Laptop Frozen?

goodmum

My laptop froze last night. The cursor is stuck in the middle of the screen and wont move an inch. I don't have a mouse (but will borrow on from work and try it later), but I turned it off, turned it on again - took out the battery etc and still the arrow is centre-screen...tried ctrl/alt/delete...
Cant get back to the shop until the weekend...any ideas?

Gone Drinking

Sounds like the driver for the touchpad is knackered. What version of windows are you running?

Try a system restore

goodmum

How do I do a system restore? Sorry, I'm a bit clueless! I have Windows XP...

Boom_Bap

A system restore is not necessary at this point, try looking at the drivers first. With a system restore you will most likely loose files from your machine depending on when you last check pointed it.

Press Start, open the Control Panel, open System, move to the Hardware tab, press the Device Manager button.
You'll see Mice and Pointing devices, expand the list and see if there is anything with a red X or yellow !

This indicates that the driver is either disabled or not working properly. There are some trouble shooting options available in the properties menu. But the best thing to do is find out the name of the driver, google it and then download and install.

goodmum

The thing is....I can't move the cursor to Start to begin any of this....???

Boom_Bap

You'll have to go old school and use the keyboard to go through the menus. Or, attach an external mouse if you are more comfortable that way.

Gone Drinking

You won't lose any files, doing a system restore. And as he can't move the cursor and probably would find it hand to navigate without it, system restore would be a good start.

While at the desktop, press the windows key (bottom left) + R (so you press the windows key and hold it, then pres the letter R)

This will open the command prompt line, in there type %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe and hit enter.

You'll be at the System Restore screen. Make sure the option "Restore my computer to an earlier time" is selected, (if not, use the arrow keys to move the option). Hit enter.

Next you'll be given a date of the last system restore point, hit enter again and that should be it. You might be asked are you sure, just hit enter again

goodmum

Thanks for that - its the laptop at home so I'll try this tonight as Im in work at the moment. Thanks again, I'll report back:)

ED E

Hold on a sec.

Have you disabled it? There is often a hotkey for doing so on the keyboard for people who are typing large amounts and using an external mouse.

What model is your computer?

goodmum

Its an e-machine (previously acer I think?). One of the cheaper ones..tho it cost 500 just 3 months ago...

Gone Drinking

Lethal_Bullet could be onto something there, try this

"Look at the middle cover (above the keyboard). there are two buttons that touch the power switch, the one to the left enables/disables the touchpad. If it shows an orange light it is disabled. Just press it, and be careful not to hit it when turning unit on."

Got it from google, not sure if its your model of E-Machine

goodmum

GENUIUS!!! I'm back!!
Thanks so much for that guys (I logged on with my pals laptop when I got home to check here).

How come not one of the 3 IT guys I asked in work today had one clue about that button? No more than I did!

So I obviously had a blonde moment and pressed it in error....brill.
Thanks again!!

ED E

KISS, it works:)

Shame on the "IT" guys, thats a very common thing, its happened to me and I've seen it happen twice to family.

goodmum

Shame on them is right! One of them had me ringing emachines in the Uk support helpline - but its a b/h there today, so no joy.
This reminds me of the time I rang Bord Gais to say my heating wasnt working. The guy walked in, and turned on the Power Switch and said 'Ehh luv...you had it turned off....that'll be 75euro call out please!'

Thanks again...:D