Mouse acting up

Question

Mouse acting up

Having a problem with the mouse. Switched to different mouse, started the computer with the extensions off. What happens is the mouse stops responding for short bursts, sometime you can hear drive activity, the same thing you hear if you unplug and plug the mouse. Sometimes it freezes completely and if you unplug and plug it will respond again, other times it freezes the computer. As I said I've tried different mice, plugged in to the keyboard, the back of the cpu, different ports all to no avail. Even reinstalled the system software and all the drivers. I'm lost.

G4 733 mhz, Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on Nov 6, 2008 9:08 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 6, 2008 3:26 PM in response to Robert Bonini

For Mac OS 9, there are some mouse parameters stored in PRAM, so I would try resetting PRAM, if you have not done so yet.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

You've done the logical trouble shooting... different mice, different ports, different system installation. Is one of the mice you tried a standard Apple mouse?

Have you tried running with nothing connected to USB except for the mouse (even remove the keyboard)? Does that make any difference?

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Answer 2

Nov 6, 2008 4:08 PM in response to Robert Bonini

Sorry, just questions:

Do you have multiple internal drives ? could the drive sound be a drive spinning up ?

How is the new mouse different ? Wireless (radio / RF) ? wireless (bluetooth) ? corded ? optical ? or rollerball ? how many buttons (including the ones you'll never use) ?

I used to have issues with a 5 button USB corded mouse, where I may accidentally and unknowingly click button 4 or 5, which was programmed in the mouse to sent a certain key sequence. What a nightmare.

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Answer 3

Nov 7, 2008 8:10 AM in response to Robert Bonini

I'll try to answer all your questions, PRAM has been reset, didn't make any difference.
It would be difficult to remove the keyboard as a test, sometimes it takes a day or more before it acts up.
One mouse is a 5 button Logitech, the other I've tried is a macally 3 button Optinet, tried both of these with there attendant software (drivers) installed and not installed, made no difference. There is another drive, however the sound we here is definetly the startup disk. Exaclty the same sound you get if you unplug the mouse and plug it back in.

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Answer 4

Nov 7, 2008 10:40 AM in response to Robert Bonini

If removing the keyboard is not realistic, I would remove everything else that is USB except for the keyboard (and assume the keyboard is OK), and have the mouse plugged directly to the Mac. It is possible for USB devices to cause conflicts.

It may also be a conflict with a driver for another USB device. So during this test, I would use Extensions Manager to disable any other third-party USB device drivers that you may have installed.

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Answer 5

Nov 7, 2008 2:12 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Thanks for all the replies, there are no other USB devices other than the keboard and the mouse. Also deactivated all the other USB extensions and control panel devices. At first that didn't seem to help. I have since copied directly into the extensions and control panels the drivers etc. this was done after a system reinstall. So far it hasn't acted up, (about a day and a half) I'll post back with an update, thanks again for the help.

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