Windows 10: Unusable notebook -Shaky login screen, shaky mouse, shaky everything

My friend's Lenovo notebook is completely useless. I don't even know how to start troubleshooting it. Windows 10 boots to a login screen that jumps all over the place. The mouse cursor jumps all over the place. It takes a dozen or more attempts to enter the login password. Once logged in, everything is constantly shaking, mouse, app windows, start menu. We got a web browser launched, and at one point the font size started getting larger and larger. I was going to download and install Malwarebytes, but I can't control the system enough to just begin the process.

He said he got a notice to install an update the other day, and that this problem started after the system rebooted. He's not familiar enough with computers to recognize a genuine Microsoft update from a Lenovo update, or from some malicious kind of attack.

I can't even boot directly into safe mode in Windows 10 anymore. With UEFI BIOS shift + F8 is useless. Has anyone experienced this?

Thanks for any input on this bear.

:)

 

Nokia 1520 Great photos but not so good videos

Well, I'm not sure what update the guy was referring too but it seems to have less noise. I did notice something about the videos though. They are kind of shaky like the OIS is not functioning. Lumia 1520 should not produce such shaky videos...

 

touchpad windows 10

my touch pad in windows making pointer shaky

 

Hi, if system restore was enabled (by the user) at any time, you may be able to use System Restore. In your case I would suggest thus:
- boot the laptop from a Win 10 bootable medium, and navigate to System Restore, and try that.

You can use any Win 10 boot disk (USB or DVD if you have a DVD drive); if not, see the Tutorial section here if you need to create one

Safe Mode: F8 is essentially obsolete in Win 10.
Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

If you can manage to see the power button on the login screen shift + left click Restart would start you on your way, but this may be impossible in your case.

I'm assuming your friend has not yet discovered the value of disk imaging routinely, which we constantly urge people to use. E.g. Macrium Reflect (free). If your friend had a recent disk image of Windows, recovery would probably be relatively quick and easy and not require technical help.

I've not come across such a symptom, so I'd also be concerned that it could be a hardware problem or even some strange virus. If you can get into Safe Mode, and the display is stable, that would be of interest.

Likewise, if you use your boot disk and can boot up with a stable display, that goes some way to demonstrate the hardware is ok.

 

I do have at least one old Windows 10 boot disk around somewhere dalchina. If he has had restore points set to be made automatically (seems Windows update does that), booting that, running repair and setting the last restore point was all I've come up with since I posted.

I did try clicking on the power button on the login screen, but the system went berserk. We did manage to enter the login password and boot info Win10. With everything shaking in there I tried holding down Shift and clicking to restart to get into safe mode. But the system was having none of it.

No... my friend wouldn't know anything about system imaging. I imaged a new drive with Macrium myself after recovering Windows 10 from a failing drive. It's a fantastic free tool.

It does look like a hardware issue... perhaps a failed keyboard. I'm not certain if he recalls clearly when the problem 1st appeared. If it was immediately after installing the update he mentioned, I'd be more inclined to think virus.

To boot my Toshiba from most bootable optical disks, I''ve always had to switch off UEFI boot in bios 1st. I can't remember if I had to do that with a Windows 10 boot disk. I'll have to figure out how to get into the Lenovo setup configuration menus if it balks at booting from the Win10 disk.

So yes... good point. If the system boots from a DVD (I can make a bootable USB if I can't find the DVD), and the mouse and display behave, it'd eliminate hardware as being the culprit. If it's a virus I have no idea where I'd go from there.

Will work on it again at some point tomorrow

 

Hi, fair enough. Should it be a virus, there are free bootable disks you can use.

You may also like to have a look at Kyhi's very useful boot disk, available from the top of the Software and Apps section here.

 

Thanks for that dalchina. I'll check it out. I have run virus checking boot disks in the past. But none so far found any viruses. I remember getting help from an online virus support site 10 -12 years back for a different friend's issues. But the process was well above my technical skills back then and probably is still.

Meanwhile I downloaded the latest Windows 10 ISO and am loading it onto a USB drive.

On to check out Kyhi's boot disk.

 

Well my friend took his notebook to a service center before I got back to him. He said the technician said it was a very easy problem to fix. Maybe what we discussed setting the last restore point. I'm still curious though and will see if I can contact his repair technician and find out just what caused such an unusual issue.