Strange laptop problem - tech help needed!

[Shikton]

Right, this little problem confuses me. My neighbour has a laptop where mouse clicks don't work when the computer boots up, but after pushing ctrl+alt+del it works again all of a sudden. That's all I do to make it work. But it bugs the hell out of me that I can't figure out what the problem is!

Now, I'm not too tech savvy myself, but I tried uninstalling loads of useless software that Acer cram their computers with, turned off a few startup programs, updated drivers and cursed at the damn thing. Nothing worked.

Anybody have any ideas as to what this could be, and how to fix it? Other than format c::smallsmile:

[KuReshtin]

Is this problem on both the internal mousepad/trackpoint and n external mice, or is it just on the internal mouse?
Is it just the mouse keys that doesn't work, so you can still move the cursor around, or doesn't the cursor move at all?

Considering it starts working when you hit ctrl+alt+del, there's nothing mechanically faulty with the mouse buttons or the connection between the mouse buttons and the system board.
If you just leave the machine standing for a few minutes, do you still have the problem (just so it's not just that the driver isn't loading properly, and it takes a while for it to initialize)?

[Don Julio Anejo]

Stupid and obvious question, but... If you're talking about the touchpad, is it enabled? There should be a pair of keys, something like Fn+F5 which enables/disables it. It may be off by default.

[Shikton]

It's enabled. The cursor moves around, but clicking on things doesn't work until I've pushed ctrl alt del.

Haven't tried with an external mouse.

EDIT: And leaving the laptop on for a while doesn't work either apparently. :smallfrown:

[lesser_minion]

That sounds like some kind of security 'feature'. Windows is set up so that it's the only thing that 'sees' Ctrl+Alt+Delete being pressed.

I've never seen something like that before. What OS does the laptop use? And when did the problem start? Has it always been like this, or did it start recently?

Oh, and finally, do you mind if I cross-post this to the computer help thread? Quite a few people have that bookmarked, so it should be a lot more visible to all the really techie guys.


This might be relevant to you (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/accessibility/ctrlaltdeleteforlogon.mspx).

[Shikton]

It hasn't always been like this, no. One day they turned on the computer and they couldn't click anything. I noticed that no other buttons work than ctrl alt del and moving the cursor around as well.

The OS is Vista Home.

I don't mind this being posted anywhere else, it would be awesome if I could fix this without having to send it away for warranty service where they'd probably just clean the whole thing out and do a fresh install.

[lesser_minion]

Have a look and see what the MMC has to say about it.

Type "secpol.msc" into the start menu search box, and click on it when it appears.

You'll get a UAC prompt here.

You need to be careful - you're editing some of the most advanced settings in Windows.

Go to Local Policies > Security Options and have a look at the settings that start "Interactive logon:"

If one of those settings has changed somehow, that might be the cause of the problem.


I'm guessing that this is how the computer would behave if the Ctrl+Alt+Delete thing had been enabled in the registry even though you aren't being asked to log on.

[Shikton]

Thanks for the help guys, but I figured out what the problem was. The right mouse button was sort of stuck (at least that's what the icon looked like), so after uninstalling and installing the driver for the touchpad a few times and that not working either, I decided a good old Punch of Frustration was in due order. Now it works. :smallsmile:

HappyShik for teh win!