5 ms·

i have an x1 carbon and i hate it. There is an bug with the trackpoint and mouse pad that makes the pointer drift randomly. I have had my computer back and fort

i have an x1 carbon and i hate it. There is an bug with the trackpoint and mouse pad that makes the pointer drift randomly. I have had my computer back and forth and replaced everything. It still drifts

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
close04 6y ago
That's something that plagued my ThinkPads since forever, made worse when they moved from the rounded trackpoint nub to the flat one. Easy fix, take out the rubber trackpoint nub and put it back (maybe clean the area a bit). Or disable it if you're more productive with the touchpad.
- blodkorv 6y ago
  sadly the touchpad is wonky too and sometimes its glitchy
koverda 6y ago
The bug with the trackpoint is if you rest your finger on the trackpoint. If you lift your finger, it should stop drifting.
- blodkorv 6y ago
  no it dont stop when i lift my finger.
codemac 6y ago
> There is an bug with the trackpoint and mouse pad that makes the pointer drift randomly. If it drifts in a single direction in that time, I found it was actually a physical problem and fixed it by cleaning around the trackpoint. I haven't seen this in software though, I currently have the X1 gen 6. Which do you have? Which bug is it? I'd love to see if there is a way to help.
- blodkorv 6y ago
  my track point been replaced and cleaned two times. Its not just the track point but the mouse pad is wonky too.
majormajor 6y ago
This was an eventual issue on my X61 in 2008 and on my T4something in 2018. It's a shame. I had to just apply a lot of pressure in random directions to the trackpoint to get it to stop, periodically.
efficax 6y ago
This has been a problem with trackpoints since as long as I can remember. Definitely saw pointer drift on a thinkpad running XP, and see it today on their latest. Wonder if they'll ever actually solve it.
pengaru 6y ago
Maybe new thinkpads are exceptionally bad, because I've used thinkpads daily for decades now and have never had this problem. X40, X61, numerous X61S's, X201S, X220, X230, X250, and mix of T-series machines back in the day, not once has this been an issue for me. And I abuse these machines to the point that I replace the worn-polished and sloppy keyboards, and often crack the chassis, they don't live an easy life under my hands. The only remotely related phenomenon I've seen is after resting on the trackpoint steadily long enough, it learns that to be the new center as it's constantly adapting. So upon finally removing my resting finger, it will drift just long enough for the adaptive centering to update and the drift stops. But that's perfectly normal and very short-lived.
- rmsaksida 6y ago
  I have OP's problem (drifting trackpoint) with an x230. To be honest I had never looked it up or saw it mentioned before, I just kind of live with it. Sometimes the cursor randomly starts drifting and I have to play a little with the trackpoint to get it to stop. It is occasionally annoying but doesn't bother me that much. In any case, it is the x230, so looks like the problem isn't exclusive to newer models.
  - pengaru 6y ago
    This makes me wonder if it has to do with the OS/driver configuration. I've always run the trackpoints as PS/2 mice in Linux which is basically the legacy compatibility mode, and I don't use the touchpad. So I'm not running the Synaptics driver at all, and I do remember when I tried using the Synaptics driver on the X250 @ my previous employer it was very frustrating until I got rid of that and got things back in old-fashioned PS/2 mouse emulation mode. I wasn't having problems with drift, it was more click behavior and acceleration curves being very wonky. But maybe if you're driving things at the Synaptics driver level there's a tighter integration and the OS/driver plays a bigger part in recentering the trackpoint. I'm just speculating here. They've all been bulletproof used as PS/2 mice.
  - numpad0 6y ago
    Kind of inherent to its nature, pressure sensing device like TrackPoint has too much precision and dynamic range to be hardware zeroed. Instead the firmware takes average value over time and regard that as the current neutral, and if your finger is on it longer than that integration period, the sum of mechanical imperfection, planetary gravity, heat, whatever noise AND weight of your finger all combined becomes a new zero point. The solution is to lift your finger off of TrackPoint and letting it wander until pointer stops. There’s nothing mechanically wrong or damaging in and around that, again, just how it is. Same as how digital kitchen scales or body weight scales need to calibrate itself upon powerup, except TrackPoint does it on the fly.
strenholme 6y ago
This is a known quirk of Thinkpad trackpoints. Once in a blue moon, the mouse pointer drifts randomly; touching or nudging the trackpoint usually makes it stop. Regardless, it stops doing it on its own after a minute or two. My old IBM 600X (1998 era) had this issue, as did my 2013 T430 and my current 2017 T470, although it hasn’t happened for a long time.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

close04 6y ago

That's something that plagued my ThinkPads since forever, made worse when they moved from the rounded trackpoint nub to the flat one. Easy fix, take out the rubber trackpoint nub and put it back (maybe clean the area a bit). Or disable it if you're more productive with the touchpad.

blodkorv 6y ago
sadly the touchpad is wonky too and sometimes its glitchy

koverda 6y ago

The bug with the trackpoint is if you rest your finger on the trackpoint. If you lift your finger, it should stop drifting.

blodkorv 6y ago
no it dont stop when i lift my finger.

codemac 6y ago

> There is an bug with the trackpoint and mouse pad that makes the pointer drift randomly. If it drifts in a single direction in that time, I found it was actually a physical problem and fixed it by cleaning around the trackpoint. I haven't seen this in software though, I currently have the X1 gen 6. Which do you have? Which bug is it? I'd love to see if there is a way to help.

blodkorv 6y ago
my track point been replaced and cleaned two times. Its not just the track point but the mouse pad is wonky too.

majormajor 6y ago

This was an eventual issue on my X61 in 2008 and on my T4something in 2018. It's a shame. I had to just apply a lot of pressure in random directions to the trackpoint to get it to stop, periodically.

efficax 6y ago

This has been a problem with trackpoints since as long as I can remember. Definitely saw pointer drift on a thinkpad running XP, and see it today on their latest. Wonder if they'll ever actually solve it.

pengaru 6y ago

Maybe new thinkpads are exceptionally bad, because I've used thinkpads daily for decades now and have never had this problem. X40, X61, numerous X61S's, X201S, X220, X230, X250, and mix of T-series machines back in the day, not once has this been an issue for me. And I abuse these machines to the point that I replace the worn-polished and sloppy keyboards, and often crack the chassis, they don't live an easy life under my hands. The only remotely related phenomenon I've seen is after resting on the trackpoint steadily long enough, it learns that to be the new center as it's constantly adapting. So upon finally removing my resting finger, it will drift just long enough for the adaptive centering to update and the drift stops. But that's perfectly normal and very short-lived.

rmsaksida 6y ago
I have OP's problem (drifting trackpoint) with an x230. To be honest I had never looked it up or saw it mentioned before, I just kind of live with it. Sometimes the cursor randomly starts drifting and I have to play a little with the trackpoint to get it to stop. It is occasionally annoying but doesn't bother me that much. In any case, it is the x230, so looks like the problem isn't exclusive to newer models.
- pengaru 6y ago
  This makes me wonder if it has to do with the OS/driver configuration. I've always run the trackpoints as PS/2 mice in Linux which is basically the legacy compatibility mode, and I don't use the touchpad. So I'm not running the Synaptics driver at all, and I do remember when I tried using the Synaptics driver on the X250 @ my previous employer it was very frustrating until I got rid of that and got things back in old-fashioned PS/2 mouse emulation mode. I wasn't having problems with drift, it was more click behavior and acceleration curves being very wonky. But maybe if you're driving things at the Synaptics driver level there's a tighter integration and the OS/driver plays a bigger part in recentering the trackpoint. I'm just speculating here. They've all been bulletproof used as PS/2 mice.
- numpad0 6y ago
  Kind of inherent to its nature, pressure sensing device like TrackPoint has too much precision and dynamic range to be hardware zeroed. Instead the firmware takes average value over time and regard that as the current neutral, and if your finger is on it longer than that integration period, the sum of mechanical imperfection, planetary gravity, heat, whatever noise AND weight of your finger all combined becomes a new zero point. The solution is to lift your finger off of TrackPoint and letting it wander until pointer stops. There’s nothing mechanically wrong or damaging in and around that, again, just how it is. Same as how digital kitchen scales or body weight scales need to calibrate itself upon powerup, except TrackPoint does it on the fly.

strenholme 6y ago

This is a known quirk of Thinkpad trackpoints. Once in a blue moon, the mouse pointer drifts randomly; touching or nudging the trackpoint usually makes it stop. Regardless, it stops doing it on its own after a minute or two. My old IBM 600X (1998 era) had this issue, as did my 2013 T430 and my current 2017 T470, although it hasn’t happened for a long time.