My mouse got squirrely today...

So I was updating my iTunes library today, browsing the bad company forums, of course the 7 forums, as well as listening to some music when all of a sudden my mouse stopped responding as it should.

It wasn't like I accidentally hit the dpi button because the mouse wasn't slow; it was that it would only move diagonally, but it would stutter, and no matter how far my wrist traveled, the cursor would move less than an inch... huh? My response was the typical, "wtf, I just bought a new can of gremlin-be-gone juice?"

I've read many threads about problems with Logitech's setpoint drivers, so I figured my luck may have run out and it was now my time to deal with it... but first, lemme give CCleaner a shot? No dice... grrr, I hate being forced to reboot, but it's the fastest way to rid oneself of a gremlin... (i still had my fingers crossed it was something simple like that). Rebooting did not help... *sigh* ... looks like it's driver reinstall time.

So I uninstalled the setpoints and just used the Windows drivers, which in all fairness do just as good a job for me as the setpoints. It was a hassle I didn't want to deal with, but oh well. After another reboot I was expecting to get back to business but no, the problem persisted. Now it was time for a serious, "WTF" (<-- notice the caps).

Did Apple give me some malware? Well, ok Apple, lemme hit you with some Malwarebytes, that'll teach you to mess with my rig! Whaa, clean you say? I didn't want to do this, but now you force me to bring out the big guns and hit that @ss with some Nod32... (this I said out-loud, smugly).

Nod also reported I was clean, and since I don't want to hit you guys with a bigger font, you'll just have to imagine my next, "WTF!!"

I decided my next plan of attack was to shut down for a couple minutes and reinstall a fresh set of setpoints, hopefully an updated set of setpoints. Luckily, there are two versions of the G5 and I had no clue which version I had. The bottom of my mouse is a little scuffed, so reading the model number required effort.

All of a sudden I notice a tiny shimmer. Closer examination revealed there was something in the well that holds the laser. I have a teflon pad and keep my desk relatively clean, so... what's that, whatever that is, doing in that hole? This was some real CSI stuff because it was a really small fiber that had gotten in there... two fibers actually, on either side. Blowing air didn't dislodge them, so I had to dig in there with needle nose tweezers (thinking all the time I hope I don't scratch the lens).

Turns out that was the problem all along...

I'm not sure what's worse... that I have no clue what mouse I had, or that I never bothered to look there first. All that drama, and about an hour and a half, over two small fibers.

Lesson learned.

Ciara said:

Some (not very good) Mouse Mats can also cause problems with optical mice, on some of the patterned ones the mouse wont work at all.

Thanks for the tip. I had the same issue at work so I switched out the mouse pad. All fixed.