Mouse pointer locking up on A4tech scrollball mouse

[Nigel Henry]

On Sunday 27 January 2008 16:38, Tim wrote:
> Tim:
> >> Obvious questions:
> >>
> >> Does the same problem occur if you use a different mouse?
> >> Do you mind using a different mouse?
>
> Nigel Henry:
> > I havn't tried a different mouse, that is apart from having replaced it
> > recently with a new one of the same make and model, and still get these
> > infrequent mouse pointer lockups.
>
> I forgot to mention that I do have one or two A4tech mice, and I have
> had other (*) problems with them on some boxes, that I didn't have when
> I tried some other USB mice.  In my case it was mice, rather than
> trackballs, but the electronics technology is the same, just the
> mechanical side of things is upside down.
>
> * Not lock-ups, but mouse pointers that suddenly started racing all over
> the screen, and clicking everywhere.  At least one of them was worse on
> a PS/2 extension cord than without.  That points the finger at, at
> least, three potential reasons:  Knackered PS/2 ports.  Data signal
> strength/interference issues.  And poor power to the mouse causing its
> encoder chip to act unreliably.

Interesting that you mention the A4tech mouse having a mind of it's own. I 
remember exactly the same behaviour on XP when I started using computers in 
2003. At the time I thought the machine had been compromised, and you might 
think so with the mouse pointer jumping all over the place, and opening a 
multitude of windows at the same time. Mind you the blurb did say that the 
mouse was not for XP, but did appear to work in some sort of default mode 
without having to install the drivers from the floppy. Also I was using a kvm 
switch, which is as good as a ps2 ext on mouse and keyboard, so may have been 
related to the "mouse with a mind of it's own" problem.
>
> There's another thing to point the finger at:  How Linux handles
> keyboards and mice.  When I've had dual-boot boxes, I've been able to
> compare Linux with peculiar keyboard and mice behaviour against Windows
> with zero such problems, all on the same hardware.


>
> > I can't really try the standard mouse, as there isn't any room for a
> > mouse mat in front of my keyboard, but I'll buy a different make of
> > scrollball mouse, and see if the problem goes away.
>
> A bit of an expensive test...  You can't borrow something else for a
> trial, even if you use it outside of your usual work space?

I'm not too bothered about buying a new mouse, as long as it's cheap. As I've 
just started using the new A4tech that I had as an instant replacement for 
one that went down the tubes. It's always nice to a new one instantly 
available, rather than having to wait for snail mail to deliver it.
>
> I do wish keyboard navigation worked better in Linux.  There's any
> number of times I would have liked to just click on the keyboard to move
> around some GUI, but I'm damned if I could find a hotkey sequence to get
> to where I needed to be.

In my case, I just need to learn how to use the keyboard more effectively, 
without having to rely on point and click.

17:57 pm, sky blue with some red on the clouds (good sign I believe for 
tomorrow) . No wind. 8.5°c. Not bad for late January in Northern France.

Nigel.