Mouse tracking problems? It could be your mouse

Jonathan Cullifer · Post by **Jonathan Cullifer** » 27 Feb 2001 7:52 pm

Lately I have been having trouble with my mouse not tracking right. The ball is clean as a whistle as is everythign else, but it still won't track.

One day it occurred to me that my mousepad was worn smooth. I have a hard-topped mousepad and would never go back to a regular one. Anyway, I have been using it so much that the texture that the ball uses to track with has been worn away.

I just thought that you may want to know this before you think it is your mouse and go buy a new one when you don't need to. Spend $3 for a mousepad instead of $20 or $30 for that good mouse.

Jonathan

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www.cullifer.com

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 28 Feb 2001 5:44 am

Good point, Johathan. You have to have a good surface for the ball to roll/move on or it will be erratic.

John Gretzinger · Post by **John Gretzinger** » 28 Feb 2001 9:58 am

Don't forget the internal rollers the ball runs on. Around here those get a line of hard dirt on them that takes either a bunch of cleaner or a knife blade to scrape off.

One of these days someone will build an optical mouse that works on all surfaces without moving parts. The new one from MS is close, but on some surfaces (shiny ones) it is still inaccurate.

jdg

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MSA D-10
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 28 Feb 2001 5:49 pm

While on the subject of meeces, I have an
MS mouse that came with my 1st pc (Gateway).
Right now I have a HP Pavilion pc, but I'm
using the Gateway mouse along with the software for it. This mouse has a scroll
wheel, while the mouse that came with the HP pc
has no scroll wheel and just seems inferior
when compared to.

But my problem is: When scrolling with the
wheel, if the pointer is right in with the text...a lot of text becomes disjointed and
unintelligible. Like you were suddenly on LSD
or something. However, if I move the pointer towards the margins and out of the text, then
scrolling is OK and there is no text distortion; Sometimes, small tips of the pointer will be left behind, too.

Anyone know how to remedy this?

Thanks all,
chipsahoy

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 28 Feb 2001 7:22 pm

Sounds like a video driver problem. Check your video card's website for the latest drivers for your operating system.

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 1 Mar 2001 4:40 am

Thanks Jim,
I'll do that and see what they have. I
think it's Intel.
chipsahoy

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 1 Mar 2001 6:06 am

Chip, be careful. Go to the HP site and see if there are any updates. If you just download a generic driver for your video from the chip manufacturer it may not work correctly with the configuration HP has it set up.

This applies to any device. If the PC maker has it integrated into their custom motherboard and system you should only download driver updates from the PC maker. Installing a driver or update that is not specifically designed for your device can cause it to malfunction.

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 1 Mar 2001 12:56 pm

Jack & Jim,
I did go to Intel, and I guess I'm lucky
in a way, as they had no drivers even close to what I have. Most of their drives are
geared toward upgrading the Pentium class
processors, specific GRAPHICS, specific
CONTROLLERS, but nothing that says GRAPHICS
CONTROLLER, of which my Intel[r]82810 is
called a graphics controller.

Jack, BTW, would that Voodoo card db3 2000 remedy this? But this HP Pavilion just doesn't let that be installed.
I've been thru this before.

chipsahoy

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 1 Mar 2001 1:00 pm

You don't upgrade the graphics controller through software, just the video driver. From your description it sounds like you need the "specific GRAPHICS".

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 1 Mar 2001 3:07 pm

Have you checked the HP support site for any updates to your system?? That's the first place you should go, anyway.

IF the video is causing your particular problem, a newer or upgraded video card MAY fix the problem. However, you don't know if the video is really the problem.

It could be a DirectX problem or it could be the driver for that particular mouse and updating the mouse software may take care of the problem.

I'd more suspect the mouse driver software since you have not complained about video problems with other programs.

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 1 Mar 2001 5:56 pm

Yeah, I went out to Gateway even before
Intel and they had nothing on the mouse.
Also, it seemed like all they had at this time was, like, newer stuff.

But maybe I was in the wrong place at the right time. I'll go back to GW and persist some more.

Thanks, Jim, Jack.

chipsahoy