Chromebook issue

[Mbritt]

I have a Chromebook that is highlighting text, opening tabs, and acting oddly. Right now, it is sitting on my desk and doing all sorts of things. I plugged in a USB mouse, and it is still doing this. Wherever the cursor is clicked, it either opens a new tab or highlights text. I restarted the device a few days ago, but it happened again. Any Advice on how to fix?

[rdnixon]

Had this on some Asus touch flip ones. Was a warranty repair. Touchscreen/sensors messed up. Might be a stuck key.

[ddelboccio]

Sounds like a stuck key on the keyboard.  Water spill?

CTRL + T is the shortcut for a new tab, so check both of those keys on the keyboard.

[Mbritt]

Is there a setting for the trackpad that allows something like a hover to click? That is kinda how it is acting. I have looked but do not see anything like that.

[chrisb]

 I have a semi related, but interesting, story:

At the recent Google Champions Symposium in Singapore we had a set of almost new Chromebooks for people to use.  There were three Chromebooks that would just randomly blank out the screen whenever the user tried to type on them.  It was driving us crazy trying to figure out what was going on, until someone noticed that the three people who were all having problems all wore the same kind of bracelet on their wrist.  Turns out it was a magnetic bracelet and every time they placed their wrists near the keyboard the Chromebook would assume that the lid just got closed, and send the machine to sleep. 🤔

The wonderful world of tech troubleshooting, hey?

[Mbritt]

I like the idea of that, but it's not what I am seeing. This only happens on this device. I logged in with my account and a test account, and this happened. Just as randomly as it started it stopped.

[mhermmsd]

Sounds like hardware issue.  Probably a bad keyboard or touchpad.  You tried a mouse, but the keypad is still operational even with a mouse plugged in.  Try swapping either one out to see if you still have issues.

[panderson]

I think everyone is pretty much spot on with Keyboard/trackpad or touchscreen issues.  Might be able to determine if it is keyboard or touch-screen related by disconnecting the keyboard/trackpad cable and using usb mouse and keyboard.  If it is under warranty I would send it in, out of warranty, if you do your own repairs, try swapping out the keyboard/trackpad and see if the issue is fixed.

[tiannagoddard]

We have had similar issues on some Chromebooks and it was the touch screens being too sensitive. We had to shut the touch screens off for these students. Unfortunately, you can't shut this off on the entire device, it is a per-user setting. 

[afranzdorf]

We've had this issue a lot with the Lenovo 300e Gen 2 and it's typically the touch screen. If you unplug the touch cable from the screen it will resolve the issue. If the student really uses the touch screen a lot we give them a different device and use theirs as a loaner. 

[gradyfontenot]

I would try a simple powerwash to see if that corrected the issue. If that didn't, the next thing i would try is an os recovery using the Chromebook Recovery tool.