Is My Optical Mouse Dying?

[mostly_gas]

Had a problem with my wireless mouse, tried it on white paper it worked fine. Got tired of messing with the paper and the problem stayed away. A few years ago had a problem with some Logitech mice where they would freeze. Change USB port would unfreeze it. Had that problem on 6 different computer/mice stations. Problem went away and cannot tell you why it started and why it quit.

 

[MossRoad]

I haven't even used a mouse pad since I got this optical mouse. It's just on a light colored oak veneer surface.

And in spite of the problems I had with it for a couple of days, it's worked just fine ever since I started this thread.:laughing:

HA! Ain't that the way it goes sometimes? :laughing:

You didn't polish the table, did you?

If it happens again, try using the mouse on a magazine, newspaper or piece of construction paper just to humor me and see if it starts working again.

 

[Bird]

HA! Ain't that the way it goes sometimes? :laughing:

You didn't polish the table, did you?

If it happens again, try using the mouse on a magazine, newspaper or piece of construction paper just to humor me and see if it starts working again.

OK, I'll try it. So far, still working fine.

 

[charlz]

When it is not working is the light or lights on under the mouse? I had to replace the LED's in my dual optical after 10-12 years. There are a couple of articles out there on how to do it... mostly because people want to change the color of the LED's. Not really all that hard if you can find bright enough LED's and have a soldering iron :thumbsup:

 

[Bird]

When it is not working is the light or lights on under the mouse? I had to replace the LED's in my dual optical after 10-12 years. There are a couple of articles out there on how to do it... mostly because people want to change the color of the LED's. Not really all that hard if you can find bright enough LED's and have a soldering iron :thumbsup:

Yep, I did check that light when it wasn't working and the little red light appeared normal. And I had a good soldering iron before I moved back to town and sold it in a garage sale, but don't even have one now.

 

[Bird]

If it happens again, try using the mouse on a magazine, newspaper or piece of construction paper just to humor me and see if it starts working again.

Well, just a few minutes ago, it hung up again. The cursor was there but would not move, so I had a sheet of plain white paper handy and tried that under the mouse with not luck. The red light looked fine, of course. So I unplugged the USB cable, plugged it back in, and it's working again.

 

[texasjohn]

suggest you take a pencil eraser and rub the USB plug on both sides with the eraser.... if there is goop on that connection, it should remove it...worth a try...I'm betting on either electrical connectivity problem or software problem at the moment.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, just a few minutes ago, it hung up again. The cursor was there but would not move, so I had a sheet of plain white paper handy and tried that under the mouse with not luck. The red light looked fine, of course. So I unplugged the USB cable, plugged it back in, and it's working again.

Well, thanks for humoring me. :confused3:

I would suggest going to a cheap computer store and buying a $7.00 USB mouse and test with that.

 

[Bird]

Well, thanks for humoring me. :confused3:

I would suggest going to a cheap computer store and buying a $7.00 USB mouse and test with that.

It's still working just fine this morning. Of course, I thought originally the mouse itself was going bad (still a possibility, I guess) but I'm inclined now to think it's a connectivity issue, as mentioned by texasjohn, so next it happens, I'll try his suggestion with the eraser.

 

[LMTC]

Well, just a few minutes ago, it hung up again. The cursor was there but would not move, so I had a sheet of plain white paper handy and tried that under the mouse with not luck. The red light looked fine, of course. So I unplugged the USB cable, plugged it back in, and it's working again.

The cursor is generated by the video software, but moved by the electronic signal from the mouse. What you describe is the way most of my mice die; slowly and erratically. I simply keep an extra $8-10 mouse on the shelf, and when this starts I switch mice. If I have no more glitches over a few days, the old one goes to the garbage and I buy another backup.