This problem has been observed both on OpenSuse 11.2 as well as Linux mint 9 Fluxbox. I have their dual boot on my laptop.

Manytimes the mouse is still but the pointer suddenly starts trembling, when I shake the mouse it calms down.

This is a big problem for me.

HELP.

Did you tried another mouse?
Other usb port?


Kind regards

Thanks for bothering,

but I have only one "Microsoft" mouse, but I have two ports, I shall plug it into the other post and see what happens.

Since it is on more than one OS, it increases the likelihood that it is a hardware problem or physical problem.

Is it a ball-mouse or a laser or optical mouse? My LED optical mouse will produce an effect such as you describe sometimes, because the surface of my desk has a particle-board extension added on the front of it, and it is not really smooth. The mouse sits on this rough surface. Occasionally, it seems the mouse's light-detector thing is sitting right on a ridge or groove of the surface of the desk, and it makes the pointer jiggle or vibrate, and the red light inside the mouse will go on and off and on and off and on and off forever, if I don't go nudge the mouse to a different spot.

Any of this stuff describe your situation? Have you got a rough desk surface, or maybe a very dusty mouse? Maybe dust inside is making it act up, or dust is interfering with the movement of the ball or reception of the light by the optical sensor....?

Thanks Sasha,

I just looked down and saw that the mouse is "Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse v2.0".
The surface is not very plain but not too rough too! And how should I notice the light ? I mean it is under the mouse.
I don't find my mouse to be dirty, but still I would be interested to know how to clean it.

I just plugged it in the other usb port, it again started trembling as I was writing this reply

As for the light - they tend to be very bright, but in a lighted environment like an office, you may not notice it. At night, when my PC was in my bedroom, the mouse drove me mad because the red light was so bright - but this old mouse has a clear/red housing so the whole thing lights up red. If yours has a solid plastic housing, you won't see so much light. It doesn;t matter anyhow really since you can see the effect in your pointer going bonky instead!

Mouses like smooth flat surfaces mainly (especially ball mouses), and the optical ones don;t work well on glass.

As for cleaning it: for the outside, a soft paint-brush sort of thing should be adequate; brush out the area around the sensor and light underneath. For inside, you need to disassemble the mouse and brush it out, or buy a new one. It really shouldn't be necessary to open and clean an optical mouse unless it has been subjected to very dirty, oily, gassy, dusty, all-of-the-above environment. (EDIT: though, the scroll wheel may be very dirty in such an environment, but this probably would not cause pointer movement as described)


Maybe it is just getting old?

I use my mouse on a carpet, it doesn't move *very* freely on it. Which kind of surfaces I should move it on as you said even glass surface is not allowed.

I used to disassemble the ball of the balled mouse, but I do not dare to touch this optical one and I am not finding any visible dirt on it.

My mouse is just 2 years old!! What is the average life of a good quality optical mouse if used properly?

What do you mean by a "carpet" ?? You mean a "mouse pad" ? If so, that's cool - but actual "carpet" would certainly be a prime suspect in this case. Anything that is quite smooth, uniform in texture, and opaque, should work. Doesn't matter the exact material or composition, as long as those criteria are somewhat adhered to. But not carpet.
I have no idea, really; my Logitech optical mouse here is about 8 years old now, and only just recently began experiencing button-bounces (giving me accidental double-clicks), but the moving-the-pointer-around components of the mouse (the 'optical' part) are still in perfect working order. I like this mouse, so I'll probably take it apart and see about cleaning & tuning up the buttons to fix the double-clicking button-bounce thing. After that I expect it to keep going indefinitely, until mechanical/physical failure makes this mouse unusable.

I would not think that a 2 yr old mouse would be junk already, nor that mouses made 8 yrs ago are of significantly better quality/durability than mouses of 2 years ago, so my money is still on the usage surface as key contributor to your problem. (It isn't much money so I'm OK with being wrong!)

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It's nervous. Give it a sedative.

My English is not so poor Sasha, I've received a verbal certification on this from Briany I would never call a mouse pad a carpet, LOL

I actually used to use that mouse on the carpet on which I sit at home. I think that was the cause of all this trouble, 2 days back (when you mentioned) I bought a mouse pad and since then not even one time has my pointer trembled! I hope this is not a short lived happiness

I have seen those transparent bodied mice, they can be a nice toy for a few hours but I don't prefer those fancy stuffs for prolonged use since their bright light can be annoying as hell in a dark room!

Thanks for helping, I "HOPE" this thread is solved.

FWIW I use a sheet of A4 paper for a mouse pad. Its slight abrasiveness keeps the mouse's feet clean (it's an Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse v2.0 too), the edges don't catch my hand like a pukka mouse pad, it is cheap and disposable, it is bigger than a pukka mouse pad and it can be used to jot notes on. The only disadvantage is that it moves around easily, solved by putting one corner under the keyboard and a heavy object on another corner.

If the paper can keep it clean then I shall try it today, my mouse's feet get dirty very often and the dirt gets in my nails when I scratch it for cleaning!

I am in office right now with another optical mouse.

I tore a sheet of paper from my notebook and kept it under the mouse and placed a bottle on an edge. But the mouse is NOT moving "very" smoothly

Try laser printer or copier paper

Or should I try a thick drawing sheet ?