# USB Mouse Losing Touch

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usb-mouse-losing-touch/239197>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 9, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usb-mouse-losing-touch/239197 "2004-04-09T17:20:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aka\_10003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@aka\_10003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aka_10003)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usb-mouse-losing-touch/239197/1 "2004-04-09T17:20:11Z")

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My USB mouse, about a year old, is acting strangely lately – at times it stops affecting the cursor and I have to re-plug it. This will repeat, sometimes after 10 minutes, sometimes after a day.

Is that common among “aging” USB accessories? Is it likely to be specific to mine?

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usb-mouse-losing-touch/239197/2 "2004-04-09T17:23:29Z")

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Could have to do with your 'puter. I need to re-plug my USB mouse every time my PC resets and the mouse isn’t all that old.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usb-mouse-losing-touch/239197/3 "2004-04-09T17:36:44Z")

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If it’s a ball type mouse, it might need cleaning.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aka\_10003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@aka\_10003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aka_10003)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usb-mouse-losing-touch/239197/4 "2004-04-09T17:46:06Z")

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“If it’s a ball type mouse, it might need cleaning.”

It is optical.

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**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usb-mouse-losing-touch/239197/5 "2004-04-10T00:15:11Z")

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I’m betting it’s the usb port and not the mouse. Try differnet ports, and try the ps2 attachment on your mouse. If you don’t have a ps2 attachment try it on a different computer.