How can I figure out why my laptop goes nuts?
Discussion
Afternoon all,
Does anyone have any thoughts on how I'd figure out why my laptop is going nuts every day at roughly 5pm?
It'll work fine all day, then suddenly the mouse pointer will go all jerky, there will be significant delays between typing on the keyboard and the characters appearing on screen, and it'll often type two or more of each character! It's doing it right now, and it's driving me nuts! Typically, it plagues those last few emails I want to fire off quickly before I stop work for the day!
I've looked in Task Manager, and I can't see any process obviously hogging resources. Memory use is around 81%, and that's consistent pretty much all day. CPU use has the occasional spike, but never seems to be hitting 100%, so I'm thoroughly confused! Running Windows 10, should that have any bearing.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how I'd figure out why my laptop is going nuts every day at roughly 5pm?
It'll work fine all day, then suddenly the mouse pointer will go all jerky, there will be significant delays between typing on the keyboard and the characters appearing on screen, and it'll often type two or more of each character! It's doing it right now, and it's driving me nuts! Typically, it plagues those last few emails I want to fire off quickly before I stop work for the day!
I've looked in Task Manager, and I can't see any process obviously hogging resources. Memory use is around 81%, and that's consistent pretty much all day. CPU use has the occasional spike, but never seems to be hitting 100%, so I'm thoroughly confused! Running Windows 10, should that have any bearing.
I thought I'd resurrect this, as despite not finding any solution, I have managed to narrow the issue down further. It suddenly occurred to me yesterday that the problem only seems to occur when I'm working at home, not when I'm in the office or travelling.
So, what's the only real difference?
When I'm at home, I use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but I don't when I'm anywhere else. I've just had the issue this afternoon, and lo and behold, if I type on the keyboard, I get the stuttering, missed key strokes, duplicates, delays etc, etc. If I type straight on the laptop keyboard, everything works fine.
I really don't want to bin the keyboard if I can help it - it's ancient, and half the letters have rubbed off the keys, but it's one of those odd-looking Microsoft ergonomic ones which is really comfy to use, but they don't seem to make them any more. The problem affects both the keyboard and the associated mouse.
Anyone have any thoughts on what to check with that updated information? It only happens for about 20 minutes or so, so it's not the end of the world, but it's bloody frustrating, especially if I'm working on something with an end of day deadline!
So, what's the only real difference?
When I'm at home, I use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but I don't when I'm anywhere else. I've just had the issue this afternoon, and lo and behold, if I type on the keyboard, I get the stuttering, missed key strokes, duplicates, delays etc, etc. If I type straight on the laptop keyboard, everything works fine.
I really don't want to bin the keyboard if I can help it - it's ancient, and half the letters have rubbed off the keys, but it's one of those odd-looking Microsoft ergonomic ones which is really comfy to use, but they don't seem to make them any more. The problem affects both the keyboard and the associated mouse.
Anyone have any thoughts on what to check with that updated information? It only happens for about 20 minutes or so, so it's not the end of the world, but it's bloody frustrating, especially if I'm working on something with an end of day deadline!
WinstonWolf said:
"It's ancient". Buy a new one 
If it was doing it all the time, then I'd accept that, but it's not. It's only for 20 minutes a day, just at the worst possible time of day! All of the rest of the time it works flawlessly, and easily stays ahead of my typing speed.If I could get a new like for like, I might even accept it as well, but they don't seem to do the ergonomic keyboards with the two sides of the keyboard angled inwards any more.
philv said:
Download malwarebytes and do a free scan for malware
Is there any reason why anything it might detect would only affect the performance of the Bluetooth keyboard/mouse though?It's a work laptop, btw, so should be thoroughly protected anyway, what with working for a large IT firm! I just trust PH over the remote helpdesk teams in places like India and the Philippines when it comes to answering this sort of question!
sgrimshaw said:
Are you using the Bluetooth built into the laptop or a Bluetooth dongle?
At the risk of stating the obvious, have you tried changing the batteries in the keyboard and mouse?
Eta ... Take the keyboard and mouse to work, see if it happens there. There could be something interfering with the Bluetooth at home.
It uses a dongle, even though the laptop has built in Bluetooth. To be honest, it had never occurred to me that the keyboard and mouse might be able to connect directly without it! That's got me wondering now whether it's even Bluetooth as opposed to wireless of some sort! At the risk of stating the obvious, have you tried changing the batteries in the keyboard and mouse?
Eta ... Take the keyboard and mouse to work, see if it happens there. There could be something interfering with the Bluetooth at home.
The batteries are fine. There are warning lights on both peripherals that come on when that's an issue, plus it tends to just suddenly stop, rather than having this twenty minutes per day go slow.
I could try taking it to work, but I really can't imagine what could be causing such consistent disruption, especially as my study is in our loft conversion, so well away from pretty much every other device in the house.
captain_cynic said:
What is happening at 5PM... Is someone using the microwave? If you're laptop KB is fine, it could be an environmental issue (serious, microwaves play havoc with the 2.4GHz freq which Bluetooth uses).
Also google the model of the KB with the symptoms, it could be some weird bug they've got a driver update for.
Nothing I'm aware of. Often enough I'm the only one in the house!Also google the model of the KB with the symptoms, it could be some weird bug they've got a driver update for.
I'll try checking the keyboard online though.
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