Cordless mice freezes -- normal?

General Questions
#1

I have a Logitech MX 610 cordless mouse, my first mouse-upgrade in a while–hence I’m not sure what to expect. Occasionally, the mouse freezes/jumps/skips about the screen as if it is momentarily losing contact with the receiver. It rarely lasts more than a second, but long enough to be noticeable, irritating, and occasionally deadly (e.g., when playing HL2).

I have tried all of the troubleshooting steps on Logitech’s Web site (fresh batteries, other computers, ports, etc.), but to no avail. The mouse is only three feet from the USB receiver with no metal or other obstructions in the line of site (save the wooden shelf the keyboard rests on).

So, cordless mouse users, is this freezing/loss of contact the price I have to pay to sever the cord, or is there something squirrelly going on with either the receiver or the mouse? The great move from mechanical to optical was supposed to avoid this issue – it is now worse!!!

Oh, I’m on a fully patched WinXP box with 2Gb RAM and a fast processor, so I don’t think there is a choke-point hardware-wise, but am willing to listen.

Thanks,

Rhythm

#2

Been there, done that.

We too had the same problems with a Logitech cordless mouse–"Occasionally, the mouse freezes/jumps/skips about the screen as if it is momentarily losing contact with the receiver. It rarely lasts more than a second, but long enough to be noticeable, irritating, and occasionally deadly (e.g., when playing HL2)"–mmm…yup, that’s it–“all of the troubleshooting steps on Logitech’s Web site (fresh batteries, other computers, ports, etc.”—mmm…yup, did that, too, as well as endless experimentation with mouse mats and surfaces.

It’s now back in the box, somewhere in the Useless Computer Junk That We Can’t Bring Ourselves To Throw Away Because We Might Want It Again Someday Closet.

I feel your pain.

The Better Half went out and bought himself a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000, which he swears is the best mouse he’s ever had. It leaves me kinda “meh”, being too narrow for ergonomic hand comfort for my taste (so we have the big fat Dell mouse that came with the computer still plugged in and I use that when it’s my turn for the 'puter)…but there’s no denying it doesn’t skip around all over the place like the Logitech.

#3

What type of surface do you use the mouse on? Could that make a difference?

We have a Logitech cordless mouse, and the only times it behaves as you describe is when the batteries are low. Of course, it’s possible that it does to this and we don’t notice, since the computer with the Logitech mouse is mostly used by my wife and she doesn’t play computer games which would require quick mouse action.

#4

Mouse is on an ollld mousepad, but I never had problems with a regular optical mouse on the pad. Not only that, but the Logitech boasts of a laser tracking system that is “supposed” to be better than the LED. Either way, when it freezes it freezes, not hop about a bit like an older in-need-of-cleaning mechanical mouse.

In general, I love this mouse–with copy, paste, volume, find, etc. all easily accessible yet out of the way enough to avoid accidental hitting. I do get in my share of HL, but it’s also excruciatingly maddening when I’m editing, despite all the features.

DDG, are you saying that the MS cordless mouse does not skip like the Logitech? As in, cordless mice don’t normally skip, but the Logitech is a POS?

#5

Yeah, I had a cordless mouse that did that. I stopped using it.

I *think *in my case that it was the mouse turning itself off to conserve batteries.

Is it like that for you too? Does it ever happen right in the middle of moving the mouse? Or does it only happen when you stop using it for a few minutes, then pick it up again?

#6

Whoa… that’s something to look into! I’ll play around with it and see if it’s a matter of waking it.

#7

Yes, that is indeed what I’m saying. The Logitech drove us nuts for a while, mainly because it always seemed to do it only when I was using it, because we had it installed on “my” computer (yes, we’re a three-computer family, why do you ask? :smiley: )

And the Better Half was, like, “Well, it must need new batteries”. Or, “Maybe a different mouse mat?” Or, “Maybe there’s something in between the mouse and the computer?” And so I’d experiment, and keep coming up negative at my end of the dining room. And then he’d turn back to his computer.

But as soon as we installed it on “his” computer, and it started driving him nuts, suddenly we got all proactive and started trying to figure out what was wrong with it, and the answer was–nothing. It just skipped and lagged and jumped around every so often.

But this MS mouse that he obtained does not skip, and is actually a very nice mouse, except that, as I said, I personally find it a bit too narrow–it wants to be twiddled by your fingertips, and I prefer a nice handful.

Not qualified to address this, sorry, as I’ve not had that much experience with cordless mice. We have had other cordless mice, but I don’t recall their brands–just that this Logitech is the one in the Closet with the big red “A” for “Awful” on its shoulder.

#8

I’ve never had any trouble with the Logitech wireless mouse but recently got one of the Microsoft ones after hearing great things about it. I agree it’s too narrow and I’ve found that it’s range is very limited and easily blocked by objects in it’s path. Overall it’s not something I’d ever buy again although it works well enough to use.

#9

3 feet is pretty close for the receiver. I’ve generally heard a 6 to 10 ft minimum from mouse to receiver. Try moving the thing a few more feet away and see if it does anything.

#10

I dealt with a cordless mouse and keyboard for a while… Battery life was decent (albeit a minor PITA to switch batteries since they always seemed to give out at inconvenient times) but I also got annoyed with the minor delays when my mouse started to fall asleep to conserve battery life. In the end I just decided that I don’t even move my keyboard or mouse around that much to really need a wireless connection. The only thing I would ever do is take my keyboard to the living room to control my music every once in a while but that never really stood out as a huge benefit for me.

It was the Microsoft Bluetooth elite and I could get a good reception 20-30 feet away. Highly recommended if you’re in the market for a set. :slight_smile:

#11

Does turning off or unplugging your speakers work? Computer speakers should be shielded, but I had similar problems with my cordless when using headphones.

#12

You can have two mice hooked up at once. I do that now at work since I’m too lazy to unhook one. Maybe you can use the one you like for some things and the other to play games.

My Logitech also lags sometimes. But since I just make maps it doesn’t make any difference.

#13

Seriously? What kinds of desks to they think people work on?

#14

Yes, I’m still trying to figure this thing out… it’s an intermittent problem (though not so intermittent as to be infrequent), and I’ve gotten so addicted to the extra buttons that I’m still holding out hope for a cure–or at least other diagnostic steps I can take.

A few more things:
[ul]
[li]Problem persisted in Safe Mode;[/li][li]Tried different surfaces, to no avail; [/li][li]Only wireless devices in the room are a Linksys printserver and a cordless phone;[/li][li]Contacted Linksys, and they said that since we never set it up to work wirelessly, it shouldn’t be sending out signals;[/li][li]Hooked it up to a laptop (Older Dell, P3, XP Home) downstairs (away from the phone) and had no problem;[/li][li]Brought the laptop upstairs and set it on my desk, had no problem; [/li][li]Unplugged the speakers, still had a problem; [/li][li]Put a regular optical (i.e., LED) mouse into the same USB port and found no skipping (currently have both mice plugged in at the same time); and[/li][li]Convinced the store to allow me to return the mouse for an identical product–same make, model, etc., same problem. [/li][/ul]
So… it’s unlikely a mouse-related hardware problem, it’s unlikely interference related, and the USB port seems fine. So, what the heck could it be? How do I go about isolating things? Could it be a service? Could an anti-virus or other resident program be interrupting communication between the mouse and the system? The troubling thing is that the problem still appeared in Safe Mode, so I’m not sure what to stop.

A couple things from the “why didn’t I mention this before” category: First, it is an intermittent problem, so I’m not sure how legitimate using it on the laptop is. I ran it for a while, but that’s no guarantee that it wouldn’t have cropped up a few minutes later.

Second, I have an APC uninterruptible power supply (Back-UPS XS 1000) sitting on the shelf right next to the computer. Could it be the source of this headache?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

Rhythm

#15

I have a Logitech MX cordless. It started to act up and get “stuck”. I found that there were a few strands of cat hair in the laser opening. Cleaning them out fixed the problem.

#16

These things can be hard to troubleshoot. I have a Logitech V270 optical cordless bluetooth mouse that I’ve been using on Dell D620 for about a year. I recently bought a Dell 1420 laptop with bluetooth. Both laptops have the same bluetooth card installed, I think, and while on the D620 the mouse functions absolutely perfectly (does go to sleep fairly quickly, but the batteries last for weeks), but on the 1420 the same mouse lags and skips and freezes constantly. Sure wish I could figure it out.

#17

It does happen with a cordless mouse. I find the real problem is when the mouse decides to change channels on me. Before this occurs it starts locking up for brief periods. This is only a problem for games. I change to a different set of batteries, and put the others into the charger. I press the mouse connect to be sure the the receiver and mouse are communicating ok. This fixes the pauses for a while. I can have connection problems, when the mouse gets close to the receiver, but is lower than the receiver. There’s a blind spot apparently.

#18

How is the line of sight between your mouse and the receiver? I’ve had problems with wireless mice when there was the body of the computer, or a desk, between the mouse and it’s receiver. If you can do it, try moving the 2 of them right next to each other, and see if that clears up the problem.