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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Mouse jumping and freezing

light100 - Apr 5, 2007 - 10:29 pm

I have an erratic mouse that jumps around and freezes. I ran through all the Mac fixit programs, then reinstalled my entire system and apps, added more memory and nothing helped.

For a reason that had nothing to do with this problem, I cancelled my Vonage account and disconnected the modem and reconnected the DSL modem directly to the computer. Suddenly, the mouse was smooth again and working fine. So I assume it was the Vonage cable.

The mouse was fine for about 2 months and now it's jumping and freezing again. I disconnected the mouse cable and put it back and that did nothing. Then I disconnected the printer cable from the usb slot on the keyboard. That helped for a little while a few times but no more. So I disconnected the keyboard cable from the computer and put it back again and that gets it smooth for about 10 minutes.

So is the keyboard cable the problem? If it is, does that mean the whole keyboard has to be replaced?

How come the Vonage cable was the problem at first and now it's another cable?

Is something corrupting the cables?

About 3 months ago I bought an HP2335 reconditioned monitor. Could that be causing the problems?

I hope there's a clear answer to this. I'd hate to have to drag all this equipment to the Apple Store.

Thanks.
Ann-Marie

P.S. Take your time—I won't be back at this computer until next Tuesday.

stottm - Apr 6, 2007 - 9:40 am

Be glad to help you figure out what's going on. But I need to know more information in order to assist. Your Apple hardware is in question. i.e. not really sure what you have for hardware from your profile. I would guess a PowerMac G4 with mirror drive doors?

You also don't specify the make/model of your mouse.
- Is it the USB cabled Apple mouse (mouse ball no red light)?
- Wireless Apple Mouse (no ball red light)?
- USB Apple Mighty Mouse (trackball on top instead of scrollwheel)?
- USB Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse (same as above but wireless)?
- A Microsoft or Logitech mouse (which one)?

You stated that you had a Vonage adaptor connected when the problem first started and when you cancelled Vonage and removed the adaptor the mouse started working again. How was the Vonage device attached? i.e. USB or Ethernet? You also mention a DSL modem. How is that attached, USB or Ethernet? You mentioned that you had the USB printer plugged into the keyboard. Is that where you had the Vonage adaptor plugged in as well?

It certainly sounds like a USB problem. USB is Universal Serial Bus and it interconnects keyboard, mouse, scanners, printers, etc. There are issues with connecting too many devices at once due to power requirements. Some ports are lower power and others are not. If you run out of powered ports you need an external powered USB hub to add more ports.

1. Don't plug anything into the USB keyboard side plugs except a mouse or other low power device like a USB flash drive. I would not even plugin a digital camera on these ports. The printer plugged into a keyboard is a no no. The keyboard USB jacks are low power only.

2. I guess that the Vonage cable was USB as well? Where was that plugged in? As you've already cancelled Vonage it's a moot point. I would have used an Internet router like a Linksys and plugged a Vonage ethernet adaptor into ethernet rather then USB into the computer.

3. I would also connect your DSL modem to the computer via ethernet rather then USB as well. Ethernet is a lot faster then USB and better in general. If you have more then one computer you should get a Linksys or Apple router and connect the DSL modem to the router via ethernet then plug the PowerMac into the router via ethernet as well.

If you have the new Apple Airport Extreme router you can connect a USB hard disk to the router as well as the USB printer and share them with all the computers in your house. But even an older Apple router can share a USB printer. Even the Apple Airport Express can do it as well.

http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/specs.html
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/specs.html

Here's some Apple USB Trouble-Shooting Guidelines please try all these steps in order:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58033
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300543

If your mouse uses a ball and is not optical (no red light on the bottom)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25066

light100 - Apr 6, 2007 - 12:27 pm

Thanks for all the information. Funny thing—after I read the article on mouse problems (I have a ProMouse, usb cabled with a red light) and tried another surface—the table top instead of the mouse pad—and the erratic behavior went away. This might be a naive question, but is it o.k. to use the mouse on your table top surface instead of a mouse pad?

stottm - Apr 6, 2007 - 5:04 pm

That bit of information clinches it! The red LED (light emitting diode) will have trouble on some surfaces, especially reflective like glass, or say a red mouse pad, or a textured surface that is not flat, etc.

Laser mice like some Logitech models fair better then LED based mice on different surfaces.

No no problem at all with using a desktop surface as long as it's not a glass or glass covered table it will work fine. A red laminate surface would be bad, however.

You don't really need a mouse pad anymore, they were originally intended to either keep the old ball style clean or to enhance the accuracy by providing a textured surface for the ball the grip. Some of those textured mouse pads by 3M had a surface like a cat's tongue and the ball would roll on this teeny tiny raised surfaces that gripped the ball and prevented it from slipping.

But no, you don't need a mouse pad at all.

light100 - Apr 7, 2007 - 5:34 pm

I had switched mouse pads and this one has a red, black and white pattern. Knowing what affects these new mouses is not something everyone would find obvious so you would think that Apple would give this info with a new Mac.

Thanks for all your help and I appreciate how fully you answered my questions.

stottm - Apr 7, 2007 - 7:10 pm

Yep, that would do it. The red is the trouble. The LED is red and red light on a red surface makes the red surface invisible to the mouse motion sensor. If you have a red portion on the mouse pad and the center of the mouse passes from say black to red to black again; the mouse pointer would stop when you were on the red and start when you are on the black.

It depends on the shade of red but it would almost have to be pink to not be a problem. Mice are starting to move to infrared laser diode technology. It's solid state like LED (Light Emitting Diode) but it's a more accurate because it's a laser. The cost is getting low on laser diodes so we'll see more and more mice using the technology. But of course, there could be some new pointing device in the future that makes a mouse look like an 8-track tape player...

light100 - Apr 8, 2007 - 2:53 pm

I'm not at my computer until next week but look forward to running the mouse over the red, black and white pad to see what you're describing.

I guess that's it. Thanks again for your help.