Erratic Mouse Action - Uninstall Driver

I have a Dell 4600, XPSP2, with Dell wireless keyboard and optical mouse. The mouse operates fine most of the time. At times the movement will become very erratic or jumpy and sometimes you must click the left mouse button several times to make it select. It acts as though something is getting hot/tired/weak. A couple of times new batteries seemed to help but I was putting in new batteries every week.

I have an identical mouse & keyboard on another Dell and I switched them two times - but the problem is always with the 4600. That would lead me to believe the problem is in the computer - software/driver? I was on a tech chat with a Dell rep for about an hour and a half and it seems I answered the same questions over and over and I'm not even sure the Dell tech read my original problem description. Bottom line at the end of the chat was that I need to uninstall and reinstall the mouse driver. I went to Device Manager and uninstalled the mouse driver and suddenly couldn't move the cursor. (Realized right away my uninstall had been successful.) Not knowing keyboard commands, I powered down. When I powered back up, the mouse was working fine again - I guess XP automatically picked up the mouse and reinstalled the driver.

My questions:
1-Does anyone have any thoughts regarding my problem described above?

2-What is the correct way to uninstall/reinstall the mouse driver/software? Through Device Manager or Program Uninstall/Install?

 

With wireless the first thing to do id check that nothing is blocking the receiver. The receiver being behind something can cause the problem you're descriveing.

The rapid replacement of batteries could also be covered by this as the batteries may need to be just about new to give the power to "get around" whatever might be blocking the receiver.

 

Jay,

I do have a clear space between the wireless mouse and the receiver and the two are only about 8 inches apart.. I can move the mouse up to three feet away from the receiver and it still works. Also, I have put new batteries in about ten times in the eight months I have had the computer - sometimes that helps for a while but the problem usually returns in a few days.

 

Have you looked on the Dell site for updated drivers? Trust me on this with dell support. In most cases they are going to tell you to restore to factory with the recovery CD reguardless of what the actual problem may be. I remember a friend called them because his monitor wouldn't display anything. They told him to do a drastic CD restore. He called me to take a look as he had installed a lot of other stuff. The actual problem was that when he put it together he didn't lock the monitor plug in the back of the 'puter with the thumb screws. The plug fell out. I don't think this called for a restore. They never even asked him to check the plug.

 

I checked the Dell website for updated drivers and the one I have is the current one. I checked the connections and they are secure.

I was fearful that Dell would suggest a complete restore is why I haven't queried them again. I did a complete restore on a Sony laptop a few years ago and I don't want to do that again unless aboslutely necessary. I don't mind doing just an uninstall and reinstall of the mouse software/driver but I'm not sure exactly how to do it and I don't want to start messing around with the Dell restore CD. The Dell website is not very helpful regarding this topic.

 

When you switched mouse and keyboard with the other system did you also switch the reciever or just the mouse and keyboard?

 

I will also say that I have a wireless Logitech mouse that I replace batteries in quite often. If the system is used a LOT the batteries really don't last real long. I got around this by using a reature on the wireless headphones I have on my system. It has a built in battery charger built in the base. I just rotate two sets of rechargeable batteries between the mouse and charger.

 

I assume that your connection for the receiver is USB???

 

Both times that I switched mouse/keyboard I switched the receiver as well. That's what leads me to believe that it must be something inside the computer such as software/driver. It is connected via USB port.

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if I used a different USB port when I switched them. I will try that tomorrow to see if that might help. Will post back after I give that a try. Thanks.

 

One of the advantages of USB is that you can plug in and out with the machine running. Just go ahead and do it.

Another idea would be to remove the USB in device manager and reboot.

 

I changed the USB port the mouse/keyboard receiver was plugged into and the problem is still there. I will do some googling to see if I can find how to do the uninstall/install of the driver/software.

 

For a few $$ you could also try a USB to PS2 adapter from Radio Shack.

In device manager you could also try uninstalling the USB and rebooting. This will reinstall the USB. Actually the mouse should reinstall the same way.

Also you can try reinstalling the mouse software from the install CD that came with the mouse, or should of come with...

Jay

 

Problem Solved - I hope.

Jaylach, thanks for your help. I was getting ready to go through the fixes you suggested in your last post and I was analyzing where/how I had the wireless receiver positioned. I had suspended a small grid type rubberized basket to the bottom of my computer desk and in line with where the keyboard/mouse tray rolls in and out and placed the receiver inside that. It occured to me that the basket probably was constructed with metal rods coated with rubber and that possibly the metal could be causing some interference. I took the receiver out of the basket and temporarily taped it where the basket had been. No problems since then. Now I have to figure out how to fix it permanantly before the tape gives out - but that is a minor problem Again, thanks.

Edit - Just looked at your first post Jaylach and your first suggestion was to make sure something wasn't blocking the receiver. Didn't look at my little grid type basket as "blocking" the signal but I guess to some extent it was.

 

Glad to see it seems fixed!! Computers are funny critters and there are only two absolutes in dealing with them...

1) Hardware WILL fail
2) You WILL reinstall windows