Author Topic: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert. (Read 21,891 times)

nudone · « **on:** February 17, 2008, 10:17 PM »

a couple of days ago my computer suddenly started acting strange - like it had a mind of its own.

i'd be dragging a window across the screen only to have the cursor suddenly lose its grip on the window. or, i'd try and move icons around and they wouldn't move at all - or they would if they were in a certain area.

i suspected that either the pc was infected or a piece of hardware was about to fail.

after pondering on the doom scenario of the pc dying i eventually thought i better swap the mouse for another. whilst doing that i noticed a thin white hair (must have been a dog hair) covering the lens on the underside of the mouse. i removed it and everything now works perfectly again.

maybe it was coincidence. it does seem a little odd that the hair was effecting mouse clicks but i shall just assume that somehow the camera information the lens picks up was going crazy and some how sent the mouse funny.

moral of the story: keep your mouse clean - even optical ones.

Darwin · « **Reply #1 on:** February 17, 2008, 11:06 PM »

Good tip, nudone! Just to add to it - the same sort of behaviour is possible when the batteries in a cordless, optical mouse start to go as well, so one could also try swapping fresh batteries in to see if that remedies things.

f0dder · « **Reply #2 on:** February 18, 2008, 12:08 AM »

If you have an optical mouse, you should clean the lens every now and then, to avoid strange incidents like the nude one's

- I usually use a q-tip with household ethanol on it.

Oh, another weird thing: if I leave my cellphone close to the mouse cord, I can tell a few seconds in advance if I'm going to get a SMS or phone call... the mouse cursor freaks out

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #3 on:** February 18, 2008, 12:20 AM »

Same thing happened to me recently - drove me mad until I looked and pulled out about an ounce of fluff !!

On a related note does anyone else have an issue with mice where the scroll wheel seems to behave erratically? For example sometimes when I start to scroll a window with the mouse wheel it doesn't stop jittering about after I have finished (and it even affects other windows) until I tap the wheel again.

I have tried 4 different mice, with different drivers and on different machines and get this problem randomly with them all and on all systems. Is it me being ham fisted or is this a common problem?

cmpm · « **Reply #4 on:** February 18, 2008, 12:49 AM »

Try turning off smooth and auto scrolling in your internet options.
Or firefox options.
Then go to the mouse in control panel.
Set it to scroll 3 lines at a time.

Personally never installed mouse software for my optical mouse.
After a reformat.
So it reads as a regular ps/2 compatible mouse.
It's a Microsoft wired optical mouse with a wheel of course.

I disabled the middle button. The wheel button.
When I had the software installed.
Cuz it kept bring up the arrows in a circle for scrolling.
Which was annoying to me,
cuz I'd accidently click the wheel while scrolling.

Sometimes I have to reset the scroll to the above after making other changes or cleaning my compouter. I don't know why, but it will reset to the way I like it. And scroll smoothly without jumping around like it did.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2008, 11:40 AM »

Quote from: f0dder on February 18, 2008, 12:08 AM

Oh, another weird thing: if I leave my cellphone close to the mouse cord, I can tell a few seconds in advance if I'm going to get a SMS or phone call... the mouse cursor freaks out

Here's something related too, to prove computers don't like cell phones:
When i put the cell phone on the laptop (i mean resting on top of the computer), if i receive an SMS, the computer gives me a blues screen and shuts down

(first time this happened i freaked out, only after did i relate the BSOD to the SMS)

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #6 on:** February 19, 2008, 11:42 AM »

Just think what it does to your head then!

jgpaiva · « **Reply #7 on:** February 19, 2008, 11:54 AM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on February 19, 2008, 11:42 AM

Just think what it does to your head then!

Good point

ThalSwe · « **Reply #8 on:** February 19, 2008, 11:59 AM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on February 19, 2008, 11:42 AM

Just think what it does to your head then!

As much as I end up using my cellphone I am sure my brain will have minor (or major) "BSOD" of its own pretty soon

f0dder · « **Reply #9 on:** February 19, 2008, 12:47 PM »

I dunno how bad cellphones are, really... I mean, there's constantly radio signals all over, so how much worse does it get by holding a cellphone to your ear? Does it somehow "focus" the radio signals for maximal brain-frying power?

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #10 on:** February 19, 2008, 02:53 PM »

Ask yourself a question ...

Does your laptop BSOD if you have a call on your cellphone normally or is it just when it is near the equipment?

If it is the latter it tends to suggest that at least over a short range it has an effect on electrical circuits - your brain is full of those!

Darwin · « **Reply #11 on:** February 19, 2008, 03:00 PM »

I hate cell/mobile/hand phones. I have one because it's nice to have on in the car for emergencies (I commute across Vancouver Island, the centre of which can be very isolated) but I can't see the attraction otherwise. All I see are hideous contacts (Canada's cell phone rates are among the highest in the world) and yahoos yapping on the things at 150 km/h while trying to negotiate traffic and corners. Scary. Usually these people have kids in the car as well... Absolutely infuriating

hollowlife1987 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 19, 2008, 03:28 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on February 18, 2008, 12:20 AM

On a related note does anyone else have an issue with mice where the scroll wheel seems to behave erratically? For example sometimes when I start to scroll a window with the mouse wheel it doesn't stop jittering about after I have finished (and it even affects other windows) until I tap the wheel again.

I had something close to that problem. When I would go to scroll down it would take 5 trys before it would scroll. And then it would scroll up 1 page first. I cleaned out the mouse and the wheel sensor as best I could to no avail. Replaced mouse and now all is well....well except for the fact this mouse only has 3 buttons where as my other mouse had 5. The normal 3 and 2 on the side for forward and back when browsing webpages and such.

lanux128 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 20, 2008, 02:41 AM »

i've had similar experiences - posted here..

nudone · « **Reply #14 on:** February 25, 2008, 08:21 PM »

seems i was wrong about the 'dog hair' being the problem with the mouse.

it's the left button micro switch. i thought these switches were meant to last forever - i've had the mouse two years and it was an expensive logitech one at the time so i see no excuse for poor quality parts.

anyway, i've blasted wd-40 down the switch. not sure if it's made a real difference yet.

Darwin · « **Reply #15 on:** February 25, 2008, 09:24 PM »

Ewwww... WD-40... bad idea. It leaves a gummy residue!

nudone · « **Reply #16 on:** February 25, 2008, 10:09 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on February 25, 2008, 09:24 PM

Ewwww... WD-40... bad idea. It leaves a gummy residue!

oh, i thought it was the stuff you were meant to use for this kind of thing. it's all i had anyway. seems to be working at the moment.

Darwin · « **Reply #17 on:** February 25, 2008, 11:16 PM »

It's OK stuff, it's just that overtime it congeals into a residue. Never use it in a lock, for example. Good quality penetrating oil is much better. Worst that will likely happen is that the switch will eventually get sticky and you'll need to clean the residue and try again... Sorry, my first posting was more curt than I had intended (excuse: kids. Loud kids. Frazzled nerves).

nudone · « **Reply #18 on:** February 26, 2008, 08:22 AM »

if the switch ends up like you say then i don't think i'll be able to clean it as it's sealed inside a tiny box. i only dripped a couple of drops of wd-40 onto it (i didn't really blast it) so hopefully it might have just been the right amount.

crabby3 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 05, 2014, 05:01 PM »

If anyone has had their mouse pointer skip across the screen or stop entirely try pulling the USB connector out, wait around 5 seconds, and plug it back in.
The wait allows your machine time to discover the removal and rediscover when plugged back in.

These mouse antics were quite alarming... the first time.

Don't know if this works for remote meeces. -Mr. Jinks

Innuendo · « **Reply #20 on:** February 08, 2014, 10:53 PM »

Quote from: nudone on February 25, 2008, 08:21 PM

it's the left button micro switch. i thought these switches were meant to last forever - i've had the mouse two years and it was an expensive logitech one at the time so i see no excuse for poor quality parts.

You may want to try contacting Logitech about it. I've heard they are very good at replacing defective mice & often don't even require one to send back the bad one.

Edvard · « **Reply #21 on:** February 08, 2014, 11:05 PM »

And if Logitech is no help, you can snap up the standard OMRON D2FC-F-7N Microswitches from just about anywhere. A little tinkering and solder smoke, and Voilà! New mouse!

Some people have opened up the switch and re-bent the leaf-spring contact inside. Not a good idea in my opinion. If you know anything at all about bending thin pieces of metal, you know it'll never be full strength again, but YMMV.

Shades · « **Reply #22 on:** February 09, 2014, 02:49 AM »

There can still be problems with the cable between a wired USB mouse and the port it is connected to. I have a Logitech multi-button mouse that works fine when the cable is a certain position, unfortunately that position appears to shift. Never found a replacement cable here in PY. People have given me older, cheaper brand mouses and the Logitech mouse cable contains more inner wires than the cheapo's do.

What also can be a problem is the USB port that is being used by the mouse. Even if there is nothing wrong with the mouse, its cable or the physical USB port it is connected to, then still there can be problem with Windows not being able to properly communicate with the USB device. While the device would work fine on the USB port right next to it.

Extremely irritating, I can tell you that much. I have a headless server here that has no problem with any USB device I connect to it, except the keyboard. that one will only work in one of the 8 USB ports on the back which are difficult to reach. The device is detected, Windows reports that the appropriate software is successfully installed...and that is it. Do not expect to be able to type anything. I exchanged keyboards (different models, different brands), but to no avail. So I hooked up an old PS2 clunker and all is dandy.

One would assume that the USB standard is around long enough for Windows to not behave so "stubborn" as it sometimes does. Ah well....