Bizarre Issue with Satellite R15 Tablet PC...

R15S829 · 11-03-2009

The Notebook belongs to my brother and I am trying to help him. It seems that once the notebook warms up, it starts behaving in a bizarre manner... I will try to explain better

As a first Example, he's got about 10 to 15 icons on the Desktop, if he clicks on any of it, the Icons to the left of the Icon initially clicked on highlight as well, making it impossible to use said software, because if you do, all of the other softwares opens or start up and what you have is a huge mess.

Also, when the tablet is acting up like that, going to START/Turn Off Computer/Restart does not do anything, I literally have to open Windows Task Manager/ShutDown/Restart for it to take the command

I also feel that the issue is software and not hardware related because. whenever I am able to restart and I get to the login screen, I can click on the Turn Off Computer and then, I can log off, shutdown or Restart again so the issue must be after windows starts all the services.

As a last remark, I feel that the StickyKeys feature has a lot to do with the problem but I can't find a way to either, uninstall it or disable it.

Here are some screenshots of what I am saying...

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6396/tosh01.jpg

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/462/tosh03.jpg

This are the things I have tried to do...

1.- Update Bios

2.- Uninstall and Upgrade mosty of the drivers and software I was able to find at the Toshiba site.

3.- Uninstall software that it has never been used since he bought the computer.

4.- Uninstall all the Toshiba software

5.- Uninstall the touchpad software and use a USB External Mouse.

6.- Go to System Configuration Utility (MSConfig) and select the bare minimum of start up items... ie: A.V., wireless, touchpad, No touchpad, Disable All Services

I am sure I am forgetting something but I am trying not to make this post to big, otherwise, people may be reluctant to read it and help.

Notebook Specs:

Satellite R15 S829

Windows XP w/SP3

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/472/tosh02.jpg

If no help can come of this, can you guys direct me to a Toshiba Repair Center in Miami, Fl. USA? I can't seem to be able to find it on Toshiba's Website... how strange is that!

Jerry_Lippey · 11-03-2009

Satellite R15-S829

Let's eliminate parasites. Download and run a scan with the free Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.

If no help can come of this, can you guys direct me to a Toshiba Repair Center

Before doing that, you would want to restore the hard disk to its original factory-new state using Toshiba recovery media. It can be ordered by calling Toshiba Customer Service at 800-457-7777. They will want the computer's serial number and a credit card number.

Several Toshiba Authorized Service Providers in Miami. Here are two.

Compuwiz Group Of S Florida

Ics Service Of Miami

-Jerry

R15S829 · 11-03-2009

Jerry:

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to me and the Info on the Toshiba center and Recovery CD as my brother lost those as well, making it an even bigger challenge for me.

I am not 100% sure of course but, I am almost positive that the notebook is parasite free as I have run an Avast BootSchedule and I also did a MalwareBytes run with the latest definitions and found nothing.

My brother said that he took the notebook to a Toshiba Center in the Country he is at the moment and they changed the motherboard and the problem went away but I am convinced that the problem is not the motherboard because if you turn the computer off for a long while and start it up again, it works a treat. Of course, after a while of being On is when all hell breaks loose.

Any other tips will be greatly appreciated

Jerry_Lippey · 11-04-2009

I feel that the StickyKeys feature has a lot to do with the problem but I can't find a way to either, uninstall it or disable it.

Open Accessibility Options in Control Panel. On the Keyboard tab, click to clear the Use StickyKeys check box. From what you've said, I doubt that it's checked.

If the trouble is really just in software, then restoring the hard disk to factory-new will certainly fix it.

-Jerry

R15S829 · 11-09-2009

Jerry_Lippey wrote:
I feel that the StickyKeys feature has a lot to do with the problem but I can't find a way to either, uninstall it or disable it.
Open Accessibility Options in Control Panel. On the Keyboard tab, click to clear the Use StickyKeys check box. From what you've said, I doubt that it's checked.

If the trouble is really just in software, then restoring the hard disk to factory-new will certainly fix it.

Unfortunately for me, the option was already checked OFF so all I have left is to pray that you are right and once I restore the hard drive to Factory with Default settings, the problem will go away.

Thanks a lot

Jerry_Lippey · 11-09-2009

Goodl luck!

-Jerry

R15S829 · 11-18-2009

Got the Recovery CD yesterday, so far so good. Installation went well and I am now in the process of doing Windows Update + Uninstallation of Bloatware installed by the CD... God-O-Mighty, I had never seen so many BS trial software installed on a computer before. Well, that and the amount of stuff that the thing loads at startup... it is a miracle the thing gets to the desktop with out needing life support

I do have a question though. Since the first time it loaded from the Recovery CD, before getting to the login screen, a small keyboard pop-up screen appears that I have no clue what is there for or how to get rid of it or whether I will do any harm to the laptop getting rid of it.

If anyone has any idea of what this is, please help. ON the other hand, if no one knows what I am talking about, let me know and I will gladly post a screen of it

Again, thanks a lot for the time and effort fellas

Jerry_Lippey · 11-18-2009

before getting to the login screen, a small keyboard pop-up screen appears that I have no clue what is there for or how to get rid of it or whether I will do any harm to the laptop getting rid of it.

If anyone has any idea of what this is, please help. ON the other hand, if no one knows what I am talking about, let me know and I will gladly post a screen of it

I sure don't know what you're talking about. It appears on every boot? If so, you can run it down using the Startup tab of the System Configuration utility (msconfig.exe). More here.

How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state

The only way to put a picture in these messages is to post it elsewhere on the web and paste it in here.

-Jerry

R15S829 · 11-19-2009

Jerry_Lippey wrote:
I sure don't know what you're talking about. It appears on every boot? If so, you can run it down using the Startup tab of the System Configuration utility (msconfig.exe). More here.

How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state

The only way to put a picture in these messages is to post it elsewhere on the web and paste it in here.

I'd figure this was going to be a doozy to understand so here's an image of what I am talking about. Now, there are plenty of things running at startup, another little tid bit that I don't seem to be able to understand why Toshiba or any other seller does it but, that is not here nor there, back to the task at hand . I will try a clean boot and then start to add items to the startup until I find out which one is causing this.

I also like to point out that certain character on the keyboard do not appear to be in the right place. For instance, the "&" character is above the 6 in the laptop but a "/" appears instead. This tells me that the recovery cd they sent me was for an English version and not the Spanish version as this keyboard seems to have... that may cause a little problem. Is this perhaps why the keyboard pop-up is showing?

OK, here is the image of the keyboard Pop-Pop prior to Login into the Desktop. The keyboard showned here is how the keyboard behaves once I get to the desktop and start using the laptop, even though, the real configuration of the keyboad is different.

R15 Toshiba IMage