[SOLVED] cursor spins in a circle

coyote2

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Note: the cursor doesn't turn into a spinning circle, it spins in a circle.

I have a CST1150 trackball.

About 1 in 8 times I start my PC, the cursor spins in a circle (a little bigger than a quarter). (This only happens when I start the PC.)

This happens about 1 out of 8 times I boot my PC.

I've cleaned the trackball several times.

If I tap the left-button, it stops spinning in a circle and starts bouncing up and down about an inch.

The only way to stop it is to use the keyboard to restart. This always solves the issue even if I do nothing else including not touching the trackball. (So I suspect it has nothing to do with either the trackball itself or it's cleaning.)

Windows 10 Pro x64
 
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Solution
if the ball is not rotating on it's own,
it sounds like the sensor attached to the ball is misreading the movement and getting circular data from an internal malfunction.
this doesn't mean it would happen each time the device is detected, can just be totally random.

to try to prove if it is hardware related or not;
plug in a different pointer device,
unplug the trackball,
uninstall all software & drivers related to the trackball,
restart the system & use a registry cleaner like CCleaner to make sure there are no settings left in the registry,
delete any custom profiles or user settings that may be saved elsewhere,
restart again and plug in the trackball after the OS has loaded,
then reinstall all of the latest software\driver packages...
if the ball is not rotating on it's own,
it sounds like the sensor attached to the ball is misreading the movement and getting circular data from an internal malfunction.
this doesn't mean it would happen each time the device is detected, can just be totally random.

to try to prove if it is hardware related or not;
plug in a different pointer device,
unplug the trackball,
uninstall all software & drivers related to the trackball,
restart the system & use a registry cleaner like CCleaner to make sure there are no settings left in the registry,
delete any custom profiles or user settings that may be saved elsewhere,
restart again and plug in the trackball after the OS has loaded,
then reinstall all of the latest software\driver packages related to the trackball.

and hope the issue goes away...
 
Solution

coyote2

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Thank you very much John for the response about my weird issue! (You also motivated me to populate my signature.)

I'm skeptical of your theory but I guess it's plausible.

I do have a mouse I could use. I'll try it though I'm reluctant to because it will be a danger given my carpal tunnel. Oh! I could just do a bunch of restarts with it as a test!! I'll do that. Though the issue is so infrequent who knows if I can elicit it.

I do have a very similar trackball but it has a PS/2 connector unlike my new motherboard. (And my experience is that PS/2-USB adapters are close to worthless; I have dozens.)

Maybe I'll also try this trackball on my old Linux machine that I rarely use. I could also do a bunch of test restarts. That might rule out PC hardware or Windows lol.

It's a brand new machine with a brand new Windows install. And I'm averse to using a registry cleaner.

But I have thought about trying to figure out what native drivers the trackball uses and uninstalling them so Windows can install them again. Though that feels like a longshot on a fresh install and hardware that has been otherwise perfectly stable.
 
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you should definitely install any available software & drivers directly from the device manufacturer.

MS may offer generic Windows drivers for the majority of devices,
but 5/10 times they either do not offer the full capability\functionality of the device
or tend to cause eventual issues.
thought about trying to figure out what native drivers the trackball uses and uninstalling them so Windows can install them again.
should be easy to find the device in Device Manager and uninstall its corresponding drivers.
I'm skeptical of your theory but I guess it's plausible.
you're skeptical that it may be caused by either a hardware malfunction or a software issue?

what else do you think it could possibly be?
small earthquakes under your property shaking the building in a circular motion
or maybe a ghost just screwing with you?
 

coyote2

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LOL; I am in California but...
On second thought, maybe the trackball is experiencing the intermittent beginnings of failure, maybe to it's laser sensor.
If I buy another and find it has the same issue I guess I could resell the new one.

I guess I was thinking it was a Windows bug since restarting fixes it. But maybe that's just about powercycling it.

It's uses the standard Windows drivers, and always worked through 8.1. I messaged the company it unfortunately got sold to, but their first reply was just 'get another one'.
 
It's uses the standard Windows drivers, and always worked through 8.1. I messaged the company it unfortunately got sold to, but their first reply was just 'get another one'.
yeah i don't believe i've seen many, if any, new products from CST for quite a few years.

if they've shut down the support site(s) for products there's a chance you could find an ISO or other copy of any CD\DVD that may've been released with the device.
have no idea where though except maybe by googling legacy hardware support sites or something and asking on their own forums.
I guess I was thinking it was a Windows bug since restarting fixes it.
it's still fairly common for Windows to have corrupted drivers out of nowhere.
you can always try uninstalling and deleting any generic trackball drivers used through the Device Manager.
when Windows replaces it with a fresh download\install, it could possibly fix the issue.
 

coyote2

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Yes, CST. Their support was legendary, so I was disappointed to hear that CST retired and sold production to https://xkeys.com/xkeys/trackballs.html.

I found my ancient CDR from CST, but it only contained the manual (the new company sent me the link).

I moved the problematic (ca. 17-year old) USB trackball to my ancient Linux machine.

I'm now using an older twin trackball, ca. 22 years old); it's got a serial port to PS/2 adapter, plugged into a PS/2 to USB adapter. It's from when before CST was named CST.

I'm very busy so instead of hoping a bunch of reboots will elicit the issue, I think I'll see if time will elicit the issue on one of the machines.

Next step will be the Device Manager, thanks.

Strangely, in terms of cursor movement and accuracy, they both seem to be working better on their new machines!

In anticipation of my needing to replace the problematic trackball, the new company sent me an article to help me decide between the laser and optical models: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/optical-vs-laser-mouse-explanation/
 

coyote2

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For two days now I've switched trackballs. It turns out that both have zero issues on my Linux PC, and both have issues on my Windows 10 PC.

Now on Windows 10 I'm using my other even older trackball from before they were even branded CST; it's a PC TRAC Deluxe + Model PD-800S. It came with a Serial-to-PS/2 adapter, which I've now plugged into a PS/2 to USB adapter lol. And it worked great except for this nightmarish issue:

When I move the cursor up/down/left/right on web pages, the contents of the screen move too. I've never experienced this before and it is maddening.

(Perhaps it has something to do with the middle button [just above the ball] which I've never used before and have no wish to use.)

Windows 10's Mouse Properties dialog doesn't seem to offer settings to fix this or any mention of a middle mouse button. (I tried turning off Click Lock. I can't set the Wheel options to zero.)

So it seemed Windows' drivers were at fault. I didn't find any alternate drivers for these trackballs.
(Though googling tells me that there were two generations of button-mapping software made for them, Maxyz and Superior-X. I never wanted to use it anyway, and have only found unofficial d/l sites.)

Then I uninstalled all three Mouse drivers in the Device Manager, but this trackball's issue with cursor movement moving screen contents remains.

I'm thinking of switching trackballs back, since this maddening issue is much worse than having to reboot on startup occasionally.

Any idea where I can get some safe alternate drivers for these trackballs?
 

coyote2

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Guess what: It happens in the UEFI too. So it must have nothing to do with the Windows drivers. OTOH it doesn't occur on my other (Linux) PC.

I wonder what will happen if I buy one of the new models.
 
I wonder what will happen if I buy one of the new models.
i don't notice any regular complaints about trackballs in general.
i would imagine any modern version developed to run on modern operating systems would function perfectly.

the last i had quite a few years ago was a MS mouse with an integrated thumb trackball that worked great.
i still see good reviews about the Logitech Trackman series.
 

coyote2

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I think I cracked the mystery. That the issue also occurred in the UEFI BIOS (but not on another PC) put me on the scent towards hardware issues. First I moved the trackball from a USB 3.2 Gen 1 (lol, original name was USB 3.0) port to a USB 2.0 port; the issue hasn't occurred for 5 days so I'm feeling pretty sure that solved it.

Unfortunately the motherboard's only USB 2.0 ports are on the front panel.

The motherboard also has many USB 3.2 Gen 2 (original name was USB 3.1) ports, but I don't have much hope that they'll be free of the issue when the Gen 1 ports half their speed aren't.

As weeks pass I'll probably try many more of my Dark Hero motherboard's 16 USB ports to determine if any rear panel ports are free of the issue.