Joined: 19 Feb 2006 Posts: 16212 Location: Perth, Western Australia (GMT+8hrs)
Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:20 am Post subject:
More news on the subject:
I recently bought a wireless mouse. I found it was doing the same things and soon realised that was because I had my mobile phone next to it. Every time my phone did a search for an update from a local tower, the mouse moved. That was because of the radio waves from the phone interfering with the radio reciever for my mouse.
If you have a cordless mouse, then all sorts could be interfering with it. Even a regular mouse can get magnetic interferance through the cable. -Although that is a lot rarer. Even interferance from a nearby speaker can, in theory, make the mouse do odd things.
Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Posts: 5750 Location: In UR base snifin all UR pantys
Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:57 am Post subject:
boingo wrote:
More news on the subject:
I recently bought a wireless mouse. I found it was doing the same things and soon realised that was because I had my mobile phone next to it. Every time my phone did a search for an update from a local tower, the mouse moved. That was because of the radio waves from the phone interfering with the radio reciever for my mouse.
If you have a cordless mouse, then all sorts could be interfering with it. Even a regular mouse can get magnetic interferance through the cable. -Although that is a lot rarer. Even interferance from a nearby speaker can, in theory, make the mouse do odd things.
Thank yourself lucky it was only the mouse. Where I worked they banned mobiles from the office because if it was switched on and near to the front-right corner of the base unit then if you got a call then the machine would reboot instantly...
In another office we had a machine which just turned itself off every day at 5:25pm exactly. It took us nearly 2 months (and 4 machines) to work out what it was. Turned out to be a power dip (a lack of power instead of a spike) caused by a factory down the road. We never did find out why that one office was affected and no others....
Back to the original problem -
The mouse problem is more likely to be inside the base unit than the mouse or software as the problem is affecting multiple mice. Software problems would render the mouse inoperable all the time, not just when you try to move it.
I suggest get a USB mouse and try that instead of the usual ps/2 type. Many mice have both anyway and a little converter so it should be easy to try.
I'm hearing a lot of mouse problems.. and about achy wrists.. and carpel tunnel, and worse...
A few years ago I got myself a Logitech marble mouse, the kind you don't move the mouse, just the red ball on the top of the mouse... With it I can photo-edit for six hours straight without any achy wrist... I simply rest my arm on a soft sponge, and move the cursor with ease in a flash... I can even do a figure eight with the cursor, with my two fingertips on the marble... I can sign my name with it on the screen... And it hasn't failed me in four years... Trouble is that the model marble mouse I have is obsolete... Maybe a few shops still have a few..?
Quoting: "Turned out to be a power dip caused by a factory down the road. We never did find out why that one office was affected and no others...."
In that topic: My computer repair-ad was answered by a tax computing business... Their computers would suddenly crash for no obvious reason.. and usually just as they were finishing up a client's hours of data work...
...Turned out to be a combo of things... They were using cheapy plastic client chairs.. When a client got off a chair, a large static-spark would zap into the carpet, and to the towers, on the floor.. thus crashing them... but I figured it had to be more than that... Turns out that their building power AC ground-wire, which is commonly attached to water meter pipes, was so wet, corroded, and green, that it wasn't making a ground anymore...
...So I sprayed their desk areas with antistatic spray, changed their client chairs to wooden chairs, and relocated the ground wire to an area that didn't have any moisture nor corrosion...
It's a super good plan for everyone to go into the basement, and check that ground wire at least once every couple years... In some rare cases it could mean the difference between life and death... and if that ground wire is bad, and lightning strikes near, that could be the end of your computer... Everyone should have a spark arrester between the computer's AC plug and the wall socket... When big electrical storms pass overhead I always unplug all my electronics... I worked at electronics repair shops for seven years... After huge electrical storms a lot of equipment would come in for repair.. and if it was lightning damaged, usually it was garbage.. because now all the transistors are weakened.. and the darn things fail every month after that.. and cost ten times more than a new one to keep fixing...
I almost got hit by lightning a couple times... In one instance a bolt flashed six feet from me, going horizontal between two metal storage buildings... I saw the main trunk beam.. it was about 10-inches in diameter.. and I saw, heard, and felt, the surrounding crackly electrical fuzz around the main beam, from six feet away.. nearly knocked me off my feet.. and stung my arm so bad I couldn't move it for half an hour.. and made me feel sort of like being "turned inside-out" momentarily...
means that the lightning bolt's actual diameter must be at least twelve feet... When it hits your house and your electronics, it sort of works like an explosive from inside the transistors...
..And when it sliced through the air, in front of me, it made a weird high pitched whistle... like imagine a jet traveling at the speed of electricity...
Bottom line: Be safe.. Check the AC-grounds in your building... and I really hope we get that mouse problem solved.. it must be extremely frustrating...
Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Posts: 5750 Location: In UR base snifin all UR pantys
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:01 am Post subject:
cosmicB wrote:
I'm hearing a lot of mouse problems.. and about achy wrists.. and carpel tunnel, and worse...
A few years ago I got myself a Logitech marble mouse, the kind you don't move the mouse, just the red ball on the top of the mouse... With it I can photo-edit for six hours straight without any achy wrist... I simply rest my arm on a soft sponge, and move the cursor with ease in a flash... I can even do a figure eight with the cursor, with my two fingertips on the marble... I can sign my name with it on the screen... And it hasn't failed me in four years... Trouble is that the model marble mouse I have is obsolete... Maybe a few shops still have a few..?
Trckballs (to use their proper name) are still suprisingly rare but excellent for long periods of use or small desks. I've gone through a couple in my time.
I can't photo edit with a mouse / trackball. It takes too long and I'm too demanding. Got to be tablets all the way baby Even a cheapy one is better than a mouse.
Joined: 19 Feb 2006 Posts: 16212 Location: Perth, Western Australia (GMT+8hrs)
Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:56 pm Post subject:
monosodium wrote:
cosmicB wrote:
I'm hearing a lot of mouse problems.. and about achy wrists.. and carpel tunnel, and worse...
A few years ago I got myself a Logitech marble mouse, the kind you don't move the mouse, just the red ball on the top of the mouse... With it I can photo-edit for six hours straight without any achy wrist... I simply rest my arm on a soft sponge, and move the cursor with ease in a flash... I can even do a figure eight with the cursor, with my two fingertips on the marble... I can sign my name with it on the screen... And it hasn't failed me in four years... Trouble is that the model marble mouse I have is obsolete... Maybe a few shops still have a few..?
Trckballs (to use their proper name) are still suprisingly rare but excellent for long periods of use or small desks. I've gone through a couple in my time.
I can't photo edit with a mouse / trackball. It takes too long and I'm too demanding. Got to be tablets all the way baby Even a cheapy one is better than a mouse.
I'm the same. I've got a relatively cheap graphics tablet, but my new mouse is ultra sensitive so I sometimes use that if I'm doing something that doesn't require too much acuracy. I only do that to vary my grip so my hands don't ache.
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Even a cheapy one is better than a mouse.