wiggling the cable does not always show "connect/disconnect USB device" effect reliably. Otherwise I would have found the reason much earlier. I think the chafing thinning of the wire isolations happens slowly and only in some places, so that the tottering short circuits happen only sometimes.
I've had the same problem for a while now. getting progressively worse, so maybe it is the cable degridation that the previous poster mentioned. However, previously i was wondering whether it was an optics issue with the sensor of the optical mouse. only because i first started to experience it as i lifted the mouse off the surface in order to move across the cursor across the screen. however, recently i have had the mouse re-instally/connect even when moving across the surface [NOT even lifting it away from the surface]. after reading the previous post i tried putting strain on the cable and i have managed to replicate the problem by leaving the mouse on the surface stationary and twisting the mouse cable, let go of the cable and move the mouse and it re-connects. but i have also managed to get it to re-connect even by simply lifting the mouse a few inches from the surface and rotating it ever so slightly. i wouldnt image this would put much strain on teh cable but it still failed and re-connected.
the cable degradation is still very plausible so i might just order myself a new mouse and see what happens. my current mouse is a microsoft branded razor habu, wired optical. the interesting thing being i decided to place it on a different surface and it stopped re-connecting for a while, hence why i went back to the optical issue
The easiest way is to lend a mouse which is surely OK from a friend and test the computer with that mouse ... if it works with that mouse, then you can be 100% sure that it is a mouse hardware problem.
Since the new optical mice usually never break, I think that Logitech built in that predetermined breaking point to keep up the sales and shareholder value :)
It is very probable then, that it is caused by the imho predetermined lousy cable connection.
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