Author Topic: Me & my crazy optical mouse (Read 26,164 times)

lanux128 · « **on:** January 30, 2008, 03:20 AM »

i have a Pleomax optical mouse which since recently has caused me much grief. the problem started when this *NEW* mouse placed on a flat surface (my table) starting giving off random clicks. e.g. a single click becomes double-clicks, middle click became right-click & so on. after some googling, i found a couple of links but nothing more..

• http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t179482-sneakey-mouse.html
• http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread68390-2.html

now i am left wondering why is this happening.. should i get a new mouse? or are there software/drivers that can overcome this? i await your answer.

Renegade · « **Reply #1 on:** January 30, 2008, 03:33 AM »

To start on a tangent, often when discussing performing a task, people use what they know and not necessarily the right tool. The common expression associated with this is, "when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

Well, the point is that your mouse is the nail. Now go get yourself a hammer!

Then go get a ball mouse. After all...

NSFW

Real men have balls!

mwb1100 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2008, 05:27 AM »

I'd say get a new cheap mouse (you can find these easily for less than $10) if you don't already have another mouse lying around somewhere, or borrow one from a friend. Use it and make sure the problem goes away. If it turns out to be a problem with the old mouse hardware, throw out the old mouse. I think there's probably no point wasting time trying to fix it. However, it's possible that the symptoms remains if it's really a software problem, in which case there's no need to toss the old mouse - you've still got some sleuthing to do to figure out the problem.

If you want or need a mouse with more features or ergonomics that are not on the cheap 'test' mouse, get a more expensive replacement only after you've proved it's a hardware problem.

lanux128 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 30, 2008, 05:49 AM »

thanks for the response both of you.. i just tried with a couple of other mice (usb & serial port) but the problem persists.. what else can i do to trouble-shoot this problem?

Target · « **Reply #4 on:** January 30, 2008, 06:48 AM »

did it come with any software??

if so, try uninstalling/reinstalling

if that doesn't work, many of the drivers are interoperable, so try some alternatives (the intellimouse software used to be freely available - but there are no doubt others...)

Target

Renegade · « **Reply #5 on:** January 30, 2008, 07:59 AM »

Not sure if this helps, but I still like the hammer option...

But seriously, check the drivers and physical ports. Try different USB ports if you can. Hard to do that for the mouse port...

(I'd run SpinRite overnight too to correct any disk errors in case there's some kind of corruption. Not sure that it would matter much, but can't hurt.)

J-Mac · « **Reply #6 on:** January 30, 2008, 09:18 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 30, 2008, 03:20 AM

i have a Pleomax optical mouse which since recently has caused me much grief. the problem started when this *NEW* mouse placed on a flat surface (my table) starting giving off random clicks. e.g. a single click becomes double-clicks, middle click became right-click & so on. after some googling, i found a couple of links but nothing more..

• http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t179482-sneakey-mouse.html
• http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread68390-2.html

now i am left wondering why is this happening.. should i get a new mouse? or are there software/drivers that can overcome this? i await your answer.

lanux,

Two possibilities that I can add:

It could be because of the surface on which you are using the mouse. What exactly is the surface directly under the mouse? Not only the material (Is it very smooth? A little bumpy or grainy?) but the color and reflectivity. Is it mirror-like? Not necessarily shiny, but reflective just the same? Try a dull colored mouse pad just for the heck of it.

It could also be the single most common problem with optical cordless mice. Of course I have no idea whether or not the mice you are trying out is cordless or not! If so, then interference is a real possibility. Biggest problem I have had with cordless mice turned out to be my mobile phone!!

Jim

lanux128 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 30, 2008, 09:34 AM »

i'm using a wired optical mouse attached to the serial port. i've been using it for less than a month and previously i've used other optical mice on the same surface. the table has a smooth finishing & the colour according to the catalogue is "dirty oak". now i'm really thinking of getting a ball mouse, as Renegade suggested.

Renegade · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2008, 03:10 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 30, 2008, 09:34 AM

i'm using a wired optical mouse attached to the serial port. i've been using it for less than a month and previously i've used other optical mice on the same surface. the table has a smooth finishing & the colour according to the catalogue is "dirty oak". now i'm really thinking of getting a ball mouse, as Renegade suggested.

I cannot possibly express how much I prefer ball mice to optical mice. They simply work much better than optical mice. Sure you have to clean them now and then, but the mouse cursor goes where you want it to go.

But speaking of mouse problems...

I had to make a payment online through my bank... The Korea Exchange Bank... AAARRRGGGHHH! It's impossible to say how badly they screw things up!

In any event... During the extremely painful process of using their web site that I swear was designed by Satan himself, my mouse stops working... Go figure. They install all kinds of ActiveX ****ware nonsense.

How do you possibly manage to screw people's computers up so badly from a WEB SITE?

The short of it is that it took 45 minutes of farting around to get things back to normal. All for the sake of a mouse...

Sigh...

On another note, I really feel that it's worth spending a bit of money on a mouse and not buying some generic mouse. It's 1 of the 2 most important and primary input devices. The amount of pain that you go through when it stops functioning just isn't worth saving a few dollars. I use Microsoft & Logitech mice and will never ever use a cheap mouse again for as long as I live. Had too much pain in the past there.

Sigh...

lanux128 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 31, 2008, 03:33 AM »

i share your pain Renegade, that's why i started this thread. i can't even select some text because the damn mouse sends a quick double-click that unselects the text and i can't click anything that toggles, again for the same reasons. in other words, i don't know if i'm going or coming..

Renegade · « **Reply #10 on:** January 31, 2008, 04:00 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 31, 2008, 03:33 AM

i share your pain Renegade, that's why i started this thread. i can't even select some text because the damn mouse sends a quick double-click that unselects the text and i can't click anything that toggles, again for the same reasons. in other words, i don't know if i'm going or coming..

I SOOOOO understand that...

Occasionally I need to use Japanese Windows in a VM... Very commonly it will go into some wierd SHIFT mode where no matter what I click on, it's like I've got the SHIFT key pressed, so it selects everything! Not the same problem, but it basically destroys my ability to use the OS. I have to reboot the OS in the VM and hope that it goes away, which it usually does.

But back to the hammer... I'd really LOVE to use the hammer on KEB. Wouldn't fix my screwed up mouse (still having troubles), but I'd feel better!

lanux128 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 31, 2008, 05:14 AM »

luckily, i'm not involved in stock trading. with this dastardly mouse of mine, i could bring down the exchange..

so Renegade, exactly what model are you using? btw, i'm going through this thread to see if there is anything outstanding.

• Choosing a keyboard and a mouse

Target · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2008, 05:25 AM »

Lanux

another possibility occurs to me -have you investigated the possibility of using AHK to 'reassign' your mouse keys?

I'm no expert, but I think you could use it to intercept the mouse clicks and perform an action, eg setup a hotkey to intercept those pesky double clicks and transmit them as a single click (you would also need to setup an alternative for intentional double clicks)

Target

lanux128 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 31, 2008, 05:49 AM »

thanks Target, any ideas how this can be done? i'm also keen on catching these "stray" clicks.

on another note, at first i thought AHK was causing the problem since i was using this middle-button script but the problem didn't go away after disabling the script.

Target · « **Reply #14 on:** January 31, 2008, 06:11 AM »

hmmm, now you're putting me on the spot...

i was thinking about a hotkey, but now I'll have to go and do some research...

Target

lanux128 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 31, 2008, 06:18 AM »

sorry Target. hope you can dig up something..

on a more general note, since this mouse didn't come with any drivers, is it okay to install the Intellimouse drivers?

Renegade · « **Reply #16 on:** January 31, 2008, 10:21 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 31, 2008, 05:14 AM

...
so Renegade, exactly what model are you using?
...

I have 3 primary mice:

Home Primary Box: Logitech Optical Wheel (it's ok, but I'd rather have a ball mouse)
Home Dev. Box: Microsoft Optical Wheel (Don't like it at all)
Office Mouse (on 2 boxes through 2 KVMs for dual monitor support --- PAIN!): Microsoft Ball Mouse --- LOVE IT! It works perfectly.

I would have all ball mice, but I simply have a hard time finding them. They're extremely rare now here. The only option is optical mice... And since I only have the one good ball mouse, I took it to the office as I spend the entire day with it there. I'd go nuts with optical skips, and everyone else would go nuts with the increased amount of profanity --- I curse enough as it is when things go wrong.

I really really really hate mouse pads, and refuse to use them. They just make life harder as you are always running off the side of it. They're just not comfortable to use. Ball mice handle any surface, but optical mice are sketchy. (Yeah - part of the problem is me...)

But no matter what, I find optical mice will "jump" occassionally. This I find completely unacceptable behaviour. It has caused data loss for me before, and we all know just how serious that can be. "Want to save or discard your changes?" "Oh, I think I'd like to SAVE them as I just spent a lot of time on it." Pointer suddenly jumps to "Discard"... Click. "Ooops..." [Crying heard in the background...]

Target · « **Reply #17 on:** January 31, 2008, 11:18 PM »

Lanux

shouldn't be any problem installing the MS drivers - if they don't work you could also try alternatives from the other (major) manufacturers (Logitec, etc??)

re the AHK scripting, it's difficult to say cos i can't replicate your problem (happily

) but you could try the following -

Code: (autoit)

#persistent
;this is a basic hotkey - all it does is take a single left button click and transmit a single left mouse button click
;I can't say whether or not it might fire twice in your case so you'll need to test it
lbutton::click

if it does fire twice you're not achieving anything cos AHK is only duplicating the behaviour you're already experiencing. The only thing I can think of here would be to put in a small delay before sending the click action

Code: (autoit)

#persistent

lbutton::
sleep, 100
click
return

you'll need to play with this a bit to see if it's going to do what you need. You'll also need something that performs the doubleclick function when you do need it (it would be the same code, but with a modifier on the hotkey, eg ^LButton (CONTROL+LBUTTON))

if this doesn't work, I'm not altogether sure where to go (try the forums??)

let us know what happens

Target

app103 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 01, 2008, 12:05 AM »

Try the mouse on a pad of paper, rather than on the desk surface or mousepad. Make sure the paper isn't shiny. (small legal pads work great)

You didn't mention which OS you were using. I think one version of windows (can't remember which one) had an issue with a bug related to the mouse that could cause erratic behavior. Make sure your OS is fully patched with all updates.

I have a dual mouse system (1 usb ergonomic mouse and a standard ps/2, both optical). I have noticed that if my ergonomic mouse should suddenly decide not to function correctly (doesn't happen that often), using the other for a few seconds usually gets the first one working properly again. I don't know why this is, but it's a another good reason to keep my system dual mouse.

It could also be possible that your mouse has some settings you may be unaware of that can cause the automatic clicking.

This is the mouse properties panel from my ergonomic mouse. The last option, if checked, might result in some of the same behavior you are reporting is going on with yours. Go check your mouse properties settings in control panel very, very carefully.

mwb1100 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 01, 2008, 12:21 AM »

I think you need to start removing software to see if something is installed that's causing the problem, rather than installing software to try to fix the problem. Start by booting in Safe Mode. If the problem still occurs, I'm not sure what you'd do to fix it since the problem happens across different mice and attached to either USB or serial ports (which indicates that the problem is not hardware).

But assuming that the problem goes away in Safe Mode, I'd then use Autoruns or some other Start-up manager to disable all auto-starts, and test. If the problem does not happen in Safe Mode but does happen with all autorun programs disabled, then the problem is probably the mouse drivers, which you should uninstall and use the native MS drivers.

If the problem is still gone, re-enable things one at a time (or in small groups) and retest. When the problem reappears, you should be able to narrowing down what's running when the problem occurs vs when the problem does not occur. This process should end with a good indication of what software is causing the problem.

lanux128 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 01, 2008, 10:45 AM »

thanks to all for responding. i'll try all the suggestions after the weekend & will post back the results. keep tuned!

lanux128 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 04, 2008, 06:46 AM »

after a whole day of testing, Target's script comes close in stabilizing my mouse. thanks a lot..

but however i miss my drag-click function. how do i enable it?

f0dder · « **Reply #22 on:** February 04, 2008, 12:49 PM »

Quote from: Renegade on January 30, 2008, 07:59 AM

(I'd run SpinRite overnight too to correct any disk errors in case there's some kind of corruption. Not sure that it would matter much, but can't hurt.)

Friends don't let friends use (or even mention) SpinRite.

lanux128 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 04, 2008, 03:08 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on February 04, 2008, 12:49 PM

Quote from: Renegade on January 30, 2008, 07:59 AM
(I'd run SpinRite overnight too to correct any disk errors in case there's some kind of corruption. Not sure that it would matter much, but can't hurt.)
Friends don't let friends use (or even mention) SpinRite.

i think f0dder is going somewhere with this..

Target · « **Reply #24 on:** February 05, 2008, 12:29 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on February 04, 2008, 06:46 AM

but however i miss my drag-click function. how do i enable it?

Lanux

the following duplicates the click and drag functionality, albeit awkwardly

Code

#persistent
lbutton::
sleep, 100
click
return 

+lbutton::click,left,down
^lbutton::click, left,up

added 2 hotkeys - SHIFT+LBUTTON sends the left mouse button down command. Dragging the mouse will highlight...whatever. CONTROL+LBUTTON sends the left mouse button up command

Like I said, there are probably more elegant ways to do this (I'm no expert, for sure), but this might get you through...

Target