How Can an Optical Mouse Become Intermittent Like a Ball Mouse?

I have one of the original Microsoft optical IntelliMice. Recently it
has begun behaving like a ball mouse. The erratic movement, stalling,
etc.

It will finally start working right again and the problem will go away
for a few days. Seems like the times between erratic episodes are
becoming shorter.

-- jim

May be a dry joint/cracked track. Check Microsoft for warranty. I seem
to remember they are very good on warranty.

Mike.

On Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:25:56 -0500, jim evans



IIRC, one of their mice was very prone to having the cable
fray/break right at the point where it meets the mouse body.
A large % of customers ended up requesting RMA with the
result that you just faxed in a picture of the bottom of
your mouse and then sent the replacement (which was very
nice of them, to not require paying shipping to return a
mouse barely worth more than the cost to ship it).

They seemed to have another weakness as well, notibly
shorter lived L/R click buttons than other mice (Logitech,
for example).

A basic optical mouse is only $10 or so, is it worth fooling
with it or might you benefit from today's modern mice with
better tracking? If you just want a USB ambidextrous shaped
mouse, consider the Logitec G3 or LX3, but really going to a
store to try out a few is the best bet.

Some surfaces aren't friendly to laser mice (a vinyl topped folding
table i have is particularly bad). You can see if cleaning the lens,
the surface and/or trying a mouse pad works. Else, mice are cheap, get
a new one.

Thanks for all the replies. Since it comes and goes I'll probably
just wait 'til it happens again and get a new mouse.

One of you replied that mice today are better resolution. Is that
just the hi-res gamer mice or ordinary ambidextrous mice? I tried one
of the laser mice a year or so ago and discovered they're right handed
only.

-- jim