Optical mouse acting analog....

[medea]

My Pro Mouse has been acting as though it has a dirty ball which is odd, and it's gotten worse, know the mouse stops working and I sometimes have to unplug it and replug it for it to work again. Any ideas?

 

[rainman::|:|]

Re: Optical mouse acting analog....

first, examine the optical sensor. dust can still accumulate there (despite what apple says), blocking the light that is emitted or the optical sensor. these can really screw with the mouse, something as small as a tiny fiber. unfortunately it's difficult to clean.

secondly, try playing with the cable. pro mouse cables are notorious for coming loose/broken/stripped. if this is the case, your best bet is probably a new mouse.

pnw

 

[Makosuke]

The dirty sensor and possibly broken mouse that paulwhannel suggested are both possibilities, but one other possible problem is your mouse pad.

I say this because I have a gel mouse pad covered in black cloth (feels like some sort of soft nylon), and after some use, I eventually figured out that if I had my pro mouse lined up with the grain of the fabric on the mouse pad, it would work perfectly, but if I had it at an angle to the pad, it would start to skip and otherwise act up.

I'm assuming that this happens because on a microscopic scale the fabric acts as some sort of a funky reflector at certain angles, causing the mouse to mis-read motion when it is at a certain orientation to the grain of the fabric.

Your situation might be completely different, but I was convinced for quite some time that my mouse was getting dirty, when in fact it was just not straight enough, so to speak. Experiment and see if this might apply to you.

 

[medea]

Originally posted by Makosuke
The dirty sensor and possibly broken mouse that paulwhannel suggested are both possibilities, but one other possible problem is your mouse pad.

I say this because I have a gel mouse pad covered in black cloth (feels like some sort of soft nylon), and after some use, I eventually figured out that if I had my pro mouse lined up with the grain of the fabric on the mouse pad, it would work perfectly, but if I had it at an angle to the pad, it would start to skip and otherwise act up.

I'm assuming that this happens because on a microscopic scale the fabric acts as some sort of a funky reflector at certain angles, causing the mouse to mis-read motion when it is at a certain orientation to the grain of the fabric.

Your situation might be completely different, but I was convinced for quite some time that my mouse was getting dirty, when in fact it was just not straight enough, so to speak. Experiment and see if this might apply to you.

Well the cable is not loose at either end, and I will get a can of air to possibly clean out the area around the sensor (if that will work?) and see if those help, but what you brought up is interesting as I have a gel mouse pad covered in black cloth myself and will try using something different to see if that is also the problem. Thanks to both of you.

 

[Makosuke]

Hmm... suspicious! Post if it turns out it was your mouse pad.

If you want to test with just the pad, at least in my case it was pretty easy. Move the mouse with it oriented to what you would consider "straight" with respect to the wrist rest, and it was fine. Rotate it about 15 degrees or so to either side (just twist the mouse pad a bit in either direction), and it goes funky almost immediately.

I'd imagine the situation is similar with other mousepads of the same sort, and although I don't see it with my Logitech mouse, an IBM one did the same thing. Mine looks just like this one from Amazon, but black:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...7//102-0496031-2020950?v=glance&s=pc&n=658496