Spectre x360 pointer erratic and jumping - repeat problem

[MikeVG]

My pointer has become extremely erratic, even without inputs from the touchpad or from an external (Bluetooth) mouse. It often disappears, and jumps to the edges of the display, or oscillates within a small region but while still allowing function like typing to continue in the correct space. This happened several months ago and was resolved after several attempts. Have seen very similar posts but none with long term fixes. My system appeared to have been fixed for several months until just after the recent Windows update (unable to provide direct causal evidence but just too coincidental).

I cannot recall the technical details to recreate the fix so need that help again.  But the technician who was able to finally correct this described the repair as "turning off" the fine touch pointing feature of the touch screen. After this feature was "turned off", I was not really able to see a degraded performance in touchscreen pointing, but my touchpad (and remote mouse) cursor/pointer became completely stable and predictable again.

Please help!

MikeVG 

[Riddle_Decipher]

@MikeVG

Welcome to the HP Forums 🙂 

I would like to take a moment and thank you for using this forum, it is a great place to find answers. 

As I understand the touchpad as issues such as erratic and jumping movement,

No worries, as I'll be glad to help you, that said, I'll need a few more details to dissect your concern & provide an accurate solution: 

To confirm, does the issue occur on the external mouse as well?

If yes, please try the below steps:

Disable the touchpad and check,

If the external mouse works when the touchpad is disabled on Synaptic software,

it would mean that it's a touchpad failure, 

However, if the external mouse doesn't work either, it could be a software/driver issue). 

Uninstall and reinstall the drivers for your mouse: 

Go to the Device Manager and select your mouse. Uninstall it and then restart your computer. During restart, your mouse driver will automatically be reinstalled. 

• 1.   Click on Start and type ‘Device Manager’. 

• 2.   Click Device Manager. 

• 3.   Click + sign next to Mouse. 

• 4.   Right-click on mouse entry and choose "uninstall". 

• 5.   Restart your computer. 

Also, check if the issue persists on the BIOS screen (accessed by Tapping F10)

Keep me posted,

If I have helped you resolve the issue, feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, 

Followed by clicking on "Accept as solution" button,

Have a great day!

[MikeVG]

Thanks for reply Riddle D.
Yes, the erratic behavior happens with both the touchpad and the external mouse.
The erratic behavior continues when using the mouse even the touchpad turned off, although I will repeat a few more times to confirm given the intermittent nature of the problem. It can sometimes be non-existent, sometimes so disruptive as to make the device unusable.
Do you have any information regarding"turning off" the touchscreen (vice touchpad) fine point feature which seemed to correct the problem previously?
S,
Mike V

[Riddle_Decipher]

@MikeVG

Thank you for replying with this detailed response 😉 

I appreciate your time and efforts,

Just to clarify, if you feel that this is a touchscreen failure, did you check if the issue persists in BIOS? if not I recommend checking it on BIOS screen (Accessed by tapping on F10 while restarting the computer). 

If it works on bios, it's a software issue: please reinstall the display drivers, install the latest updates for the display adapters and BIOS, if the issue persists,  

You could reinstall the windows using the recovery partition or the recovery media to fix the issue. 

If it doesn't work on BIOS either, it's a hardware failure and you may need to Contact HP to set up a hardware repair service. 

Keep me posted,

If the information I've provided was helpful, 

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons, 

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[MikeVG]

Riddle D.;

Caught my computer in a particularly nasty, almost unusable state due to the consistent erratic behavior.

Was able to try all sugggestions above:

Confirmed;

erratic on (just) touchpad

erratic on touchpad with bluetooth mouse enabled

erratic on bluetooth mouse with touchpad disabled

erratic after uninstalling mouse/restart

erratic after F10 tap during restart, although I do not know how to confirm that this is "BIOS" mode running

I do not want to uninstall/reinstall windows as I know of the enormous sump of time required to do that and reconstitute my machine in the configuration I've been using.

Before I do something that drastic again, I want to try the same fix we performed last year first: to "disable" that fine tune/touchscreen feature, if you help me navigate to and find that.

Sincerely,

Mike V

[Riddle_Decipher]

@MikeVG

Thank you for responding,

It's great to have you back 😉

That's quite alright, it seems like you've done all the relevant steps and I appreciate this!

The only thing left to do, is have the device repaired/replaced as it's a hardware malfunction,

HP Support can be reached by clicking on the following link: http://h22207.www2.hp.com/us-en/?openCLC=true

(1) Once the support page opens please select the country in which you're located. Next, enter your HP model number on the right.

(2) Next, choose the 'Contact Support' tab at the top and scroll down to the bottom of the 'HP Support- Contact' page to fill out the form provided with your contact information.

(3) Once completed click the 'Show Options' icon on the bottom right.

(4) Lastly, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select 'Get the phone number.' A case number and phone number will now populate for you.

They will be happy to assist you immediately. 

If the unit is under warranty repair services under the manufacturer's warranty will be free of charge.

If I have answered your queries, feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, 

Followed by clicking on "Accept as solution" button for my efforts to help you.

Have a great day!

[MikeVG]

Thanks Riddle D.

Will apply for repair service. To be clear, can you specify what hardware you believe this troubleshooting has indicated needs to be repaired/replaced?

Will your list of troubleshooting efforts be captured and included somewhere, somehow, or should I copy this entire thread of communication?

I am skeptical as to hardware failure since a technician had previously helped me repair. Perhaps that was a software fix that disabled a hardware feature, but I need your help to understand what hardware was "suddenly and abruptly" reenabled after Windows update. This issue had been demonstrably resolved for several months, then abruptly returned.

Thanks for your help.

Mike V.  

[Riddle_Decipher]

@MikeVG

Thank you for responding,

It's great to have you back 😉

Considering the steps you've performed it looks like the issue is with the touchscreen,

you may need to replace the display assembly.

Click here to replace the part via the HP Parts Surfer & HP Parts Store.

The alternative is to Contact HP as directed previously.

I hope that helps!

If the information I've provided was helpful, 

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons, 

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[999Graham999]

I too have the "Touchscreen ghost touches - touches when I'm not touching the screen" problem with my HP Pavilion x360 13-u101na. The first occurrence seemed to coincide with a Windows update and only on a few web pages. I found the only thing to do was to turn off the touchscreen in device manager. However I just had another windows update and it got a whole lot worse, first because it turned the touchscreen back on again and because it just jumps all over the place making it hard to get past the password screen let alone use it.

I did eventually manage to get it to start and turned off the touchscreen again so at least I can use it with the keyboard and touchpad. However, it rather defeats why I bought a touchscreen 360, so I started to see if I could find a solution or at least what the problem is. Eventually I got to the HP Virtual Agent (Beta) and it seems when I ran the “Run HP PC UEFI Hardware Diagnostics Component test (F2) for the touchscreen” it highlighted a row of blocks that are cancelled without me touching the screen. This and various forums I tried, suggest this is a hardware fault and I need to return it.

The only problem is I cannot find how to raise a fault.

Please could you confirm my diagnosis or even better suggest how to resolve the issue, and failing that let me know how to get it fixed.

Thank you

Graham

[MikeVG]

Graham,

None of the previously mentioned steps fixed or even affected my computer's erratic pointer.

HP online help tried as much as they could remotely, but to no effect either. They even sent me a thumb drive to reboot and reload Windows which also did not improve or fix.

I did finally try several things on my own, and seem to have temporarily resolved by disabling the touchscreen pen.

I'll be filing with HP for some kind of hardware resolution or replacement.

Good luck.