erratic mouse

my mouse is acting very erratic i try to move it one way
and it goes another. any clue on how to fix this?

This can be any number of things. In today's world, the
first suspect is a virus/trojan./whatever. So checking to
make sure your PC doesn't have any undesireable s/w
installed would be the first step.

You don't mention if your mouse is connected to the
serial, p/2 or usb port, but another possibility could be
the electronics inside you computer. The next step would
be to swap mice. If you have another PC and mouse
(that uses the same type port) swap both mice and test
again. Is it still erratic? Did your erratic mouse behave
in the other PC? If the new mouse behaved and the old
mouse remained erratic, then it is the mouse, so simply
replace that. If the new mouse was also erratic, then it
is your PC that is causing the problem.

This means that it could the electronics or the s/w. The
next step would be to get another mouse that uses a different
connector than the one that is misbehaving. For example,
if your mouse is serial, then get a PS/2 or USB mouse,
assumng your PC has these ports. Try the different mouse.
If it is still erractic, then most like it is something common
to the three interfaces. I wish it could as simple as blaming the
s/w at this point.

Another test you can perform... is build a DOS diskette with
the mouse driver and booting from that. You can't do much
with a mouse in DOS, but you should be able to see the mouse
pointer (a white block) move across the screen as you move
the mouse. Take note that this might only work for serial
connections. I have not tried it with PS/2 or USB, although I
can't see why it should also work with the PS/2 connector.

Good luck!
Saga


"jason" wrote in message
...
my mouse is acting very erratic i try to move it one way
and it goes another. any clue on how to fix this?

As Saga suggested, perhaps test it in Safe Mode or DOS. If it is erratic
there, then surely the mouse itself is bad or poorly plugged in.
Otherwise, it is a Windows Normal Mode mouse driver/setting to blame.

(a) Boot to Safe Mode.
(Hold F5 as you boot, or hold CTRL for the Startup Menu.
Alternatively, turn on the Startup Menu at "START, Run, MSConfig,
Advanced button.)

Is the mouse working well in Safe Mode? Then... I'd hate to fool with my
own mouse this way, but...

(b) "Control Panel, System, Device Manager tab".

(c) Open the Mouse branch, & Remove every Mouse driver in it.
If there were more than one (& just one is plugged in), you had a
"ghost".

(d) Reboot to Windows Normal Mode.

If it does not automatically detect the mouse at that reboot, you will
need to reinstall it the way you originally did.

CAVEAT: I have a "Readme" that says (speaking of a Device Manager remove
of the mouse)...

.......Quote..............
Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0 have the ability to load device
drivers without running the Setup program. Loading the devices
drivers this way, however, does not install the user interface
programs such as the Logitech Enhanced Mouse Control Center.
Using the "Have Disk" function will install only the Logitech
mouse drivers.
.......End of quote.....

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"jason" wrote in message
...
| my mouse is acting very erratic i try to move it one way
| and it goes another. any clue on how to fix this?

To see whether it works in DOS...

(a) Boot to DOS. (Hold CTRL as you boot for the Startup Menu, & select
"Command Prompt.Only")
(b) DIR /s /a C:\mouse.exe
Does it show up?... If so...
(c) C:\mouse\mouse.exe
(If that is where it is.)

I believe you should now have a mouse in DOS. A DOS app that certainly
would use it is "EDIT". So...

(d) EDIT C:\Autoexec.bat

(ALT-F-X-ENTER, pressed separately, gets you out, if there is no mouse.
TAB before ENTER, if you've made changes you don't want to keep.)

Do you have mouse control? Then that mouse, I guess, must be good, and
it hasn't been installed properly in Windows.


C:\dir /s /a C:\mouse.exe
Directory of C:\MOUSE
MOUSE EXE 104,556 08-18-99 8:35a MOUSE.EXE


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"jason" wrote in message
...
| my mouse is acting very erratic i try to move it one way
| and it goes another. any clue on how to fix this?

In addition to the other suggestions, have you tried borrowing another mouse and
seeing if it works normally? If so, I would suspect a faulty mouse.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"jason" wrote in message
...
my mouse is acting very erratic i try to move it one way
and it goes another. any clue on how to fix this?

jason wrote:
my mouse is acting very erratic i try to move it one way
and it goes another. any clue on how to fix this?

If it's an optical mouse, try blowing hard on the underside first.

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 22:06:10 -0400, "Roger Fink"
wrote:

jason wrote:
my mouse is acting very erratic i try to move it one way
and it goes another. any clue on how to fix this?

If it's an optical mouse, try blowing hard on the underside first.

It might need cleaning, even if it's a regular mouse.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments