Notebook scroll slider question

Windows 7 home premium,firefox,IE all up to date.HP G61.

Its a little annoyance that happens every so often my laptop scroll slider stops responding,sometimes it stops responding both firefox and IE 'BUT' I know its working because a little scroll slider icon appears next to the cursor,a small vertical icon with an arrow at the top and bottom,what does this little icon mean?

ATM the scroll slider has completely stopped responding in firefox but I get the small icon in IE.

I'm sure its just an easy NOOB fix thanks

 

You talkin' about this thing?

 

If so, then I always suspect the touchpad on laptops...to verify, plug in a mouse, see if the symptoms change, and go from there...

 

No that's middle wheel click scroll,its a thin vertical bar,I can't take a screen shot of it and can't find a picture its as big as half a matchstick "real size' verticle with two black arrows at the top and bottom facing outwards.

I'm tryna find a pic,I know the slider is working as this little icon appears every time I try to use it but it doesn't work,in the past I've double tapped the screen and functioning has resumed but not anymore.

 

I've connected a mouse and the mouse wheel works fine,after a restart the slider works fine again. also.

 

And then it crashes? If so, there's your path...seems like I've seen that vert. bar before, but can't remember where...

 

No:-D I restart the system then it works.

I'm 99% sure its a little Win 7 idiosyncrasy.

 

"99%" = close enough for government work...good job...

 

99% sure in government terms means they don't know but leaning toward the safe option but want to keep the risky avenue open.:cool

Caliban if you can find a picture of what I mean 'If you know what I mean' and post it that would be really helpful,I can't see one anywhere and I'm tired of looking,I could prolly draw a quick one in paint.

 

If it's not a Windows thing, maybe some kind of Java quirk? Especially since it's appearing in your browsers...