Windows Vista Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

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*(actualsize)

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I have a brand new Dell XPS 420 running Vista, and I have an infuriating
intermittent problem.

At first, I though the left-hand mouse button was broken, because sometimes
(only sometimes,) I'd hover the arrow over a box I wanted to click and
nothing would happen. Not only would it not "click," the box wouldn't even
highlight.

After awhile I figured out that the mouse worked fine, but I had to place
the arrowhead (sometimes) about 1/4 inch higher than the spot I wanted to
click. Then, for no apparent reason, the arrowhead's mathematical position
would become synched with it's visual position and it would come back into
alignment with the check boxes and dialog boxes and such.

This happens in most any program, at any time. Or not. It is most
frustrating in Quicken when I'm trying to reconcile my checking account - I
have to hover the mouse one line up from the one I really want to click. A
minute later, I won't have to and things will line-up again.

Other programs also exhibit this occasional problem, including Vista itself.
Dialog boxes and scroll bars are particularly troublesome - at times.

The mouse is the one that came with the machine. I tried another that is
known to be good - same issue. The mouse moves fine, there is no drift or
sticking. The arrowhead itself is not jumping. It's an optical mouse, and the
surface it sits on is not reflective. I don't suspect the mouse hardware.

Anyone have this problem? Could this be a Vista bug.

Yes/no?
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

"*(actualsize)" <*(actualsize)@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CD1868B3-B4A8-44D4-B25C-43C5CEE4AA19@microsoft.com...
>I have a brand new Dell XPS 420 running Vista, and I have an infuriating
> intermittent problem.
>
> At first, I though the left-hand mouse button was broken, because
> sometimes
> (only sometimes,) I'd hover the arrow over a box I wanted to click and
> nothing would happen. Not only would it not "click," the box wouldn't even
> highlight.
>
> After awhile I figured out that the mouse worked fine, but I had to place
> the arrowhead (sometimes) about 1/4 inch higher than the spot I wanted to
> click. Then, for no apparent reason, the arrowhead's mathematical position
> would become synched with it's visual position and it would come back into
> alignment with the check boxes and dialog boxes and such.
>
> This happens in most any program, at any time. Or not. It is most
> frustrating in Quicken when I'm trying to reconcile my checking account -
> I
> have to hover the mouse one line up from the one I really want to click. A
> minute later, I won't have to and things will line-up again.
>
> Other programs also exhibit this occasional problem, including Vista
> itself.
> Dialog boxes and scroll bars are particularly troublesome - at times.
>
> The mouse is the one that came with the machine. I tried another that is
> known to be good - same issue. The mouse moves fine, there is no drift or
> sticking. The arrowhead itself is not jumping. It's an optical mouse, and
> the
> surface it sits on is not reflective. I don't suspect the mouse hardware.
>
> Anyone have this problem? Could this be a Vista bug.
>
> Yes/no?

I've never heard of this problem. Warrantee problem. Contact whoever sold
it to you for fixing or refunding.

--
Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
www.fjsmjs.com
Do not reply with email
 
RE: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

I have the same system with the same problem. I thought it was my mouse. I
will reply if I figure out a solution. Please do the same.

"*(actualsize)" wrote:

> I have a brand new Dell XPS 420 running Vista, and I have an infuriating
> intermittent problem.
>
> At first, I though the left-hand mouse button was broken, because sometimes
> (only sometimes,) I'd hover the arrow over a box I wanted to click and
> nothing would happen. Not only would it not "click," the box wouldn't even
> highlight.
>
> After awhile I figured out that the mouse worked fine, but I had to place
> the arrowhead (sometimes) about 1/4 inch higher than the spot I wanted to
> click. Then, for no apparent reason, the arrowhead's mathematical position
> would become synched with it's visual position and it would come back into
> alignment with the check boxes and dialog boxes and such.
>
> This happens in most any program, at any time. Or not. It is most
> frustrating in Quicken when I'm trying to reconcile my checking account - I
> have to hover the mouse one line up from the one I really want to click. A
> minute later, I won't have to and things will line-up again.
>
> Other programs also exhibit this occasional problem, including Vista itself.
> Dialog boxes and scroll bars are particularly troublesome - at times.
>
> The mouse is the one that came with the machine. I tried another that is
> known to be good - same issue. The mouse moves fine, there is no drift or
> sticking. The arrowhead itself is not jumping. It's an optical mouse, and the
> surface it sits on is not reflective. I don't suspect the mouse hardware.
>
> Anyone have this problem? Could this be a Vista bug.
>
> Yes/no?
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

*(actualsize) said:
I have a brand new Dell XPS 420 running Vista, and I have an infuriating
intermittent problem.

At first, I though the left-hand mouse button was broken, because sometimes
(only sometimes,) I'd hover the arrow over a box I wanted to click and
nothing would happen. Not only would it not "click," the box wouldn't even
highlight.

After awhile I figured out that the mouse worked fine, but I had to place
the arrowhead (sometimes) about 1/4 inch higher than the spot I wanted to
click. Then, for no apparent reason, the arrowhead's mathematical position
would become synched with it's visual position and it would come back into
alignment with the check boxes and dialog boxes and such.

This happens in most any program, at any time. Or not. It is most
frustrating in Quicken when I'm trying to reconcile my checking account - I
have to hover the mouse one line up from the one I really want to click. A
minute later, I won't have to and things will line-up again.

Other programs also exhibit this occasional problem, including Vista itself.
Dialog boxes and scroll bars are particularly troublesome - at times.

The mouse is the one that came with the machine. I tried another that is
known to be good - same issue. The mouse moves fine, there is no drift or
sticking. The arrowhead itself is not jumping. It's an optical mouse, and the
surface it sits on is not reflective. I don't suspect the mouse hardware.

Anyone have this problem? Could this be a Vista bug.

Yes/no?
Click to expand...

The only thing I could find that was close to what you describe was probably fixed by reinstalling or updating the video driver for the system. Unfortunately, the notes I read over are not clear as to what specific driver was reinstalled that fixed the problem, however.

From what you describe, the only other fix I can think of right off hand would be to open up the control panel and uninstall the entry for the mouse (right click and select the uninstall or remove option), then restart the computer. When it starts up it should automatically reinstall the mouse drivers (since they are part of the core Windows files). If that driver is what was corrupted this should fix it.

If you have any questions about the system itself, or neither of these suggestions fix the problem, I'll be happy to provide any additional help I can.

Larry
Dell Customer Advocate
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

I think it is fixed. After an intervention by a Dell technician, I've been
using the machine without incident for a couple of days now.

At one point, we'd seen the following error message: The display driver has
stopped working and recovered. It all came to a head when the screen
completely winked-out and went dark - no image at all. At that point we
called Dell customer service. They hooked us up with someone in their XPS
group.

The screen came back after a restart, but it wasn't fixed yet. The Dell
technician has us log onto a Dell webpage that let him remotely take over.
Things happened pretty fast, but the main thing he did was update the drivers
for our Raedon ATI 2600 XT video card.

Eveything has been normal after the reboot. No odd error messages, no
hiccups causing the image to wink out, and, most important to this thread,
the cursor offset problem has seemingly disappeared. The arrowhead now
lines-up with the dialog boxes and check boxes on the screen and, as a
result, every mouse-click works properly.

If yo u don't hear from me again, that means it hasn't recurred.

Dan

"DellCA" wrote:

>
> *(actualsize);615828 Wrote:
> > I have a brand new Dell XPS 420 running Vista, and I have an infuriating
> >
> > intermittent problem.
> >
> > At first, I though the left-hand mouse button was broken, because
> > sometimes
> > (only sometimes,) I'd hover the arrow over a box I wanted to click and
> >
> > nothing would happen. Not only would it not "click," the box wouldn't
> > even
> > highlight.
> >
> > After awhile I figured out that the mouse worked fine, but I had to
> > place
> > the arrowhead (sometimes) about 1/4 inch higher than the spot I wanted
> > to
> > click. Then, for no apparent reason, the arrowhead's mathematical
> > position
> > would become synched with it's visual position and it would come back
> > into
> > alignment with the check boxes and dialog boxes and such.
> >
> > This happens in most any program, at any time. Or not. It is most
> > frustrating in Quicken when I'm trying to reconcile my checking account
> > - I
> > have to hover the mouse one line up from the one I really want to
> > click. A
> > minute later, I won't have to and things will line-up again.
> >
> > Other programs also exhibit this occasional problem, including Vista
> > itself.
> > Dialog boxes and scroll bars are particularly troublesome - at times.
> >
> > The mouse is the one that came with the machine. I tried another that
> > is
> > known to be good - same issue. The mouse moves fine, there is no drift
> > or
> > sticking. The arrowhead itself is not jumping. It's an optical mouse,
> > and the
> > surface it sits on is not reflective. I don't suspect the mouse
> > hardware.
> >
> > Anyone have this problem? Could this be a Vista bug.
> >
> > Yes/no?
>
> The only thing I could find that was close to what you describe was
> probably fixed by reinstalling or updating the video driver for the
> system. Unfortunately, the notes I read over are not clear as to what
> specific driver was reinstalled that fixed the problem, however.
>
> From what you describe, the only other fix I can think of right off
> hand would be to open up the control panel and uninstall the entry for
> the mouse (right click and select the uninstall or remove option), then
> restart the computer. When it starts up it should automatically
> reinstall the mouse drivers (since they are part of the core Windows
> files). If that driver is what was corrupted this should fix it.
>
> If you have any questions about the system itself, or neither of these
> suggestions fix the problem, I'll be happy to provide any additional
> help I can.
>
> Larry
> Dell Customer Advocate
>
>
> --
> DellCA
> Posted via http://ms-os.com Forum to Usenet gateway
>
>
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

Reinstalled driver and that corrected the issue.

"DellCA" wrote:

>
> *(actualsize);615828 Wrote:
> > I have a brand new Dell XPS 420 running Vista, and I have an infuriating
> >
> > intermittent problem.
> >
> > At first, I though the left-hand mouse button was broken, because
> > sometimes
> > (only sometimes,) I'd hover the arrow over a box I wanted to click and
> >
> > nothing would happen. Not only would it not "click," the box wouldn't
> > even
> > highlight.
> >
> > After awhile I figured out that the mouse worked fine, but I had to
> > place
> > the arrowhead (sometimes) about 1/4 inch higher than the spot I wanted
> > to
> > click. Then, for no apparent reason, the arrowhead's mathematical
> > position
> > would become synched with it's visual position and it would come back
> > into
> > alignment with the check boxes and dialog boxes and such.
> >
> > This happens in most any program, at any time. Or not. It is most
> > frustrating in Quicken when I'm trying to reconcile my checking account
> > - I
> > have to hover the mouse one line up from the one I really want to
> > click. A
> > minute later, I won't have to and things will line-up again.
> >
> > Other programs also exhibit this occasional problem, including Vista
> > itself.
> > Dialog boxes and scroll bars are particularly troublesome - at times.
> >
> > The mouse is the one that came with the machine. I tried another that
> > is
> > known to be good - same issue. The mouse moves fine, there is no drift
> > or
> > sticking. The arrowhead itself is not jumping. It's an optical mouse,
> > and the
> > surface it sits on is not reflective. I don't suspect the mouse
> > hardware.
> >
> > Anyone have this problem? Could this be a Vista bug.
> >
> > Yes/no?
>
> The only thing I could find that was close to what you describe was
> probably fixed by reinstalling or updating the video driver for the
> system. Unfortunately, the notes I read over are not clear as to what
> specific driver was reinstalled that fixed the problem, however.
>
> From what you describe, the only other fix I can think of right off
> hand would be to open up the control panel and uninstall the entry for
> the mouse (right click and select the uninstall or remove option), then
> restart the computer. When it starts up it should automatically
> reinstall the mouse drivers (since they are part of the core Windows
> files). If that driver is what was corrupted this should fix it.
>
> If you have any questions about the system itself, or neither of these
> suggestions fix the problem, I'll be happy to provide any additional
> help I can.
>
> Larry
> Dell Customer Advocate
>
>
> --
> DellCA
> Posted via http://ms-os.com Forum to Usenet gateway
>
>
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

*(actualsize) said:
I think it is fixed. After an intervention by a Dell technician, I've been
using the machine without incident for a couple of days now.

At one point, we'd seen the following error message: The display driver has
stopped working and recovered. It all came to a head when the screen
completely winked-out and went dark - no image at all. At that point we
called Dell customer service. They hooked us up with someone in their XPS
group.

The screen came back after a restart, but it wasn't fixed yet. The Dell
technician has us log onto a Dell webpage that let him remotely take over.
Things happened pretty fast, but the main thing he did was update the drivers
for our Raedon ATI 2600 XT video card.

Eveything has been normal after the reboot. No odd error messages, no
hiccups causing the image to wink out, and, most important to this thread,
the cursor offset problem has seemingly disappeared. The arrowhead now
lines-up with the dialog boxes and check boxes on the screen and, as a
result, every mouse-click works properly.

If yo u don't hear from me again, that means it hasn't recurred.

Dan
Click to expand...
jbaker said:
Reinstalled driver and that corrected the issue.
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear both of you got things working again.

"DellCA" wrote:

>
> *(actualsize);615828 Wrote:
> > I have a brand new Dell XPS 420 running Vista, and I have an infuriating
> >
> > intermittent problem.
> >
> > At first, I though the left-hand mouse button was broken, because
> > sometimes
> > (only sometimes,) I'd hover the arrow over a box I wanted to click and
> >
> > nothing would happen. Not only would it not "click," the box wouldn't
> > even
> > highlight.
> >
> > After awhile I figured out that the mouse worked fine, but I had to
> > place
> > the arrowhead (sometimes) about 1/4 inch higher than the spot I wanted
> > to
> > click. Then, for no apparent reason, the arrowhead's mathematical
> > position
> > would become synched with it's visual position and it would come back
> > into
> > alignment with the check boxes and dialog boxes and such.
> >
> > This happens in most any program, at any time. Or not. It is most
> > frustrating in Quicken when I'm trying to reconcile my checking account
> > - I
> > have to hover the mouse one line up from the one I really want to
> > click. A
> > minute later, I won't have to and things will line-up again.
> >
> > Other programs also exhibit this occasional problem, including Vista
> > itself.
> > Dialog boxes and scroll bars are particularly troublesome - at times.
> >
> > The mouse is the one that came with the machine. I tried another that
> > is
> > known to be good - same issue. The mouse moves fine, there is no drift
> > or
> > sticking. The arrowhead itself is not jumping. It's an optical mouse,
> > and the
> > surface it sits on is not reflective. I don't suspect the mouse
> > hardware.
> >
> > Anyone have this problem? Could this be a Vista bug.
> >
> > Yes/no?
>
> The only thing I could find that was close to what you describe was
> probably fixed by reinstalling or updating the video driver for the
> system. Unfortunately, the notes I read over are not clear as to what
> specific driver was reinstalled that fixed the problem, however.
>
> From what you describe, the only other fix I can think of right off
> hand would be to open up the control panel and uninstall the entry for
> the mouse (right click and select the uninstall or remove option), then
> restart the computer. When it starts up it should automatically
> reinstall the mouse drivers (since they are part of the core Windows
> files). If that driver is what was corrupted this should fix it.
>
> If you have any questions about the system itself, or neither of these
> suggestions fix the problem, I'll be happy to provide any additional
> help I can.
>
> Larry
> Dell Customer Advocate
>
>
> --
> DellCA
> Posted via http://ms-os.com Forum to Usenet gateway
>
> [/QUOTE]
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.


Yes. So I got Vista for my Hewlett Packard and it worked out great. But
I came back to my parent's house for a while, and I have been noticing a
problem in the cursor. The machine in question is a Dell Inspiron 530
with Vista Home Premium, brand new. I decided to do my normal exercises
on their computer, when I noticed an annoying little inconvinience:I
checked the news on CNN, Yomiuri, and NBC, as usual. The cursor worked
fine.[image:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/peebles05/Yomiurifinecursor.jpg]Six
minutes later, I go to Google to look something up, and a problem occurs
with the lineup of the 'hotspot' of the cursor:[image:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/peebles05/Googlelineupproblem.jpg]Obviously
something wrong.It was fine for all the news sites, but it didn't work
for Google... hmmm...Later, I got on to make a sprite comic. I have been
making them in MS Paint for over five years, and it worked out fine...
until I used the inspiron. Anyone who makes pixel art in MS Paint knows
that the cursor location is key to making things precisely...
however:[image:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/peebles05/CursorproblemMSPaint.jpg]It
was like trying to shoot a target thirty yards away with a musket. Not
an enjoyable session.I am not wondering why there is a cursor problem. I
am wondering why there is a cursor problem with certain sites and
applications. Sometimes you have to have the cursor on top of a link to
click it. Other times, you have to be a centemeter away to click it.
Sometimes it just works the same as it has worked for fifteen years. The
inconsistency of it is the thing that annoys me.


--
Peebles05
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

Peebles05 said:
Yes. So I got Vista for my Hewlett Packard and it worked out great. But
I came back to my parent's house for a while, and I have been noticing a
problem in the cursor. The machine in question is a Dell Inspiron 530
with Vista Home Premium, brand new. I decided to do my normal exercises
on their computer, when I noticed an annoying little inconvinience:I
checked the news on CNN, Yomiuri, and NBC, as usual. The cursor worked
fine.[image:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/peebles05/Yomiurifinecursor.jpg]Six
minutes later, I go to Google to look something up, and a problem occurs
with the lineup of the 'hotspot' of the cursor:[image:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/peebles05/Googlelineupproblem.jpg]Obviously
something wrong.It was fine for all the news sites, but it didn't work
for Google... hmmm...Later, I got on to make a sprite comic. I have been
making them in MS Paint for over five years, and it worked out fine...
until I used the inspiron. Anyone who makes pixel art in MS Paint knows
that the cursor location is key to making things precisely...
however:[image:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/peebles05/CursorproblemMSPaint.jpg]It
was like trying to shoot a target thirty yards away with a musket. Not
an enjoyable session.I am not wondering why there is a cursor problem. I
am wondering why there is a cursor problem with certain sites and
applications. Sometimes you have to have the cursor on top of a link to
click it. Other times, you have to be a centemeter away to click it.
Sometimes it just works the same as it has worked for fifteen years. The
inconsistency of it is the thing that annoys me.


--
Peebles05
Click to expand...

If you have not already tried it, I would recommend reinstalling the drivers for your video card. Assuming you have not added a card to the computer, you can get the latest Dell tested driver from our support website (Drivers & Downloads). Based on the replies above the video driver update fixes the problem.

Larry
Dell Customer Advocate
 
Re: Help! Intermittent mouse/cursor misalignment.

I had the described, very irritating, inconsistant cursor problem for
three months, ever since I first installed my new Inspiron 530 early
Jan. 2008. I searched for a solution a few times, but always thought
it was due to something with the mouse or its driver. And never had
time to look into it further. Finally, as my sanity was in question
due to the constant irritation of dealing with repositioning the
cursor as it seemingly randomly was off by a quarter inch or flew off
to the corner of the screen, I found time to search for a solution.

This thread pointed me to the solution! I reinstalled the video
driver, and at last I have a normal, accurate mouse cursor.

I must add, that I hesitated to install the driver because my system
has the "ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT", and the 2600 XT driver in the list of
recommended drivers to install was listed as an AMD driver. A quick
check on Wikipedia showed me that ATI was taken over by AMD, so they
are the same.

So far, all seems well. What a relief.

Sara

> If you have not already tried it, I would recommend reinstalling the
> drivers for your video card. Assuming you have not added a card to the
> computer, you can get the latest Dell tested driver from our support
> website ('Drivers & Downloads' (http://tinyurl.com/yvb9fn)). Based on
> the replies above the video driver update fixes the problem.
>
> Larry
> Dell Customer Advocate
 
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