Hi folks, new member here. My problem is similar to one posted by ohellojanie in 2009, but mine sounds even crazier. Last spring, I bought a new Dell Latitude E5530, and it seems to have a Spook in the keyboard. Just so you have some context, I often work with several programs running at once (email, internet, Excel, Word, PPT, etc).
I may work for 1-2 hours without trouble; but then if Spook suddenly gets bored with my writing, she starts playing random dirty tricks on me. For instance, if I am in Excel, she might switch me to Word, mark a paragraph, and then open the Fonts dialog box. Or if I’m working in Word, she might flick my cursor up to another line and paste whatever is on the clipboard into my document. Once, she suddenly minimized all my running programs and tiled them across the screen. Often, it is the Taskbar menu that opens randomly, but it can also be the right-click dialog, or one of the Alt commands. You get the picture: these anomalies are random, unpredictable, and absolutely maddening.
I have tried several things to either avoid the problem or find its source:
I thought it might be a Tap problem, so I completely turned off the Tap feature.
I thought it might be a touchpad problem, so I set my computer to disable the touchpad whenever I am plugged into power.
I thought I might be hitting things with my thumbs or palms, so I’ve tried typing with my palms arched way up high over the keyboard.
I thought it might be a problem with static, so I tried grounding my earlobe to a nearby floor lamp.
I’ve tried keeping pressure on different parts of the frame while typing with the other hand.
I've tried typing one letter at a time, checking the results, and then typing the next.
I’ve tried to reproduce an event by retracing where my hands were when it happened.
I’ve tried keyboarding with different facial expressions and wearing different ties.
I’ve looked for similar problems on the Dell website but have found nothing that seems relevant.
You are my only hope, Obi Wan Kenobi. In fact, this is my second writing of this post – just as I finished writing it the first time, Spook hit the back button on my browser, and I lost the entire post. I had to re-create the whole thing in Word and paste it here so she has less chance to sabotage me.
I depend on this machine for work, so I can’t really afford the time to send it back to Dell. Has anyone seen this type of thing before? Is there something my local Geek (long may he live) can do without voiding the warrantee?
Like that chap down at the off-ramp always says, “Anything helps.” Thanks in advance.
Hi Ygnatz and welcome to the WTT forums. That sounds like a mighty weird problem to me… However here's some thoughts that may help:
1 heat is the enemy of things electronic…. and computers are good at filtering out minute particulates in the air and assisted by static electricity, allowing internal components to be coated with a heat retaining blanket of dust and the like that prevents adequate cooling….. if you haven't kept on top of your monthly interior clean then it could be wise to invest in a can of low pressure compressed air (often called air dusters or the like) and taking all ESD (anti-static) and personal safety precautions carry out a thorough clean. If the laptop has ever been used on a soft surface, like for example cloth, fabric or a lap (never use a laptop on a lap unless you have a hard surface like a tray or a board underneath) or on a settee or bed etc., then this clearance of dust/detritus is even more important.
2 Have you tried using an external USB keyboard and seeing if this improves the situation?
3 Have you tried setting up a new user account? (via control panel) as sometimes any damaged files in your original user account can cause "unpredictable results)
4 Have you tried booting into safe mode and seeing if the problem persists?(remember you will not be able to access the Internet in safe mode but Word , Excel etc., should work OK (for safe mode close down with a full shutdown (not a sleep/hibernate) wait 30 seconds with a blank black screen and then power on and IMMEDIATELY start tapping once per second F8
Let us know if any of the above assist and what happens… Regards paws
just an added thought, like paws said that's some weird symptoms.
so weird in fact that i thought it might be someone's playing tricks with you and has taken control of your laptop and is doing those things on purpose, as a joke.
it might be a good idea to pop into our maleware forum and post some logs to see if there's anything malware related on there where someone else could take control whenever the wanted.
Jeeze Louise! And all this time I've been thinking of the "Spook" merely as an anthropomorphic symbol for a wierd set of symptoms. But are you saying that my computer might have an actual Spook? Not only that, but the machine could also be of such a sensitive, high-maintenance personality that I will always have to be nice to it? … I think I'm starting to miss my old VAIO.
Terry: Your suggestion that I might have an actual Spook gives me the heebie-jeebies. I would think that any prankster with enough skill and intelligence to be capable of such a thing would quickly find a more interesting citizen to play with - Tony Blair perhaps. But I will certainly look into the malware issue and let you know if I discover anything on that front.
Paws: I checked out Touch Freeze and, as I astutely suspected, it seems only to freeze the touch pad. I already accomplish this by inserting the USB antenna for my wireless mouse; so perhaps I'll put Touch Freeze in the "if-all-else-fails" column. However, one clue I failed to mention previously is that the problem does not usually start until after several minutes of work. Therefore, as you suggest, heat could very well be part of it. On the Repugnance scale, cleaning my machine every month rates somewhere between raking leaves and mucking out the rain gutters. But I fear your diagnosis may be correct, so I will give the beast a thorough internal scrubbing and let you know if that helps.
You also suggest, quite correctly, that my laptop problem might actually have to do with the lap it sits upon. One of my many former occupations was to design products made of wire and wood. Your suggestions have inspired me to create a lap support which will allow the free movement of air between man and machine. I know such things are already on the market, but this is a good excuse to get off the recliner and into the shop.
