Hey all. I'm really not sure what to do with this Toshiba laptop. right on boot up the mouse just takes off, usually to the right, and sometimes unrecoverable - as in you can't get it back. it doesn't just go to the edge and stop. it simply disappears off the side of the screen and that's it. and no, there isn't a dual monitor setting, like I said, this is a base clean install of xp with no changes. can't change anything anyway, keyboard can only do so much anymore in Windows. and I've done the nubby cleaning/testing with/without it and stuff like that. external usb optical mouse doesn't matter - connected or not. I rebuilt it with xp sp2 again just to see if by some slim chance it was a software problem, but with no changes to the os the problem still exists. I would like some input on everyone's part as far as should I get it fixed somehow somewhere or just fork over about $600 for a new Dell. please give me all your opinions. this problematic laptop was purchased for $600 about three years ago. Do you think a new m/b would solve it? I tried to find a place to disable the onboard mouse but to no avail. can only disable ext. usb mouse setting. Thanks for any help on this. :( Chuck

Could this be a laptop with that odd metal around the touchpad. That metal is some stupid thing that drives people crazy. Don't know what it is for really. My guess is it is either damaged, some crud on it or actually installed wrong/defective file. Remove all power.Then start with cleaning the area around the touchpad with a bit of distilled water on a lint free cloth and dry with a lint free cloth. The touchpad might be disabled or features disabled in the toshiba controls or within windows. I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

Do not pay to get it fixed - probably minimum $200. Put any money toward a new laptop which is 10 times better than this laptop You best bet is to remove the driver/service for the touchpad so it is disabled. Sounds like a hardware problem (including dirt) so you want to somehow disable the touchpad. Then the external maouse will hopefully work. Based on brand and model you should be able to google for how to disable the touchpad ASUS M2NPV-VM <> Athlon X2 4200+ <> 2GB 800Mhz <> 1TBinternal storage 1TB DAS usb <> nVidia Geforce 6150 <> Samsung 22"

Just for grins you might try a live linx cd just to prove a bit more it is a hardware issue and not a windows issue. I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

Thanks all. as per the consensus from my quick read through here, Fedora sounds like a great option. not just for hw testing reasons, but because it really is a superior OS. oh, and by the way, it is not a touch pad but a little joystick in the middle of the kb. hence the original line: "and I've done the nubby cleaning/testing with/without it and stuff like that." Nubby = joystick in kb. :) Thanks again to all! Chuck