Mouse problems!

[Elaine ..Spain]

Why does my mouse have a mind of its own. It can be working perfectly and then all of a sudden shoots off to the other side of the screen - which is very annoying! :(
Someone told me I should disable the touch pad on the laptop which might help. Apart from not knowing how to do this, is it likely to make any difference?
It's relatively new and it is the second one I have had that has done this.

[It_Is_I_Leclerc]

Elaine
On my laptop there is a little switch next to the touchpad were I can turn the pad on/off, have a look for something similar.
As for the mouse, one of the most common faults (if you have a rollerball mouse) is that muck gets built up on the ball and it contacts, have a look on the underside and see if you can release the ball, this is usually a baynot type of fitting then clean up the ball and its 3 roller contacts and replace
L

[WendyPusey]

Mine does that occasionally on the PC, but Dave doesn't know why. It does get annoying at times.

Mine is an optical mouse.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Mine is an optical mouse.

Mine too. I agree Wendy, it does get very annoying!
Looks as if I am just going to have to put up with it.

[lorry53]

What kind of mouse are you using, Elaine? Disabling your mousepad is unlikely to make a difference; I use an optical mouse with both my work and home laptops and have the mousepads enabled. The surface you put your mouse on can make a difference.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Elaine
On my laptop there is a little switch next to the touchpad were I can turn the pad on/off, have a look for something similar.

Just found the switch! I'll give it a try to see if it makes any difference.

[Elaine ..Spain]

What kind of mouse are you using, Elaine? Disabling your mousepad is unlikely to make a difference; I use an optical mouse with both my work and home laptops and have the mousepads enabled. The surface you put your mouse on can make a difference.

Optical mouse - I have three different mousemats and it reacts the same on all of them!

[lorry53]

Optical mouse - I have three different mousemats and it reacts the same on all of them!

I see you posted at the same time as me. Optical mice don't like very smooth, very coarse or reflective surfaces, even some mousepads. You might try various homemade pads, such as thick paper or cardboard without any folds in it, like the backing of a writing pad. Failing that, you might want to go back to a rollerball!

[WendyPusey]

Even when I had a rollerball mouse, it did the same thing! Even after I had cleaned it!!!

[lorry53]

Even when I had a rollerball mouse, it did the same thing! Even after I had cleaned it!!!

Hmm... could be a driver problem, but it seems unlikely. Weird.

[Chrissie Smiff]

I used to have an optical mouse Elaine and it did the same thing. Hubby has it now and he says that it does it occasionally. I now have an optical wireless mouse and that has a trick of it's own. Sometimes, when I first switch on, it struggles to work as though the battery is going but if I plug in my other mouse it starts to work again.

Have you tried feeding it a slice of cheese :D

[Elaine ..Spain]

Have you tried feeding it a slice of cheese :D

I think I'll keep that suggestion for Plan B!

[Guest]

I have a Brite Mat Mousepad especially for Optical mice its quite flat and hard maybe that would help ?????

[PeteW1959]

There are 3 possible faults here:

1. Driver problem. You say it used to do it with your old mouse. There are 2 drivers involved, the mouse driver and the USB port driver, and it could be either as most mice, optical and mechanical, use the same drivers. Try uninstalling the mouse drivers (using the touchpad) from the control panel/system/hardware/device manager/mice and other pointing devices/PS2 compatible mouse. Unplug the mouse before removing it. When you plug the mouse back in again it should ask you if you want to keep the existing driver. Select 'no' and it should go and look for a new one.

2. USB port problem. Your USB port could have a hardware fault. Only real way to eliminate this with a laptop is to get hold of a USB card for the expansion slot.

3. Mouse fault. Unlikely as you say it used to do it with a mechanical mouse. However it might be worth checking the underside of the mouse where the LED and sensor are. Something as simple as a hair in there can cause all sorts of problems.

[Linda from Murton]

Hello, reading through this thread rang bells. I have an optical, wired, USB mouse and recently found it jumping a bit. My mouse pad (only nine years old) does have a coarse surface, so I ditched it and am just using my desk surface (coloured blue and very smooth) and the jumping seems to have settled down. Will monitor the situation and come back if there is any change.

Safe surfing

Linda

[Britec]

Hi Elaine,

Have a look at this page it should sort your mouse problem out.

The pointer moves erratically or does not respond when you use a Microsoft pointing device

[Elaine ..Spain]

Hi Elaine,

Have a look at this page it should sort your mouse problem out.

The pointer moves erratically or does not respond when you use a Microsoft pointing device

Thanks Brian, but it states at the top that the article does not apply to Windows Vista or to Microsoft Windows XP.

One laptop is XP, the other Vista!

[genious]

Mouse problem

I had a similar problem with my mouse. It is a cordless one which uses a small receiver plugged into a USB slot to transmit the signal. After many many months of the cursor shooting off whenever and wherever it wanted to, the problem was final discovered.

I had the reciever plugged into a USB slot at the front of my compter. Not being very technically minded all I can tell you is that the person who discovered the fault said that the reciever needed to be plugged into the back of the computer as the slot at the front did not draw enough power.

I did not have any room at the back of the computer so I purchased a hub. The hub has its own power supply(Belkin) and I plugged the mouse reciever into this. Not only has it solved the mouse problem, it has also given me much more room to use my other devices. I was told not to get a hub without its own power supply as sometimes they could not cope with all the traffice which went through them.
I hope this helps. Regards Genious

[Elaine ..Spain]

I had the reciever plugged into a USB slot at the front of my compter. Not being very technically minded all I can tell you is that the person who discovered the fault said that the reciever needed to be plugged into the back of the computer as the slot at the front did not draw enough power.

All three of my USB slots are at the side of the computer!

It was going crazy this morning so I threw the mousemat across the other side of the room and used a bit of paper - it seemed to prefer it - so maybe I need to experiment with different surfaces!

[Guest]

Elaine I found mine worked best on this really flat mousepad its got a really hard surface.