Mouse moves and clicks itself 1

[packdragon]

We have a Dell Inspiron 8100 that has had mousing problems before. This was usually solved by disabling the pointing stick. However this time the problem is different. Instead of the mouse cursor constantly drifting in one direction, it seems to be moving itself and randomly clicking itself here and there. It seems almost as if someone else is controlling it, however there seems to be no purpose to its aimless wandering and clicking.

At the same time we noticed that the wireless card was connecting to an unknown network. While in the office the laptop is connected to the network via CAT5 cable, but it uses wireless when at home. We disabled the wireless card and the mouse problems stopped for about 15 minutes, then it started again. The severity of the problem seems to vary and is quite random.

What is with this schizophrenic laptop???

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com

 

[Philly44]

Sounds like a hardware conflict. Check to see if its trying to use the same resources as something else? Just a thought

 

[packdragon]

Of course right after I post this dilemma the mystery get solved. Believe it or not, the problem was caused by another wireless mouse two offices down the hall! I can't believe these things have such amazing range. The boss would complain about the misbehaving mouse and the guy would go to take a look. The problem would stop. He'd go back and it would start again. She would tell him to run over to see it, but it would always stop as soon as he got there. Finally it clicked that the problem occurred when he was working at his desk, so she told him to move his mouse in circles, and lo and behold, her mouse cursor moved in circles. We pressed the little "Connect/Channel" button on the button of the mouse and it switched to a different frequency, the problem stopped.

The interesting thing is that these were two completely different models of Microsoft wireless mouse, but one was able to control the other when by chance they were both on the same frequency. Anyway, problem solved. I hope this helps other people.

- Zoe, that's ZOH-EEE, get it right please
- Just a little ol' MCP at Solien Technology
-

http://www.solien.com