Question Mouse sensor barely tracks movement, buttons & battery are fine, I need help to diagnose ?

[zgzdgz]

Hi all,

I’m having a frustrating issue with my SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless Mouse and would appreciate any insight or troubleshooting tips from the community.
Bought it somewhere in 2023-04


Problem Description:

• The mouse powers on and all buttons/side keys and battery function as normal.
• The sensor, however, barely tracks movement (cursor barely moves, is erratic, or not registering at all), even though the mouse appears to be detected by Windows and SteelSeries GG software.

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What I Tried So Far:

1. Rebooted the system and tested on another PC—same result.
2. Tested both wireless and wired mode (with original cable) – issue persists.
3. Tested different surfaces and mouse pads – same result.
4. Cleaned the sensor window externally with a microfiber cloth, and visually inspected for dust or debris.
5. Carefully used compressed air (upright, short bursts, not upside-down, and not shaken beforehand) as recommended by SteelSeries, and made sure mouse was off and unplugged.
6. Inspected the sensor area with a flashlight—no obvious residue or foreign objects seen, and sensor window appears clear.
7. Confirmed all software/drivers/firmware are up to date.
8. Checked for physical damage—none visible, the mouse has not been dropped or exposed to liquid spills.
9. Mouse is IP54 rated and was powered off during cleaning, so unlikely to have liquid ingress.

Additional Details:

• The buttons, scroll wheel, and RGB all function as normal.
• Mouse powers on, connects via dongle or cable, and charges fine.
• Only the sensor movement tracking is broken or severely degraded.

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My Concerns:

• 
  I made sure to follow SteelSeries’ recommended cleaning procedures. The mouse is IP54 rated, was powered off and unplugged during cleaning, and there was no visible liquid or residue.
  
  
• I’m curious if the sensor can become misaligned, fogged up, or otherwise fail in a way that’s not obvious from outside.

1. Has anyone experienced this kind of sensor-only failure with a SteelSeries mouse?
2. Could compressed air really damage the sensor, or is this likely a hardware fault?
3. Is there a way to further inspect or fix the sensor at home, or is RMA/warranty my only real option (Not that I have one anymore as I'm already passed over 2 years 3 months or so)?
4. Are there any advanced troubleshooting steps I can try before giving up on the sensor? As the mouse didn't came cheap.

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Any advice is greatly appreciated—thanks in advance!

https://imgur.com/a/M3PDMdN

 

[zgzdgz]

I gave it a look and we are talking about two different games.
The one you have, is Police Simulator: Patrol Officers (Steam), which looks like a poor copy of GTA V and it's police roleplay mod.
While what i have wishlisted, is The Precinct (Steam). Looks more refined game.


Drop down to 1080p and you'll get high FPS.

E.g if you look Steam hardware survey results (link), then out of all possible resos PC monitors can output, 1080p gaming has 54.54% stake in it. 2nd place is 2K (1440p) with a mere 19.86% stake.


This is only true 1-2 years after the new console generation is released. Anything longer than that and consoles will lag behind performance wise.

E.g;
PS1 came out in 1994. PS2 in 2000. PS3 in 2006, PS4 in 2013 and PS5 in 2020. That's 6-7 year lifespan, before you could get a new one.
Xbox came out in 2001, Xbox 360 in 2005, Xbox One in 2013 and Xbox X/S in 2020. That's 4-8 year lifespan.

Both the PS5 and Xbox X/S are using 8 core AMD Zen 2 CPU, comparable to R7 3700X. Yet, what we currently have for desktop, are Ryzen 9000-series. E.g R7 9800X3D that i'm planning to buy. And R7 9800X3D will wipe the floor with R7 3700X + then some.
Comparison: https://versus.com/en/amd-ryzen-7-3700x-vs-amd-ryzen-7-9800x3d
2nd one too: https://technical.city/en/cpu/Ryzen-7-3700X-vs-Ryzen-7-9800X3D

GPU wise, Xbox S GPU is comparable to GTX 1660. That's even weaker than my current GTX 1660 Ti.
PS5 has better GPU in it, comparable to RTX 2070.
And Xbox X GPU is beefiest, comparable to RTX 2070 Super.

While at current moment, we have RTX 50-series GPUs available. RTX 5070 wipes the floor with RTX 2070 Super.
comparison: https://technical.city/en/video/GeForce-RTX-2070-Super-vs-GeForce-RTX-5070

Let alone RTX 2070 or GTX 1660.


Well, if you only have one set of hardware to work with, it is easy to code a game to run optimally on it. But as time goes onwards and consoles age, devs are very limited on what they can or can not add to the game.


Consoles may die out, namely in favor of mobile gaming. Since current day smart phones are beefy enough to play games (e.g i was a bit amazed to see friend's 10yo son playing Fortnite on his dad's smart phone). You can even hook bigger screens and controllers to the smart phone. And since smart phones have much better utility than consoles, not to mention their portability, consoles could soon be history.

PCs in the other hand, have been around since the dawn of computing and will remain 'til the end of time. After all, all other devices are modeled after what PCs can do.

Hardware that has only 1 purpose, dies out. Few examples;
* VHS players to watch movies, died out after CD/DVD discs came. CD/DVD/blu-ray are almost dead now, in favor of streaming services.
* Portable CD players to listen music on-the-go. Died out once iPod and the like came. But those portable *.mp3 players died out as well, once you could listen your music via your smart phone. Just pop one or two earbuds in and off you go.
* Camera to take pictures (e.g Kodak film camera). Died out once digital cameras came. But those are now essentially dead as well, since smart phones have good cameras for taking pics and recording vids. Dedicated cameras are a niche nowadays, only for die-hard photographers.

And i think gaming consoles follow the same suit. In favor of mobile gaming. The two (PS and Xbox) are still lingering around, since the two companies producing them (Micro$soft and Sony) have deep pockets to sustain them. But gaming scene is changing.

Solid write-up and you definitely make some strong points! 👍

Yeah, I get where you’re coming from, PC really is the blueprint for everything these days, and the open ecosystem is tough to beat for longevity and flexibility. The “one-purpose device” thing is a real trend too; you’re right, the market just eats those up and moves on to the next big thing.

Mobile gaming, though, it’s wild how far it’s come, but I feel like, for now at least, it’s still a totally different vibe than what you get from consoles or PC. You can kill time on your phone, but it just doesn’t scratch the same itch as sitting down with a controller or mouse for a big game session. Maybe I’m old-fashioned there, but I don’t see a phone replacing a real gaming setup for a lot of people (at least not yet!).

On consoles “falling off” after the first couple years, yeah, you’re right, once the hardware gap widens, it’s up to devs to pull every trick out of the bag. I’m always amazed by those late-gen releases that somehow look and run way better than early games on the same system. The optimization is next-level sometimes.

About most people gaming at 1080p/1440p, fair point. The push for 4K is still a bit of a luxury, especially with current GPU prices. I guess that’s why a lot of us just pick our battles, either go all-in on visuals, or lock in smoother FPS.

Also, 🤘😁I totally get the Police Simulator mix-up. My bad, 🤣😂there are million sim games out now, easy to get the wires crossed.

Also, on another note, could these settings send shutdown signal to the pc once it thinks it's running on battery power?

https://imgur.com/a/5T4JyeZ

View: https://imgur.com/a/5T4JyeZ


As I usually put PC into the hibernation, and recently it started launch as if it was turned off, same thing when it hibernates due to inactivity (power plan), like someone just turned it off ya know.

 

[Aeacus]

could these settings send shutdown signal to the pc once it thinks it's running on battery power?

Yes.

As I usually put PC into the hibernation

Sleep and hibernation still draw power from PSU and UPS, since components are idling in the low-power state, while the RAM is still powered, to keep the data (current session) saved in it.

I, personally, don't use sleep/hibernation at all. Either i'm at PC or when AFK, then up to 30mins, i keep my desktop showing. If for longer, then i do the full shut down (power off).

It isn't good for Win to keep the session running for days. Win needs cold, hard reset from time to time.

Now, i don't know if you've seen it, but display PCs on electronics store, that are powered on but at desktop and idle state, will crash and produce BSoD at some point. Even when Win doesn't do anything.

Spoiler: Few pics (click here to view)

Further reading with more images: https://www.pcgamer.com/blue-screen-of-death-survival-guide-every-error-explained/

Since Win isn't coded that robustly, it will crash eventually. So, best to do cold reboots once a week. Heck, even GNU/Linux distros aren't immune and those crash too, ending up with Kernel Panic. Albeit, at much higher intervals than Win.

but it just doesn’t scratch the same itch as sitting down with a controller or mouse for a big game session. Maybe I’m old-fashioned there, but I don’t see a phone replacing a real gaming setup for a lot of people (at least not yet!).

Back in the day, for video gaming, there were Arcades where you went, to game on big machines. Plop in a coin or two and you got your one gaming session.
Now, look where arcades and arcade gaming is. Still popular in Japan but in the rest of the world - only die hard collectors have arcade video games.

If you look at early console games (e.g NES), there, you can see either time limit, (high) score and/or "Player 2 Press Start". E.g Super Mario Bros (on NES) has all that.
All of that is actually the lingering effects of the old arcade machines.

So, one could argue that the true gaming is done on the arcade machine (which requires skill), rather than slouching on the couch and fiddling with the controller (helped out by aim assist and rubber-banding/catch-up).

I still think that mobile gaming is the new form of gaming, besides PC gaming. And by mobile gaming, i don't mean only gaming on the smart phone, but on the handhelds as well (e.g Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch).


Oh, 2 cents about "player assist" features;
I'm one of those that do not like any player assist features. Since back in the day, when i grew up, it was all about the skill. Either git gud or game over.

E.g in the old racing games, like NFS2:SE, NFS3:HP, NFS4:HS/RC, it wall all about skill and when you were good at it, you could easily lap the AI, even on hardest difficulty.
But modern racing games are all about to give player "thrill", by helping AI to be at your tail via rubber-banding, no matter how well you drive or how poor the AI is. Or when you fall behind, catch-up system will bring player back close to the pack.

With this, i haven't played any racing games for many years now. The last one that i did play, was Need For Speed: World Online. But since it was MMO, there were no catch-up or rubber-banding. Instead, it all came down to player skill. Where when you fell behind - you were left behind, which i like. Sadly, as with all MMOs, the servers were shut down in 2015 and it also ended my hardcore gaming lifestyle. Though, i was quite good at it in the 5 years it was live. Even managed to get few world records on specific tracks.

Now, i play casually. Single-player games.