Mouse problems

This just started this afternoon on a perfectly working Logitech G5 mouse. All of a sudden the curser (pointer) started jumping all over the screen. If the curser happened to land on an icon it would highlight that icon. If I had a browser open (Firefox) it the display would jump to where the curser was. The same thing happened with windows explorer or any other application. I removed both the mouse and it's software package from the computer and tried another, know to be good, mouse with the same results although not as severe. I then reinstalled the mouse and drivers, and for a while things were good. However, the problem has resurfaced, although no where as bad as before. The device manager is not showing any problems and I didn't see any suspicious fies in my Windows/System32 directory with a recent date. I have ran Ad-Aware and Norton 360 doing complete scans and they did not show anything. I am running Trend Micro's houseCall 6.5 right now and will post the results. But in the meantime any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. TIA

Hi insanity and welcome. Did you make sure there was no dust or hair in the optics?

Thanks for the welcome, and yes I cleaned the laser and sensor according to the manufactures directions. I've used this particular mouse for over a year and I have never had any problems until today. BTW HouseCall just finished and I got a clean bill of health.

Then I would try another mouse.

I have already tried one that I know to be good but I might try to dig up another one tomorrow. Thanks for the help. I have a feeling that I might be back tomorrow.

Make sure your system if free of malware too and that you have plenty of free disk space.

There's nothing that I can detect. However, I will post a hijack this log in the appropriate forum. As you can tell, the problem still exists. It seems much worse for the first half hour after the computer has been started or rebooted and will randomly re-occur.

I have 2 suggestions as I have had a similar problem before: 1st: Has the surface you keep your mouse on changed at all? Sometimes even flat, smooth surfaces just don't mix well with mice. I just but a brand new $30 optical mouse from the store and I have to push the mouse down hard just to get it to move the cursor, the surface just doesn't reflect it that well or something. I put a piece of paper on top of a board and tried the mouse and it worked perfectly. I suggest trying different mediums to put your mouse on, try a pad, a flat surface, then try putting paper over the flat surface as that works the best for me. 2nd: Check your computers USB hookup. Try using a different USB port and see if it works. It may be a damaged or dirty port, unless the others don't work either. Also try plugging a different device, such as a camera or flash drive into the USB and see if they have full functionality. Although maybe not since you don't have a mouse then >.> Also do you remember any changes to your computer or the area around it at all right before this problem started happening? For every effect, there is a cause, and something caused this to happen, so tell me if you know of any changes that happened before this problem.

Vectris, No changes, it just started jumping around. When I have an application open it gets worse. It is acting almost like a virus (see my log in the hijackthis forum) except I can't find anything! As I am typing this, the curser is jumping around all over the monitor and the browser screen is jumping up and down. I cleaned the laser sensor per Logitech's instructions and I have changed the USB post several times…nothing is helping. The odd part is that everything may act normal for an hour or two then the curser starts getting spastic, it appears to either be totally random, or tied to applications.

Ok, so you don't remember making or seeing any changes in your compute prior to this problem? Also is it a laptop or a PC?

No, there have been no changes. I just shut the computer (PC) down and connected another mouse (serial) to it and it was doing the same thing. One thing that I did notice, when I reboot or restart the computer, the problem is epically bad for several minutes and starts to settle down after about 5 minutes. If I try to open an application from the task bar, it will not respond…this includes the start button. If I try to mouse over my running applications, it will not display their characteristics until the jumpiness settles down some.

If I try to mouse over my running applications, it will not display their characteristics until the jumpiness settles down some.

This bit is simply because your mouse is moving around and it takes a certain amount of time of your mouse being still before the properties come out, since you have this problem, your mouse just isn't be still, so naturally once it settles down, it will work.


Also you didn't quite answer all my questions, I'll restate the important ones though.

1. How do both of the mice plug into the computer (your old and newly tested one)? I'm assuming USB but correct me if I'm wrong.

2. How many USB ports do you have on your computer?

3. Check the USB ports you are using for the mice and make sure they are not dirty/damaged in anyway.

4. If you have more than one USB port at least try both mice in different ports.

At this point we know it is not the mouse, so that leaves it to the Computer, the hookup, or the surface you have your mouse on. We've basically eliminated the surface (tell me, did you try using just a plain piece of printing paper as a pad?) so I want you to answer those 4 questions (and do number 3) to eliminate the hookup, then we can move on to the computer since that's all that remains.

I just shut the computer (PC) down and connected another mouse (serial) to it and it was doing the same thing.

A different connection type was to be my next suggestion.

At this point, anything we do risks further damage if infected, or at best, makes your posted log obsolete - in either case, delays in getting your log analyzed and system repaired. So I suggest you not use this system, if possible, and wait until after WTT's malware removal experts report your system is clean. Hopefully, that will fix the problem. If not, it still gives us a clean reference point to work from, and allows us to focus on the less common causes.

I agree with Vectris about the mouse's working surface. If it is the same surface you have used for years, consider it may have worn or become gummed up with skin oils, dead skin, potato chips and chocolate chips. I recommend a good scrubbing.

I'm half and half with Digarti. It is definitely important to make sure it's not an infection as it could be growing stronger as we speak. However you say you scanned with 3 anti-virus and even check the system folders and turned up nothing. Still it doesn't hurt to be safe so I suggest you go the the Infection Removal forum and post a HTJ log along with your mouse problem and wait for a specialist to give you the all clean post. Then, if you still have the problem, come back here and we can continue to try other things. You can however try cleaning the surface first and see if that makes a difference. Also if you have an old ball mouse try that, if you have the same problem with the ball mouse I would immediately go post your HTJ log and ask for help.

When your mouse starts to jump around, does your CPU usage jump up? You can use task manager to view your cpu usage. How many anti-virus programs do you have on your machine?