Is My Optical Mouse Dying?

[Bird]

Another question from the computer dummy. I bought a new Hewlett-Packard desktop computer in January, 2008, along with a 19" monitor. The mouse that came with it was defective to start with, and Best Buy said they didn't have another one just like it, so they gave me a Gateway, Model MOAKUO, optical mouse that they said was more expensive. It's worked great until the last couple of days. But several times the last couple of days, it just quits working. The cursor stays in one place and will not move. I go to the back of the computer tower, unplug the USB cable, plug it back in, and the mouse works again usually! Last night I unplugged and plugged it back in a couple of times with no luck, but it was bedtime, so I decided I'd wait until morning to mess with it. Of course, the computer was left on all night, as usual. When I got up this morning, the mouse was working fine. So, it's quit on me twice so far today, I unplug it and plug it back in and everything's good again.

Does this mean my mouse is dying, or could it be something else?

 

[kenstrac]

Is it a wireless mouse if so change the battery.

 

[Bird]

Is it a wireless mouse if so change the battery.

Nope, not wireless. It's hardwired to a USB port.

 

[/pine]

You might check the device manager to make sure there are no problems with the USB port/driver...also, imediately after the failure check the system logs for an error message...but mice do wear out...

 

[Bird]

You might check the device manager to make sure there are no problems with the USB port/driver...also, imediately after the failure check the system logs for an error message...but mice do wear out...

Device manager shows all USB ports working normally. I'm not sure how I'd get to the system logs if the mouse won't move the cursor, and if there were an error message there, I probably wouldn't know what it meant.

 

[/pine]

best bet is the mouse is wearing out...

to see the system logs...from the control panel select 'Administrative Tools' then look for "Event Viewer"...there should be a series of system logs...all may not be activated...check the "system" and the "application" logs...they will be listed in the system timeline.

Sometimes if there is a problem the logs can give you a clue where to look...especially if it is an external port that is messing up...and other times you can run a search for the error code and solve some mysteries....

also...the current settings (if you're not logged in as an Administrator) it may not let you see the "Administrator Tools" icon...

 

[Bird]

best bet is the mouse is wearing out...

to see the system logs...from the control panel select 'Administrative Tools' then look for "Event Viewer"...there should be a series of system logs...all may not be activated...check the "system" and the "application" logs...they will be listed in the system timeline.

Sometimes if there is a problem the logs can give you a clue where to look...especially if it is an external port that is messing up...and other times you can run a search for the error code and solve some mysteries....

also...the current settings (if you're not logged in as an Administrator) it may not let you see the "Administrator Tools" icon...

I can look at the Administrator Tools and see the system and application logs but then I don't understand what I'm looking at, or what I'm looking for. I found some error code 1000 and 1002, etc. If the problem really is the mouse, I can go buy one, but I reckon I just need to get a son-in-law to come take a look at it and fix it for me.

 

[jinman]

Have you tried the mouse in a different USB port? It can be the connector, the wire, internal mouse fault, or ??? Swap the mouse to a different port and if the problem continues go get a Logitech mouse.

 

[BrianR]

Replace your mouse.....if that doesn't take care of it, you have a bad USB port on your computer. I just went through the same thing. After 7 years of use, my faithful mouse bit the dust.

It is most likely a loose wire where the wire comes out of the mouse. Mine was worn through where the case presses against the cable.

 

[/pine]

...I don't understand what I'm looking at, or what I'm looking for...

if it was a USB port intermittently malfunctioning...there would be some red flags in the system log...sometimes when the port is physically bad the device manager will report that it is OK

the system logs are good troubleshooting tools but you must be able to fix the timeline to the occurrence of the problem...many of the entries will be nominal run errors that are nothing to be concerned about if the system is else-wise working OK...