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Tech support question: Randomly disconnecting-and-reconnecting mouse

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GGCrono Since: Jan, 2001
#1: Apr 25th 2012 at 9:54:39 AM

Periodically, my USB mouse will "disconnect" for a second (with accompanying sound effect) and then reconnect. There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern to it happening.

My question is this: Is it just time to get a new mouse, or is there something wrong with a driver or something?

TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
#2: Apr 25th 2012 at 10:01:54 AM

My first guess would be a fractured cable causing an intermittent break.

Fresh-eyed movie blog
KylerThatch literary masochist Since: Jan, 2001
literary masochist
#3: Apr 25th 2012 at 10:04:21 AM

You might try checking the USB port itself with another device (mouse, flash drive, whatever) that you're sure is working okay.

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
KylerThatch literary masochist Since: Jan, 2001
literary masochist
#5: Apr 25th 2012 at 10:10:40 AM

Wait, are you referring to me or the OP?

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
GGCrono Since: Jan, 2001
lee4hmz 486-powered rotating frosted cherry Pop-Tart from A shipwreck in the tidal Potomac (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
486-powered rotating frosted cherry Pop-Tart
#8: Apr 25th 2012 at 2:24:51 PM

It's either a bad cable or a marginal USB port (bad solder or contacts). Try it on a different machine, and make sure to wiggle the cable while it's plugged in. If your mouse is optical (most are now), you should be able to see the sensor LED turning on and off.

online since 1993 | huge retrocomputing and TV nerd | lee4hmz.info (under construction) | heapershangout.com
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#9: Apr 26th 2012 at 3:22:09 AM

I get that with my bluetooth Microsoft Explorer. It pisses me off as it is my favourite. Keep swapping the USB ports that the dongle is in but it still keeps happening.

TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
#10: Apr 26th 2012 at 11:11:38 AM

I have a wireless USB mouse that keeps disconnecting very briefly or something, because it keeps reading the left button as being released when it's not. So if I try to click and drag, it drops early, and if I just click, sometimes it reads a doubleclick.

Fresh-eyed movie blog
lee4hmz 486-powered rotating frosted cherry Pop-Tart from A shipwreck in the tidal Potomac (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
486-powered rotating frosted cherry Pop-Tart
#11: Apr 26th 2012 at 1:26:44 PM

That could be a bad or dirty switch. That happens sometimes, too, especially on cheap mice with the little dome switches instead of the (better) Omron-ish microswitches.

online since 1993 | huge retrocomputing and TV nerd | lee4hmz.info (under construction) | heapershangout.com
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#12: Apr 27th 2012 at 12:02:34 AM

[up]That could be it, mate. I prefer using Logitech or Microsoft mice because they are better built, and you can get them dirt cheap on Ebay.

TParadox Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: The captain of her heart
#13: Apr 27th 2012 at 12:15:15 AM

I bought my mouse about three years ago. I insisted on it being five-button and having a micro-receiver, and at the time that meant it was $70. These days I see $20 mice meeting those criteria coming through my register all the time.

Fresh-eyed movie blog
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#14: Apr 27th 2012 at 6:44:57 AM

Yup, same deal for me. I bought one of the first Microsoft optical mice, the Explorer. The price gave me my first real big taste of Sticker Shock and it had a cord/mouse body interface failure - read broken cable, but it was brilliant while it lasted.

My current one, the buggy Bluetooth Explorer was a quarter of the cost as far as I recall.

lee4hmz 486-powered rotating frosted cherry Pop-Tart from A shipwreck in the tidal Potomac (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
486-powered rotating frosted cherry Pop-Tart
#15: Apr 27th 2012 at 12:36:35 PM

I went looking for a Bluetooth mouse recently, and that was like...you know, I'm not paying $40 for a relatively basic mouse, guys. :P I ended up buying a regular Microsoft wireless mouse with a nano-transceiver at a local computer shop for like $15.

online since 1993 | huge retrocomputing and TV nerd | lee4hmz.info (under construction) | heapershangout.com
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#16: Apr 27th 2012 at 3:20:13 PM

As Weird Al said in that song about the Cool Rabbi, never pay retail. Ebay is your friend. I often buy stuff I don't really need but I very rarely find that the stuff I buy doesn't work or isn't compatible with what I want to use it for.

GGCrono Since: Jan, 2001
#17: Apr 27th 2012 at 6:09:57 PM

So yeah, it seems to happen no matter which port the mouse is plugged into. Guess that means new mouse time.

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