261126 - Toshiba AccuPoint mouse won't respond to vertical input shortly after starting browser

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(SeaMonkey :: General, defect)

Description

[Brett Blatchley]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040910
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040910

Many Toshiba laptops, like my Satelite-Pro 6100, have a pointing device they
call "AccuPoint." this is their mouse-substitute and it's similar to the
pointing-stick on IBM ThinkPads:
 
A short while after the browser is started and used, the AccuPoint will no
longer respond to vertical inputs; that is, you can't move the mouse pointer
un/down anymore. Once this happens, mousing is impossible until the AccuPoint
decides to "recalibrate." Unfortunately, you can't force a "recalibrate" so far
as I (and Toshiba) can tell. Even worse, the "calibration" seems to be
non-volatile, so even a cold/power-down/battery-out restart will not fix the
problem. Eventually, the AccuPoint will decide to "recalibrate" (something
Toshiba says it will do from time to time), and the pointer works again -- I
start using Mozilla or Thunderbird again.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
Start browser and go to a text widget on a webpage form.
(If in Thunderbird, open a new email and start typing in the message area.)

Actual Results:  
The mouse pointer starts jumping vertically with every keypress (however light
the key is pressed). Then you'll notice that the pointer only responds to
horizontal inputs. Sometimes you'll notice greatly reduced vertical sensitivity,
dropping to no vertical response a few seconds later.

Expected Results:  
It should not move the mouse pointer around without pointing inputs. It should
not try to adjust anything related to the mouse unless you specifically ask for
such an adjustment (something better left to the OS instead).

I first noticed the problem when I was using Firefox and Thunderbird. Using
Firefox by itself was never a problem, but as soon as I tried to write a new
email with Thunderbird, AccuPoint would be trashed. I could tell when it was
going to happen because as I would type my email, the mouse pointer would start
moving by itself up or down about a print-line or two by itself (nope I didn't
have the coffee jitters!). 

My theory is that it's in some text-widget code that is in common between
Mozilla 1.7.3 and Thunderbird 0.8, but is not used by Firefox. Now, I've never
seen the problem before I started using Thunderbird, and Mozilla 1.6 never had
this problem.

I've eliminatated hardware as the problem as I've checked keyboard wiring and
noted that the AccuPoint seems to be a solidstate device. No loose connections
or anything like that.

This also spans operating systems in the sense that I first started noticing the
problem with XP (sans service-pack 2), then I rebuilt my machine from scratch
with XP/SP2, and the problem started happening again when I started using
Thunderbird.

Why would any of this code "adjust" the mouse in some way? The problem is always
in the vertical axis. None of the buttons are effected. Why does the mouse
pointer "jump around" when when I type (It's not because I've had too much
coffee!)? Why does the problem span even cold reboots (is there some
non-volatile "calibration" register with these AccuPoints)?

Work Around: I can regain pointing ability by plugging-in a USB mouse, but the
AccuPoint is still useless until it decides to "recalibrate."

Note that I'm setting the severity to "Critical" because this can happen
anytime, and many laptop users don't carry a mouse with them. So when this
happens and you don't have a spare mouse to put on the laptop, then the whole
system is USELESS until the AccuPoint decides to start working again, which can
hours or even days!

Comment 1

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.