Mouse creep

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » January 25th, 2006, 1:00 am

I recently go rid of my old mouse (some of the pads on the underside had worn smooth and it wasn't riding cleanly), and started using one that had been given to me by a medical rep. at work. I found that (among other minor problems), it tended to creep; that is, when the mouse was still, the cursor drifted across the screen. So I chucked *that* one out and bought a new one ... same drifting. It might not matter too much (other than irritation), but when I rest the cursor in one of the the small arrow boxes on a scroll bar so I can click up or down one line, the drift often means I jump a screenful or get nothing happening at all.

I mentioned it to a friend, who seemed to think this is a common problem. True? or should I just buy another mouse?

(The mice are not cordless; the most recent one plugs into a USB port.)

Peter

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 25th, 2006, 4:56 am

2 cents:
I tried cordless, but was very dissapointed. More jerkiness of mouse if not a good radio reception, when something is liing in the way, especially when batteries are empty.
Batteries are empty all the time, thats what you think often. Annoying.
Mouse is too heavy because of batteries and therefor don?t handle as slick as a laptop mouse. Too heavy. Gives me aches.
My boss in a 3D-Production house has switched to a laptop mouse because of the very light weight. When you spend 7 hours a day shoving and clicking a mouse tenthousand times you want it to be like "not there", i guess.

I got a gamer-mouse. Logitech mx510. Millions of gamers have it...and they can?t be wrong when they spend 40 hours a week using it. I love it. Rocksolid. Most Precise. Smooth gliding. Nice handfit. Light (once you unscrew the extra weight out of it)

The mousepad is half the gliding pleasure. There big differences even on different foam/cloth-pads and their frictions. I take them because of the warm feeling. I found myself a no-name cloth pad with few friction.

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 25th, 2006, 4:57 am

Is your computer a Dell laptop with a touchpad? At work, Dell was the low bidder and we have a bunch of them. They all exhibit this problem sooner or later... sadly the fix is a motherboard replacement. It'll probably be done under warranty, but that doesn't make it any less of a pain in the neck.

I hope your problem is something different...

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 25th, 2006, 5:05 am

There are inexpansive USB-to-PS2 and PS2-to-USB adapters.
You could test if it's the port you?re using.

In the Windows Device Manager >> Mouse >>
there are several options to change and try, like the mouse's refresh rate, its buffer-size.

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » January 25th, 2006, 6:17 am

Peter, I get the drift problem on an old IBM Laptop with the mouse that looks like an eraser end between the G and H keys.... I've found that if I just let if drift, it eventually stops and it's back to normal. Nothing scientific here, just my own little experience =)

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 25th, 2006, 6:31 am

That eraser-thingie is actually called a J-Stick and it's a lot more forgiving than the touchpads. These things get hosed because dirt gets into the controls. In the J-Stick, the controls are centered in a very small physical point (at the bottom of the stick) but in a touchpad, the dirt can get up under the surface of the pad and it's very difficult to get out; essentially you just have to replace the pad.

But the Dells (and there are a LOT of Dells out there) also have some sort of motherboard issue which results in the drift. It's actually a matter of about 20 minutes to replace the motherboard; the big time is taken in finding the Dell technician. That's the part that can take weeks... sigh.

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » January 25th, 2006, 7:08 am

ChipDoc wrote:That eraser-thingie is actually called a J-Stick ...

ahhh... thank you ... we always just call it "the nipple" *grins*

vee · Post by **vee** » January 25th, 2006, 7:26 am

We've always called it a nipple too. The touchpads though get annoying, because if you have any moisture on your finger, it basically doesn't work. Mouse drift is pretty common. We find it especially true for textured or patterned desk surfaces.

Izze · Post by **Izze** » January 25th, 2006, 9:01 am

Try seeing if you can buy the adapter for USB to Mouse Port. It's supossed to be very cheap, my mice have always come with them.

Of course, that only work if your laptop has the Mouse/Keyboard adapter slot. I think it should, my four year old laptop (Dell, amazingly enough, with no major problems O.o ) has one, but I'm not sure if the newer ones have one.

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » January 26th, 2006, 1:02 am

Thanks, everyone; I'll fiddle and report.

Peter

RobertG · Post by **RobertG** » January 26th, 2006, 9:43 am

ChipDoc wrote:But the Dells (and there are a LOT of Dells out there) also have some sort of motherboard issue...

How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the Dells--
Of the Dells--
Of the Dells, Dells, Dells, Dells,
Dells, Dells, Dells--
In the clamor and the clangor of the Dells!

(with apologies to Mr. Poe)

Seriously, I've used Dell notebooks for about five years. I currently have a one-year old Precision M60 and my previous one was a Latitude. The only problem I ever had was RW CD burn out. It was easy to replace. I use the touch pad (never developed a taste for the j-stick) but never experienced the mouse pointer drift described here. There are adjustments to sensitivity and touch you can make in software for the touchpad but most people don't do that unless they are dedicated touchpadders.

Personally, I think touchpads rock.

I've never heard of the motherboard replacement issue. Perhaps it is endemic to the lower-end Inspiron models?

So no pointer problems here. A few of my icons sometimes drift down to the lower-right corner of the display, though. They mutter in soft tones that I can barely make out and a couple of them glance furtively over their shoulders at me from time to time.

I tend to ignore them.

(voice is coming back... may be reading by tonight!)

Sethwoodworth · Post by **Sethwoodworth** » January 29th, 2006, 7:50 pm

It miiiight be that your old mouse had a drift problem, and when it was installed the driver corrected for that. Try uninstalling whatever mouse driver you have now and reinstalling the mouse.

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » January 30th, 2006, 12:43 am

Interesting thought: I'll have a go in a day or so.

Thanks,

Peter

craftmuffin · Post by **craftmuffin** » February 10th, 2006, 1:11 pm

I had this problem with a new optical mouse. The cure for me was to get a different mouse pad that wasn't glossy.

Just my 2 cents!
Jena

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » February 10th, 2006, 1:19 pm

I got so irritated with my mouse (rubber ball, not optical), that I unscrewed it and fiddled, but didn't improve it. Hurling it from me and buying a much better quality one did.

I think it was simply a matter of shoddy manufacturing.

I have also been given a new mouse mat (I resent buying them as they are often so ludicrously expensive). I'm tempted to get a vinyl floor tile, or perhaps a cork tile with a layer of old cotton sheet stretched over it and glued.