LinuxQuestions.org - Haunted mouse - (mouse moves on it's own)

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Haunted mouse - (mouse moves on it's own)

My mouse cursor has, for some time now, developed a mind of it's own. From time to time it sweeps to the top or bottom of the screen. Naturally this is very annoying. It quickly sweeps rather than jumps as if I had quickly moved the mouse up or down. It's a USB attached mouse and I've tried a replacement - same thing. This happens in KDE so I tried running Xfce - same thing. This is really starting to bug me and I don't know how to troubleshoot so any ideas are very welcome. Here's the relevant bit of my xorg.conf :

Code:

Section "InputDevice"



    # generated from default

    Identifier     "Mouse0"

    Driver         "mouse"

    Option         "Protocol" "auto"

    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"

    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"

    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection

I run the gpm mouse server and have tried disabling this thinking it may be interfering with X - no joy. I've tried all sorts but am at a bit of a loss as to what to try next.

@bgeddy

Firstly you are still my hero for helping me with openerp :)

Ok to your haunted mouse .. What other devices are connected to a usb or serial ports ?

regards

Lawrence

Quote:

Ok to your haunted mouse .. What other devices are connected to a usb or serial ports ?

Aha - a very quick reply - thanks.

On my USB ports I have the mouse, my keyboard, and external hard drive (essential to daily use) and a webcam. I did have some other devices but I disconnected them early on in my fault finding. I know the webcam is not top blame as I did not have this attached when the problem started. Unfortunately I totally rely on the external 1TB USB hard drive as a lot of essential stuff is now on that - (odd the way applications/data expand to fill whatever is available :rolleyes:). I could try temporarily running without it as my OS is on a internal drive but if I find this is the problem I'm very stuffed as I rely on it! I obviously need the keyboard always attached.

For some odd reason my initial thinking was that the USB drive had somehow developed a dislike to my mouse and this was the problem. Don't know what made me think that - just a gut reaction. I have not tried anything to investigate that avenue but I am going to try that next (now). I really hope it's something else as I can't do without my terabyte and can't afford an alternative at the moment!

Here goes - thanks again for the quick reply and the complement.

I have had that happen off and on in the past with optical mice (mouses?) Even in Windows playing, a game, etc. For me it didn't happen much except once when I had a cheap mouse. I was using it on a metal stand. It jumped around a lot. I took it off the metal stand and it worked fine. Guessing there was some kind of magnetic interference maybe? Sometimes dust or a tiny piece of hair would block the laser slightly.

I am not sure if any of this has anything to do with your problem. But if you changed the mouse and it is still happening you might want to consider outside interference of some sort, even if it seems unlikely, if it is an optical mouse or a wireless mouse.

Thanks for the reply. The fact that this has happened , (is still happening), with two different mice, both optical, makes me think it's not this kind of interference. I would even resort to one of my old PS/2 or serial mice but my current system has no PS/2 port, I have no adapter so my only choice left is to try an old serial mouse. Unfortunately these ancient things have no scroll wheels so even this option would be a total PITA. Things like this really start to bug me and ruin my computing experience :mad:. Oh well - I'll keep on working on this and hope for a fix.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgeddy (Post 4535653)

I almost remember some time ago reading a reply to a similar post. They stated it had to do with the driver. Does anyone remember something like that?

As the Xserver now supports multiple input devices, I'm wondering if it could possibly be incorrectly configuring another mouse device for your system (perhaps via evdev) and causing problems that way.

Maybe try adding "AutoAddDevices" "false" to your ServerFlags section:

Here's my xorg.conf in case it helps - It's never caused me any problems:

Code:

Section "Files"

    FontPath       "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"

    FontPath       "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"

    FontPath       "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"

    FontPath       "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"

EndSection



Section "ServerFlags"

    Option         "UseDefaultFontPath" "false"

    Option         "DefaultServerLayout" "Layout0"

    Option         "AutoAddDevices" "false"

    Option         "BlankTime" "20"

    Option         "StandbyTime" "0"

    Option         "SuspendTime" "0"

    Option         "OffTime" "30"

EndSection



Section "ServerLayout"

    Identifier     "Layout0"

    Screen         0  "Screen0"

    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default

    Identifier     "Mouse0"

    Driver         "mouse"

    Option         "Protocol" "auto"

    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"

    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"

    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier     "Keyboard0"

    Driver         "kbd"

    Option         "XkbModel" "chicony0420"

    Option         "XkbLayout" "gb"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

    Identifier     "Monitor0"

    Option         "DPMS"

EndSection



Section "Device"

    Identifier     "Device0"

    Driver         "nvidia"

    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

    Identifier     "Screen0"

    Device         "Device0"

    Monitor        "Monitor0"

    DefaultDepth    24

    SubSection     "Display"

        Depth       24

    EndSubSection

EndSection

Red bits may be relevant.

Failing that perhaps try explicitly specifying some of the protocol options rather than leaving it on 'auto'

A quick search brings up this issue up and it is common with MS Windows as well as Linux users.:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/622724

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ev/+bug/749567

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1343444

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/to...umping-around/

Maybe those links can help you or lead you, eventually, to an answer. If you find an answer please post it here. I am very curious.

Quote:

Maybe try adding "AutoAddDevices" "false" to your ServerFlags section:

Thanks GazL - I'd noticed when scanning Xorg.log the mouse seemed to be picked up multiple times - I didn't know there was that option so I've added it. I've also changed "protocol" to "USB" (odd - when typing that I noticed my " is now replaced with @ as if the layout is set wrong! Anyway - here's the relevant bits from the new Xorg.log:

Code:

[    99.507] (II) Initializing extension GLX

[   100.206] (**) Option "CoreKeyboard"

[   100.206] (**) Keyboard0: always reports core events

[   100.206] (**) Option "Protocol" "standard"

[   100.206] (**) Option "XkbRules" "base"

[   100.206] (**) Option "XkbModel" "pc105"

[   100.206] (**) Option "XkbLayout" "us"

[   100.206] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Keyboard0" (type: KEYBOARD)

[   100.207] (WW) Mouse0: No Device specified, looking for one...

[   100.219] (II) Mouse0: Setting Device option to "/dev/input/mice"

[   100.219] (--) Mouse0: Device: "/dev/input/mice"

[   100.219] (==) Mouse0: Protocol: "Auto"

[   100.219] (**) Option "CorePointer"

[   100.219] (**) Mouse0: always reports core events

[   100.219] (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

[   100.235] (**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"

[   100.235] (**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

[   100.235] (**) Mouse0: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5

[   100.235] (**) Mouse0: Buttons: 9

[   100.235] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse0" (type: MOUSE)

[   100.235] (**) Mouse0: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1

[   100.235] (**) Mouse0: (accel) acceleration profile 0

[   100.235] (**) Mouse0: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000

[   100.235] (**) Mouse0: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4

[   100.243] (II) Mouse0: Setting mouse protocol to "ExplorerPS/2"

[   100.536] (II) Mouse0: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded

[   100.546] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Power Button (/dev/input/event3)

[   100.546] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

[   100.548] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Power Button (/dev/input/event2)

[   100.548] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

[   100.549] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Dell Dell USB Keyboard (/dev/input/event0)

[   100.549] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

[   100.551] (II) config/udev: Adding input device HDA Intel Speaker at Ext Rear Jack (/dev/input/event10)

[   100.551] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

[   100.551] (II) config/udev: Adding input device HDA Intel HP Out at Ext Front Jack (/dev/input/event11)

[   100.551] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

[   100.551] (II) config/udev: Adding input device HDA Intel Line In at Ext Rear Jack (/dev/input/event4)

[   100.551] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

[   100.552] (II) config/udev: Adding input device HDA Intel Mic at Ext Rear Jack (/dev/input/event5)

[   100.552] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

[   100.552] (II) config/udev: Adding input device HDA Intel Mic at Ext Front Jack (/dev/input/event6)

[   100.552] (II) AutoAddDevices is off - not adding device.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log lines

Odd the "@ problem has appeared (it's OK though in a terminal - however X apps like Mousepad are now messed up with @" mixes). So for some reason my layout is now messed up. Hmm.

Quote:

Maybe those links can help you or lead you, eventually, to an answer. If you find an answer please post it here. I am very curious.

Thanks Amdx2_x64 - I have looked for relevant reports bit found none - you Google-Fu must be better than mine! I'll be looking into them in some depth.

Thanks to all for some good ideas - I've been getting to my wits end with this! I'll post any fix I find which hopefully I will!

Quote:

Odd the "@ problem has appeared (it's OK though in a terminal - however X apps like Mousepad are now messed up with @" mixes). So for some reason my layout is now messed up. Hmm.

OK - that was an easy fix. Adding

Code:

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default

    Identifier     "Keyboard0"

    Driver         "kbd"

    Option "XkbLayout" "gb" # Added this to fix @" problems

EndSection

Fixed my layout - just need to check for haunted mouse action now - (humming GhostBusters theme tune) :).

This sounds just like the glitch I have with my Logitech MX Revolution.

From time to time and completely randomly the pointer on screen will dive for the bottom of the screen irrespective of the input from the mouse.

Why I have no idea.

I've been miffed by a mysterious mesmerizing myriad of malfunctioning optical mice this millennium, making me melancholy.

I wait, with bated breath, for a solution....

Should I set up a cron job to refresh this page every few minutes?

cheers,

Well I've still got the problem - thanks GazL but unfortunately your changes haven't fixed this.

Sorry to hear that, but I'm not surprised. It was just a shot in the dark. :(

Quote:

Sorry to hear that, but I'm not surprised. It was just a shot in the dark.

No problem - I appreciate your help - you gave me a fresh insight into xorg.conf and it's been many years since I delved into that.