Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2019 July 4

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July 4

strange display events

I have a Dell Inspiron 13-7368 laptop about 30 months old which intermittently goes crazy. The display will flash up and down wildly over the magnification range and browser pages from different tabs will switch back and forth. The cursor will freeze but quiver at the side of the screen. With some effort I can get it up to the top and click on another tab, which will come up normal. But the, most of the time, that tab and others will become corrupted too. Applications like Word can also be affected.The icons in the task tray are not affected.

After a while, say 20-30 minutes, the problem goes away. One time it was much longer than this. Turning the computer off and on doesn't seem to make a difference.

Thanks, --Halcatalyst (talk) 14:33, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

Sounds like it might be the keyboard, maybe the arrow keys. Would holding down the arrow keys, perhaps with ALT and/or CTRL and/or SHIFT and/or WINDOWS/APPLE key cause those results ? If so, you may need a new keyboard. Ever spill anything on the keyboard ? Since that's painful to replace on a laptop, you might try an external keyboard. Annoying to have to carry, but it would be a cheap fix if it works. It could also be the pointing device, so you could try an external mouse. (BTW, you aren't using a wireless keyboard or mouse, are you ?) SinisterLefty (talk) 14:41, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

Right now (normal mode), WINDOWS/arrow keys shrinks the window and moves it around in various ways, but that's all. I'll try this next time "abnormal mode" happens. I do have a wireless mouse (and forgot to mention Windows 10).

I would try a wired mouse, since wireless mice act goofy when at the range limit, which is incredible short, especially if the batteries are low. There's also the potential for interference. SinisterLefty (talk) 21:48, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

Forgot to mention I use both Chrome and Firefox... it happens with both. Hasn't happened now for 3-4 days. --Halcatalyst (talk) 14:07, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

OK. I suggest having a wired mouse handy so you can plug it in the next time this happens, to see if the problem goes away. SinisterLefty (talk) 17:06, 5 July 2019 (UTC)