Victory Is Mine! (Al vs. The Laptop)

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ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,322
11,090
Maryland
postimg.cc
I've had an annoying week with my Dell laptop, due to my carelessness and Windows 10.
On Sunday, on my way out to the workshop, with laptop, pipe and coffee, I spilled a little coffee on my keyboard. I wiped it right up and turned it off, using a can of compressed air to make sure I had it all. I turned the laptop off to do this. When I turned it in, the machine (Windows 10) went into a series of updates that took the better part of the afternoon. Later I learned that this was the Creator Update.
When the updates finally finished, my mousepad wasn't working correctly. I had no function for the left or right keys. Well, I realized pretty quickly that I use those key functions, a lot! I did some googling and found a ton of mouse/mousepad related problems with this upgrade. So, I ended up updating my driver, deleting and reinstalling the mousepad, numerous times. All to no avail, the key's still didn't function (but the rest of the mouse functions were OK). I started using a wireless mouse, but after about a decade of a mousepad, I found that very annoying.
So, I wondered if perhaps the mousepad hardware wasn't in fact damaged. I ordered a new heel rest/mousepad from Parts-People.com, who specialize in laptop parts (mine is a Dell). I had previously replaced the display on another laptop, so I figured out hard can it be? They had a 19 step tutorial and video showing the disassembly. Fortunately, I didn't watch the video before ordering or disassembly, or I might not have undertaken the job.
The part was delivered to my daughters house in NOLA today and I dove in this evening. It took the better part of two hours and the laptop was completely stripped. I reassembled everything with no leftover parts. I fired it up and ...viola, everything works as it should, including the mouse key functions. I learned that I highlight and right-click a lot, so now I'm ready for some heavy duty forum moderation, so be prepared to be quoted, warned, etc.!

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,322
11,090
Maryland
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I'd hold off on the update for as long as you can. MS even has a program and website to help you deal with the issues from the update. My update took nearly 10 hours, because it kept failing (which wasn't crystal clear to me at the time). I finally determined the update wasn't completing and turned off my virus protection, which enabled it to complete. Seemingly,I don't have any issues now.

 

jvnshr

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 4, 2015
4,616
3,868
Baku, Azerbaijan
Good job Al! I used to be a part-time IT technician during my college years. In a single day we were getting around 10 calls saying that the mouse wasn't working;
-Ma'am, did you try to unplug and plug the mouse cable?

-Yes!

-Did you try to restart your computer?

-Yes!

-OK, we are sending someone.

Then you go and see the cable is unplugged.

-This cable is unplugged. That's why it wasn't working.

-Oh sorry. I didn't know.
Did anyone watch The IT Crowd?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rksCTVFtjM4
By the way, I also use a laptop just with a mouse, I hate using built-in pad.

 

brightleaf

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 4, 2017
555
4
Coffee on the keyboard. I have done that more than once. I have laptop with a keyboard plugged into the USB jack due to coffee-fried hardware.

Rebuilding computers is a lot effort. Don't let moderation be your only reward.

 

jvnshr

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 4, 2015
4,616
3,868
Baku, Azerbaijan
Just use one of these:
29XLdd1XTCmM._UX631_TTW__.jpg


 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,322
11,090
Maryland
postimg.cc
I thought for a few minutes on the reinstall that it might have gotten the 12 gauge send-off!
I've been using the mousepad only on my home and work laptops for so long, I can't recall using a regular mouse. I hate having to take my hand off the the keyboard to move/use the mouse, after only a few days, that drove me crazy.

 
I went almost three years without having any computer at all, when I had the ipad. I had accidentally backed over my laptop when I was doing some massive renovations to the house. Then when the ipad hit the swimming pool awek or so ago, I just immediately drove the Best Buy, and I was shocked at how cheap computers had gotten. I picked up this 17" laptop for $300, Windows 10, 8Gigs of RAM. I asked about installing my twenty year old Photoshop and Illustrator, Adobe Creative Suite, and the tech told me that I might need more RAM, ha ha. When I had first bought the software, it only took a 2MB of RAM to run the software, now 8Gigs might not be enough?

But, I could have had a desktop system for just a few hundred more. I even considered getting a few of them to keep from having to tote a laptop to the studio everyday.
Oh and those cans of air. Back about fifteen years ago, when it was rumored that they were going to ban them, I ordered a 2 gross of them, 288 cans of air. They are still selling them, and I use cans of air for everything from cat deterrent to dusting my wife's ceramic chicken collection, ha ha.

 

indianafrank

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 15, 2014
950
5
Al, glad to hear you got through the problems.
I need a new laptop. The one I use all day long is 9 years old. But Windows 10 scares me. I hear too many people talking about issues with 10.
My wife did a 10 update on her new laptop and it was close to 10 hours.

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
Reminds me of when I dropped my Ipod Touch 4 in the car-wash bucket. Twice. New screen sub-assemblies both times got it going again, although the camera and the speakers died the first time. I still use it with my home stereo because it can do line-level to RCA-out with the proper cord, something the newer Iphones can't do anymore. :puffy:

 

instymp

Lifer
Jul 30, 2012
2,420
1,029
Last windows 10 update we did was last week & it took a long time but no problems so far. Upgrade does a bunch of stuff I will never use but hate getting those notices.

 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,604
14,671
How Many iPhones Does It Take To Stop an AK-74 Bullet?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbVHe5A6rJs

 
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