Solved Mouse problem: Any external mouse. Touchpad OK. Mouse OK in Safe Mode.

[TheStinar]

Hi guys,

New here, so I hope I'm not out of line asking for help, and that I'm asking correctly. I've exhausted my own ideas on this but the problem is driving me IN.SANE.

THE ISSUE:
When using an external (USB) mouse with my ASUS Win7 laptop, the mouse randomly lifts up and re-clicks while clicking or while dragging (despite the button remaining consistently depressed), resulting in selection of the wrong objects, inadvertent double-clicks, and incorrect dragging. From what I can tell, this affects only the left click and not the right.

WHAT I'VE TRIED:
Laptop touchpad - no problem. Everything works fine with the built-in touchpad.
Another mouse - same problem. These are wired mice, so it's not a battery or connection issue.
Another USB port - same problem in all four. There's no visible issue with the motion of the mouse/cursor, so it seems to be communicating OK via USB.
Safe Mode - no problem, from what I can tell. The wired USB mouse seems to click and drag as normal in Safe Mode.
Mouse Settings - no effect. Adjusting the click/double-click/drag settings doesn't seem to change anything.
System Resources - no effect. Clicking/dragging seems to show the same results in the RAM/CPU monitors whether I'm having the problem (with the mouse) or performing the same actions without the problem (with the trackpad).

WHAT I CANNOT FIGURE OUT:
What haven't I ruled out? What else could be causing the issue?

The problem came on suddenly after about a year, but I can't pinpoint the moment, because I didn't use an external mouse for a while (maybe eight weeks) and when I plugged it in again, the problem had appeared. In that time, I don't think I had installed any new software or made significant (voluntary) changes to the PC.

As a designer/illustrator, it's frustrating to use the touchpad for detailed vector work, so I'm pretty crippled by the loss of the external mouse. Does anyone have any ideas at all about what I've overlooked? Even a clever workaround would be really helpful, if there is such a thing. I'll be very grateful.

Thanks!

 

[DustSailor]

Hey mate, and welcome,

Possible problem:
1. Mouse itself is bad. Either the button itself or internally
2. Driver is not at its best

Try:
Going to the mouse manufacture website to download the most recent driver for your Windows 7, either 32 or 64 bit. If it doesn't work, try without any driver (so that windows driver takes over).

 

[TheStinar]

Thank you! Yes! I completely forgot I had done this, but it should have been on the list. I've updated the mouse driver to the newest version I could find, although again, it is happening with multiple wired mice that I've tried.

HOWEVER, inspired by your suggestion, I have finally considered that even though I've tried a few different mice, those mice could all have something in common. So I dug out an old wireless USB mouse just to try one more, on the off chance that the others share the same flaw/incompatibility. And at the moment, the wireless mouse seems to be working properly. The other mice I tried were a older, so my best hunch at the moment is that Logitech had stopped releasing fully updated drivers, and a Windows update knocked them both into obsolescence. Maybe? So I don't really know, but my problem for the moment is effectively solved. Thank you sincerely for jogging my common sense.

UPDATE: Just tried one of the other mice on a different Windows 7 computer and it's doing the same thing. TOTALLY WEIRD, but finally, a consistent result. In case anyone else is searching for this issue, all of the mice in question happen to be Logitech mice, including the wireless one that's working currently. (Not the best choice science-wise, but this is what I've got on hand.)