Strange Touchpad Problem

Submitted by Williams, Chris on Fri, 11/30/2007 - 4:26pm.

Hello
All,
 
During our final
exams on Wednesday, we began getting complaints from about 8-10 students that
their touchpads weren't working properly. If you moved the pointer around,
it would freeze every couple of seconds in one place for about a second and then
repeat the same action indefinitely. We brought in a few laptops from the IT
department and could not reproduce the problem. Additionally, we have never had
problems of this nature in this particular classroom before. We are speculating
that it is some sort of electromagnetic interference because if you walk out of
the classroom with one of the affected laptops, the problem goes away. There was
also no common thread with respect to the brand or model.
 
Any ideas or input
would be appreciated.
=============================Chris WilliamsIT AnalystLSU Paul
M. Hebert Law Center1 East Campus DriveBaton Rouge, LA
70803-1000225-578-0885 fax 225-578-4682 href="mailto:Chris.Williams@law.lsu.edu">Chris.Williams@law.lsu.edu=============================
 

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Strange Touchpad Problem
Submitted by adkins on Fri, 11/30/2007 - 4:36pm.

Chris:
 
Weird problem. Without being there, hard to tell what it might be.
Were they all in the same area of the classroom? That might pinpoint the location.
 
One thing to try is to get your hands on a portable AM radio (not plugged in - needs to be on batteries). Tune it between AM stations so you can hear static. Walk around with it in the classroom and you can "hear" the noise as you walk through areas of higher electromagnetic fields. You can even determine if it's 60 hz by the constant cycled noise.
 
It's not the most scientific, but it's cheap and you can determine locations of noise.
 
Hope this helps,
Andy
 
 
Andrew Z. Adkins IIIDirector, Legal Technology InstituteUniversity of Florida Levin College of LawP.O. Box 117644 | Gainesville, FL 32611-7644(v) 352-273-0765 | (f) 352-392-3005adkins@law.ufl.edu | www.law.ufl.edu/lti>>> "Williams, Chris" <Chris.Williams@law.lsu.edu> 11/30/2007 5:21 PM >>>
Hello All,
 
During our final exams on Wednesday, we began getting complaints from about 8-10 students that their touchpads weren't working properly. If you moved the pointer around, it would freeze every couple of seconds in one place for about a second and then repeat the same action indefinitely. We brought in a few laptops from the IT department and could not reproduce the problem. Additionally, we have never had problems of this nature in this particular classroom before. We are speculating that it is some sort of electromagnetic interference because if you walk out of the classroom with one of the affected laptops, the problem goes away. There was also no common thread with respect to the brand or model.
 
Any ideas or input would be appreciated.
=============================Chris WilliamsIT AnalystLSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center1 East Campus DriveBaton Rouge, LA 70803-1000225-578-0885 fax 225-578-4682Chris.Williams@law.lsu.edu=============================
 

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