navigate to -- and through -- your Control Panel.
Haven't been exactly where you are now, but I've ended up right next door, more than once. Hope this helps.
Poor Christoph, I do feel for you as I would go mad without my computer. Unfortunately I have nothing I can add to the suggestions already made by everyone else. Hope you get it fixed soon, this place just isn't the same without you here
Marian: Thanks. Yea, I have done that, and can even open up the mouse application, but I can't do anything once I am in there, nor does it look like there is anything there that could be done. Same in the other programs, (systems, etc.) Thank you for thinking of me.
ajcor: I keep making little baby steps, but I still need the big giant step. Thanks!
Poor bastard. I would hate it if my computer took a crap. (I always hated it in the past.) I feel your pain, man. Have a beer.
Chris, I'm so sorry you're having problems w/your laptop. And this cat that slept on your keyboard is the same cat who is trying to kill you??? Sounds like an evil plot to cut off outside communications to me buddy.
Seriously though, I just asked my son, who happens to be in the process of getting all of his computer certifications, and he says that static electricity from cat hair could have created a short circuit. According to him, if the cat was sleeping on your open laptop, then it's very likely a hair or hairs from the cat got down in the little cracks and the static electricity from the hair could have short circuited something in the motherboard (which is directly underneath) and affected the usb ports. If your laptop is running, then obviously the motherboard isn't seriously affected, but he says that usb ports are very sensitive to static electricity.
Do you have a warranty? A good computer person or shop certified to work on laptops that's reasonable? I'm so sorry you're having this trouble. I too have had computer problems for over a week and had to have my hard drive completely wiped out yesterday.
Good luck.
Do you have a warranty? A good computer person or shop certified to work on laptops that's reasonable? I'm so sorry you're having this trouble. I too have had computer problems for over a week and had to have my hard drive completely wiped out yesterday. Good luck.
poor Pam - your hard drive completely wiped out yesterday! that is awful. Did you have back-up? cheers.
Thanks for asking Ajcor. No, I didn't have anything backed up. My computer is pretty much an empty shell right now, but all of my software is on cd. I'm doing some minor things on a very, very old laptop until I can reload my programs. As far as my files go, once I realized a wipeout was looming, I started zipping and emailing folders to myself, and I'm really hoping they will be clean after a virus scan (if I can even scan them, haven't tried yet) so that I won't lose all that information. Oh well. Lesson learned and it could be worse.
Pam TG you had time to do a spot of heavy duty emailing to yourself of your stuff - truly technical I know - I have just come through an interesting time with losing everything on the hard drive - however I had an external hard drive I saved to when I remembered so all is ok. Hope you can get everything off your email system. cheers
Thanks Shades. Have one for me.
Hi Pam: Interestionly enough, I got an email from agvulpes a short time ago suggesting static electricity might be the culprit. Yea, I do have a good repair shop, and will probably end up taking it there next week. i am having another problem that I think will require a complete wipe of my hard drive (and of course I have nothing backed up, intending to do it before I took it to the repair shop.) Thanks a lot for the info and for asking your son. I hope to be back to normal (the computer I mean - it's too late for me to get back to normal) soon. I appreciate your help!
Christoph - XOXO Back atcha!
I hope you and your friend find the problem over the weekend...though I understand that fixing laptops can be a major hassle. It's been a while since I've had any major computer problems (knock on tower)...but I can remember the panic and withdrawals when I only had one computer and I couldn't use it to communicate with the world.
Thankfully my husband came with six computers in his dowry...and the big tub of course. It was a very tough decision...one guy had a flock of goats...but in the end technology won.
Look at it this way...you can spend a whole bunch of time writing...and then impress everyone with all your hubs when you get your system back!
Christoph ...
My cats would like to hold a counseling session with yours. They are staunch advo-cats for heavy-duty training. They say that if your cat followed their program, there's a fairly good chance that your execution might not be necessary.
Oh, and they would also advise that laptops are to be confiscated, not destroyed.
I'm thinking maybe we should just send all 3 felines to somebody more deserving of their ardent attentions ...
Deep condolences. Here's hoping you find a speedy -- and super-competent -- tech.
I hope you get it fixed soon so you won't miss all the hubbers too much
ajcor: Thanks. I'll do my best to get it straightened out. Thanks for your support.
Spryte: I can see how you had a tough decision what with all the goats. Boy, if his family had kicked in a couple of sheep, they might have landed a great lady! As for writing and impressing you, uh...yea...that's my goal. I'll get started on that right away. Maybe my cat slept on my head, I got static electricity of the brain, and somehow it made me a good writer.
Lazur: Thanks for your encouragement.
Marian: I have been saying it for a long time - that there is a major cat conspiracy in the works. Everyone laughed! "Ha, ha," laughed everyone! Well, who's laughing now?
ajcor: Yes. I think introducing a cat into the mix might make for an interesting situation.
G'day mate how doe's the puter saga go today?
btw the text in this particular forum has changed from the normal font to a yukky one, has anyone else got the same effect?
G'day mate how doe's the puter saga go today?
btw the text in this particular forum has changed from the normal font to a yukky one, has anyone else got the same effect?
Yes, I have the yukky text too, so I guess everyone has it.
Hi Misty! any ideas why we are getting that text?
I'm not getting the quote boxes either!
Hi Agvulpes and Misty: Hi! As for text, I'm not sure what your talking about. Mine looks smaller, but I am working on a mac instead of a pc, so that might be why mine looks different. I wouldn't say it's yucky. What does it look like?
Oh, By the way. I am back up and running. i want to thank everyone for their help and suggestions. I never did get my pc's touchpad or mouse working. I think that it IS the static electricity, which probably shorted out a sensor controlling the USB ports and the synaps pointing device. This was suggested by Pam Roberson and Agvulpes. I upgraded my old iMac from OS 9.* to Mac OS 10.4 Tiger (for those that may be interested) and got the current version of Firefox, and I'm running on full cylinders. Nice to be back.
Ag: Yes, I see what you mean. No lines around the quotes. I don't like that.
ok, I had the yucky text, but then when the forum opened a new page with Christoph's last post, the text got normal again. That was wierd. Like, whatever was infecting Christoph's computer got into the forum, but now that his computer is fixed, the forum is too. [insert creepy music here]
WB, Christoph.
Shades: Thanks. It's good to be back. I don't have a word processor working yet though.
Ag: Yes, I fixed the funky type.
Spryte: Hi, Spryte! Nice to see you!
Good to have you back Christoph, we all missed you.
My text is all back to normal now too since we moved on to page 5. Must have been a bug in the system I guess.
Thanks, Lazur. Ditto. The cat is currently still alive, but I cannot guarantee his continued well-being. Thanks!
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Here's to more of your coolness!
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