IBM Thinkbad ball error

The 08611 error is usually a trackpoint failure.  The most common cause is an internal cable problem, but unless you are a trained notebook technician, attempting to troubleshoot this yourself will probably result in permanent major damage to the laptop.

Disabling the internal pointing device will not disale an external pointing device connected to the PS/2 port.  As to whether or not it will fix the error message, I'm not certain, it depends if the error message is from the mouse controller (which may be the same for the internal trackpoint and PS/2 port) or just the trackpoint sensor (which isn't used by the PS/2 port).

Please refer to the IBM site error codes: http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&dc=DB500&q1=2645-3EU&uid=psg1LWIK-3SR4PW&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&cc=us&lang=en

Trackball, same as any game in an arcade.

Actually, that ball should pop out as easily as the one on a mouse.  Probably the four optical servos used to sense the ball movement are not getting proper information from the ball movement.

I wouldn't take the laptop apart, but it's manual should tell you something about cleaning the trackball.  I have seen some models that let you pop the trackball cover for cleaning the ball and tracks for the optical disc scanners.

If it's a cable problem, you've got a real problem.  No one wants to go inside of a laptop, they'd rather just get a new one.