Mouse Randomly Shuts off

[Cowpow16]

EDIT: THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE MOUSE DIRECTLY, IT IS DUE TO SOMETHING (DRIVER, SERVICE, ETC) SHUTTING OFF THE MOUSE.


Okay...
I have an Alienware TactX Mouse. Recently, (meaning the last few months) it randomly dies for around 10 seconds, lights turning off and all, then turns back on with the device recognized Windows 7 sound. Normally it will do this about every other day, but it wont happen for most of the day. After awhile, normally in the evening time after having been used quite a bit, it starts a sequence of shutting on and off. Then, after all of this, it finally hits the last straw and completely quits working. At this point it just flashes, and doesn't respond to any movement. The only way to fix it is by restarting my computer.

Keep in mind:

- It is NOT wireless. Anyone that says "change the batteries"... well... just DON'T.

- It still has power, but doesn't respond. I have tried all 8 USB ports on my computer and it doesn't change anything.

- Unplugging it (even for long periods of time) doesn't fix anything. Turning off the computer would essentially do the same thing to the mouse as unplugging it. It would purge it of all electricity then start loading it back up. That means that it isn't anything to do with the mouse specifically, but the computer.

- My hypothesis is that the drivers are messed up, or an error reading the mouse is being caused somehow.

- It isn't a problem with the cord. Remember that it has already been established that it has to do with the computer/software/drivers.

- I updated the drivers. In fact, I updated them earlier today, but my mouse just completed its signature aforementioned act of slowly puttering to death.

- This one is interesting: It did this before December 2011 also. during that time, I had a different motherboard, CPU, and RAM. As far as the mouse is concerned it was just a different computer that *happened* to have the same hard drive data. I currently run Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, but before December I ran 32-bit.

Also, please don't reply with anything irrelevant (stated in the forum rules anyway) or reply with some useless comment. I would prefer if you kept to contributing to fixing the problem, instead of making me want to hunt you down and beat you with a baseball bat until your head is on straight.

Computer Specs should be largely irrelevant, but here they are anyway:

MSI P67A-GD65 Motherboard
1TB Hitachi 7200RPM HDD
8GB Kingston HyperX RAM (Overclocked Clock speed to 1600MHz)
Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 Video Card (Overclocked Clock speed to 950 MHz and GPU clock to 1430 MHz)
Intel Core i5-2500k Processor (Overclocked to 4.2GHz)

Simplified version, down to the more relevant information, plus easier to read:

(MSI) Motherboard
1TB Hard Drive
8GB (Kingston) RAM
1GB (Radeon) Video Card
i5 4.2Ghz (Intel) Processor

Thanks for any help, and sorry for the long read. I didn't realize that it would take me this much to explain everything.

 

[Guest]

I have a problem that is similar to what you are experiencing. My mouse randomly turns off for a sec or two and then back on agian.

Interesting note: I have a debian partition installed on this computer aswell and I have never had any problems whith my mouse whilst playing any games there.

I went in to Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager and then set my usb ports to NOT turn of randomly to save energy. I dont know if you have that choice since I'm on a laptop and you are on a pc, you probably haven't.

This solution seems to work for me or I at least think that I experience less problems whith my mouse, but this could just be a placebo.

 

[Paul Randleman]

In response to Anonymous & to all future readers of this article: YES THEY DO INDEED HAVE POWER SETTINGS.


All modern computers have these power saving features. I can say for certain Windows 7 +, but I'm sure Windows Vista (Windows 6.0) has it just like Windows 7 (Windows 6.1). Remember, it's not all about portability. Simply, just as you should turn off your monitor when you're not using it, or similarly let windows turn it off for you, you should also consider letting windows turn all most, if not all features. Just depends what your PC is doing in while you leave. The only problem seems to be this USB feature, which I personally believe is tied to gaming and full screen related activities. Hard to explain, but my thinking is that under a fullscreen direct x game, the mouse is in a different mode or a different state than that of standard windows operation. I just wonder if this is a common issue or just Alineware TackX (like OP and me) or small amount of mice from random MFG's.

Anyway, back to saving power and not raping mother earth.. Really consider letting all the power settings work as intedned. No reason your PC needs to be at High Performance when your gone or sleeping.

Honestly, Besides the mouse, the only thing I'd consider leaving on (if I don't want my pc going to suspend/sleep or hibernate) would be the hard drive when I plan on downloading very large files. Beside this, sure usb can power down, just as the monitor can turn off.


Another one to think about besides USB would be your NIC. You don't want it to alter your net adapter if you're gaming or downloading.







Next time you have a Vista fire, put it out with 7. Then spray 7 flame retardant all over the remarkably simple & spontaneously combustible nightmare mistake sorry-for-anyone-who-got-anally-penetrated by Vista's horribly rushed release to the point where you sprayed so much 7 that you can't even that Vista is under this thick coat of 7's rightfully timed release.