mouse pointer drifting on screen on its on

[Bill Tisdale]

Yesterday my mouse pointer started drifting on it's own
across my desktop. Sometimes it was faster than others.
I have a Dell laptop inspiron 4000 and have computer with
external mouse and mouse pad. The external mouse stopped
working but I have a small amount of control of the mouse
pad when it is drifting slowly. Dell tech support went
through all their checks and finally suggested I reload
windows XP. I did a reinstall repair and after it kept
drifting I started backing up for a full format install
and amazingly it stopped drifting right before I
formatted. With my old copy of xp I went up on the web
for updates and after the critical service pack 1
installed the mouse is drifting again! Any ideas on what
I need to do? I believe my hardware is fine.

 

[OKlier]

have you tried a different mouse?

 

[Bill Tisdale]

I have tried a new ps2 mouse. Nothing changed. I am
also using my touch pad on the lap top and have the same
problem with a small amount of control. Other things I
have tried are:

I did load the newest touchpad driver from Dell with
their technical help...in fact we tried everything that
was on their check sheet. Their final suggestion was to
reinstall windows in the repair mode which did not help.
Their next move was to do a reformat and load xp from
scratch. My mouse has been working fine untill a few days
ago. The drifting gets better and worst...when I have
the problem the ps2 mouse will not work at all I do have
some control with the touch pad. Any more suggestions?

Thanks
Bill