Strange cursor behavior

[GHM]

My cursor has suddenly developed a new behavior - I'm editing a document, and
the cursor will jump down a line or so below the point where I was inserting
new text. New text that I type in does go where it is "supposed" to go.

However, any existing text below jumps around as if it was moved. The
movement is pretty distracting and it is hard to tell where I'm inserting
text since the blinking insertion point no longer indicates the "real" curson
position.

I'm using Word 2003. I am on a laptop and I am confident that this is not a
touchpad issue as it happens when I am even using just the mouse or when
nothing is near the touchpad.

I appreciate any help anyone can give.

 

[Beth Melton]

You don't need to be near the touch pad on a laptop for this to happen. On
my old laptop the vibration of the fan kicking on, or my typing, would cause
the cursor to move. The way to check this is to add another mouse and
disable the touchpad.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[GHM]

Thanks - Makes sense. I am using an external mouse and dont use the touchpad.
The weird thing is that it is the blinking insertion point that appears to
move - usually up or down one line - but if I type, the new text is interted
where the blinking insertion point was (but does not appear to be). However,
any text below the new text jumps down (and then upgain) as if I were
inserting new line breaks.

Any other suggestions? Could this be a hardware issue? Possibly a problem
with failing hardware?

 

[Beth Melton]

But is the touchpad automatically disabled when you use your external mouse?
That's the only thing that worked for me. Plus you should disable it in
order to rule it out.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[GHM]

Now that I'm back on the laptop, and have disabled the touchpad, this
behavior is still happening. Any other ideas?

 

[Beth Melton]

If it's not the touchpad then it could be a graphics or hardware issue. You
might try updating both your graphics driver and mouse driver.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/