Saturday, June 12, 2010

My mouse is sick

My mouse has been misbehaving for a while. At first it was only in one port and I thought it was a broken wire in the mouse itself, just past the USB plug because if I fiddiled it the connection would work again.

Then it was just one USB port, now it's all of them and I think it's now all the ports are loose. It's a nuisance because I'm faster with the mouse than the touchpad on the laptop.

If I get it fixed (it's out of warranty), it could cost upward of $75, and opening up the laptop to fix the problem could trigger a whole lot of new problems with the laptop with dry connections, etc..

This is sooo anoying.

Also the power supply keeps registering on the computer as not being compatible and telling me the computer will run slower and may not charge. It's the bloody power supply the computer came with. It played up like this after about six months or less, but it was intermittent and not often so I didn't do anything about it. Before I knew it, the computer's out of warranty. Next time I'll be buying the extended warranty option! It's cheap when you buy the computer.

Grr. It makes me mad!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

throw in a bit of logic, I'd say it's the one mouse faulty, against maybe 3 or 4 USB ports.

meeces, mouses? are cheap, less then $10, I buy mine for around $5 at the comp market and they last and last.
Certainly not as good as the $50 ones but good enough.

Mark

kae said...

Hi Mark
When it first started playing up I tested it in the other USB ports (three). It was still playing up intermittently. I purchased a new mouse. It played up, too. It's not the mouse. It's the USB ports on the computer. I can change ports and it's OK, unless I bump it. Then if I use a new port I have to put the USB plug in the port and then move it out a little bit and wiggle it to get the power to the mouse. Sometimes the computer just won't recognise the mouse no matter what port I put it into. But this goes on with the new mouse, too. So I've tested my hypothesis, it's the ports.

Anonymous said...

OK then, are all the USB ports located om the same (one) side of the machine close together?

If so it's probably mechanical, broken printed board or similar.

If on different sides like on mine, then more likely a problem with the chip on the MB, controlling the ports, even so, there are usually two controllers one for the USB1 and one for USB2 so at least one of them should work.

I'm guessing here of course, not having the comp. in front of me.
Good luck with it, they are usually fairly rugged but still break down.

Mark

kae said...

Hi again Mark
Two ports on the right and one on the left.
I suspect it's soomething loose. I've been told that laptops are a bugger to fix because when you open them you can upset other stuff inside and cause more problems. An IT bloke said leave it go as long as possible, and then get this other IT bloke to look at it!

Anonymous said...

"you can upset other stuff inside"

I suppose that is true in a way, specially if not familiar with the machine. (trying to be diplomatic here.)

Did you try anything else in the USB port? did it work?

Anyway, can't do much for you from here in Ballarrat, just trying to eliminate obvious causes.

Good luck with it.

Mark

kae said...

The other mouse mucked up in the same port, but was OK in the others so I just plugged the old mouse into the other ports. But they've all gone funny now.
I've used the camera USB to download some photos but was very careful to not bump it so that it wouldn't muck up.
Hmm.

It's a bit far for me to pop over there for a cuppa so you can look at the Dell Studio 15, huh?

Anonymous said...

You are always welcome kae but at the moment I think I'd rather be there in Qland. brass monkeys an all here.

And to top it, can't even rely on the dog to keep me warm, I only have a small terrier and he is tough as boots, loves being outside, suits me fine by the way.
Cheers
Mark

kae said...

LOL
The people in Brisbane are whinging about how cold it has been, down to 9C thismorning. Out here it was 4 or 5... I dunno, I wasn't up that early!
They whinge about how cold it is and they're not outside at dawn most of them, so they haven't got a clue how cold it's been.
It's 8C now, and bound to drop more. Thank heaven for the wood fire!
My two dogs, especially Floyd, would keep me warm. Unfortunately Meg (AKA Stinks), has always had a body odour problem, but otherwise fine, and Floyd is filthy from crawling under the picket fence in the mud to bury and retrieve his bones from his fave burying place...
He's adorable, though.
And if it is warm and not windy tomorrow I'll be trying to bath him...LOL
He let me brush him for quite a while tonight, even seemed to ask for it!
I dread he ever gets out, he's gentle but very friendly and has a tendency to jump, usually gently, but sometimes he gets carried away. He'll learn soon not to, he's getting better. He's nearly two!

Merilyn said...

You are right Kae, Dad phoned me from QLD last night, [to give me an update on Mum, she is in the Nursing home section and he is upstairs in the Hostel section], and the first thing he said was how cold it has been.
Hope you are able to fix either your mouse or computer soon, but don't ask me anything about them as I am not able to contribute any knowledge whatsoever when it comes to them.

Used to have a spray, [like a doggy scent] to put on our dogs in between baths that helped, but if Meg is ah "blowing off" to put it politely, that is harder to fix.

Minicapt said...

Went over 20C today and had to turn on the air conditioner ...

Have you tried a 'OS reinstall' from your emergency discs?

Cheers