usb optical mouse freezes and kernel panic

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Level 1

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usb optical mouse freezes and kernel panic

My mouse will freeze intermittantly. Unplugging and reattaching the usb cable to the keyboard fixes the problem for a varying period. Any ideas about solution? New keyboard? New mouse?

Also I am having a series of total computer freezes, where the screen darkens and a restart dialog box appears.
I've read some archive stuff about 'kernel panic' which looks likely. Could this be connected to me adding the hard drive from my old g4 to the mdd g4 after the power supply packed up on the old g4?
Are mouse freeze and kernel panic connected?

g4 mdd

Posted on Sep 7, 2007 5:58 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Sep 7, 2007 6:23 AM in response to muck island

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

Could this be connected to me adding the hard drive from my old g4 to the mdd g4 after the power supply packed up on the old g4?

If you are using the old G4's hard drive to boot the new G4, yes. Different vintages of G4s have different drivers. If you just install a different hard drive with the original software that came with the newer G4, or newer retail operating system, that should avoid that problem, while still giving you access to the second hard drive from the older G4. Just be sure the jumper settings for master and slave are set accordingly. Typically Master hard drives have the best time being the boot drive.

Kernel panics are described in more detail on my FAQ*:

http://www.macmaps.com/kernelpanic.html

But I think you may have stumbled upon the reason with the use of your older G4's hard drive.

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Message was edited by: a brody

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Answer 2

Sep 7, 2007 10:35 AM in response to muck island

This is for your mouse situation;
The original Apple Pro mouse cable frays in the chord just as it exits the mouse, over time, and shorts out causing symtoms similar to yours. You can't see the fray by looking at it thru the exterior covering. This can happen to third party mice over time too.
Mine did it. I plugged it into a different port, so the chord exited the mouse in a different direction, and had very few freezes after that. Once I got over my frugalness (cheapness!) I bought a new one. Eventually it got to where I couldn't even work for more then a few minutes without a freeze.

So, try a known good mouse to see if that's the problem.
Don Archibald, a Level 5 here, said the USB ports on the keyboard (for you desktop users) are underpowered and can cause this problem also if the mouse is plugged in there. This can even fry the keyboard sometimes (happened to him). Try plugging your mouse into a port on your monitor or tower.
If you still have trouble post back!

Cheers!
DALE

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