Razer Ouroboros & Synapse 2.0 problems

[irondog55]

Hi there, been a long time lurker on tomshardware and this is the first time Ive had to ask for help.

I have recently bought myself a shiny new Razer Ouroboros, and run into a few snags. Wondering if anyone else has had the same/similar problems with Synapse or the Ouroboros and if theres any workaround in the meantime.

This is whats happening.

Once synapse is all up and running the mouse works great... until you start messing with the DPI. It lags slightly whenever you use the clutch or put the DPI up and down. Even more so if you press the DPI button multiple times.

Its a minor bugbear, but was part of the reasons I got this mouse... to respond to certain situations with DPI. I sent the details to Razer, but they haven't helped too much and am still waiting on a reply. Heres the response I got previously:



On 16/11/2012 04:06, "Razer Support" <support-us@razersupport.com> wrote:
>
>
> Greetings *****,
>
> Thank you for contacting Razer Support. I am Nizam & will be assisting
> you with the mouse lag using Razer Ouroboros.
>
> Looking at this, I have two suggestions which you can try to see if it
> fixes the problem. Please refer below for the suggested steps :
>
> Action : *Clear Synapse folder*

> a) Press Windows key + R, this will bring up the Run command
> b) Type taskmgr & click OK, this will bring up the task manager
> c) Go to Processes tab & locate RzSynapse.exe > end the process
> d) In the Run box, type C:\ProgramData\Razer & click OK
> e) Locate Synapse folder & delete it > restart the computer once deleted
>
> Action : *Firmware Update/Re-flash (Mouse)*

> *Please make sure that the mouse & dock are unplugged during this
> time. use a different keyboard in the mean time
> a) Launch Synapse 2.0
> b) Press and hold on right, left & scroll wheel button & plug it into
> the USB port) The computer should detect the device as Razer
> Bootloader Mode
> c) The computer should detect the device as Razer Bootloader Mode
> d) Synapse should automatically prompt you for the firmware updates
> e) Once completed, please proceed with the Dock update
>
> Action : *Firmware Update/Re-flash (Dock)*

> *Please make sure that the mouse & dock are unplugged during this
> time. use a different keyboard in the mean time
> a) Launch Synapse 2.0
> b) Press and hold on pairing button & plug it into the USB port. The
> computer should detect the device as Razer Bootloader Mode
> c) The computer should detect the device as Razer Bootloader Mode
> d) Synapse should automatically prompt you for the firmware updates
> e) Once completed, please restart & test the mouse again
>
> If you encounter any error message with the steps presented above,
> please let me know the error
>
> Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Razer Support Team

I tried all of the above and it does not seem to alleviated the problem.
The mouse and dock are fully updated with firmware and my version of
Synapse 2.0 is updated to the most recent.
I even have tried installing the software on another computer and used
wired and with the dock and still having the same problems. The lag only
appears when using the side grip or DPI settings, usually in sync with
the on screen DPI meter, all other times it is fine.

I am running 64bit Windows 7 Pro, running an Intel 3770K, 16gigs of
corsair vengeance ram, GTX570, solid state agility 3 SSD and an XFI
gamer soundcard, so its not due to lack of hardware.

Hopefully that advice they gave me helps other Ourobros/synapse2.0 users out.

The only thing I can think of is a software conflict or any other software
synapse uses, may need to be updated. Thoughts, solutions, people that have the same issues and other posts welcome below,

Thanks again,

 

[Alienware Incan]

Irondog what's going on man? Glad to see someone else having somewhat of the same issue I'm having. I bought the Ouroboros a couple of weeks ago and have had the mouse set up for about a week. I connected the mouse first completely wirelessly , and it was working fine without being in sync with synapse 2.0. The mouse was bought for gaming obviously so I ran steam and started to play Left 4 Dead 2. Before this mouse I had a wired Alienware tactx mouse which was great until it died out. I noticed that when I did switch the DPI settings, or when I would use the scroll wheel very quickly to switch weapons in game during Left 4 dead 2 there was a slight lag which noticeably spiked the video, and audio as I switched from the lowest DPI to the highest. I didn't think much of it though, but it was obvious that it was the mouse. The alienware tactx mouse had never given me any lag related issue while switching DPI settings during game play, and the mouse was used a lesser system than I have now. I thought that I should manually switch the DPI increment settings myself, and maybe the lag would subside. So I downloaded Synapse 2.0 and did the tweaking and played again. This time I used Left 4 dead 2, Chivalry, Borderlands 2, and the Walking Dead to test the Ouroboros. I noticed the most lag issues during Left 4 Dead 2, mainly when using the wheel but also when switching the DPI settings. Chivalry had very minor lag, but I can't be as sure that it was solely the mouse and not the server speed. Borderlands 2 was perfect with no lag, as was The Walking Dead. Still I wanted to try to make the lag disappear completely, especially since I wanted this mouse because it was wireless, had many buttons, also had a body style/shape similar to the Alienware Tactx mouse, and is made by a great company. I went back again and changed the DPI increments to my liking, and this time I used the mouse with the wire connected to it. The wire helped, but still had very minor lag. I have been using the wire for 5 days or so and have not experienced any lag, even when wireless. I think there is a slight chance that the mouse needed to be wired first to sync better with synapse. It seems that once I wired the mouse and tweaked some settings the Ouroboros is now performing flawlessly in wireless mode.

Let me know what you think and if your issue is worked out yet. I'm happy with the mouse though, even if I would have had to use it wired it's a great mouse!

 

[jacrabby]

hi,

i just bought mine and i having the same issues of the cursor jumping randomly and hanging sometimes.. It really annoying..I didnt know what to do now as i have changed for the 2nd one.

 

[jacrabby]

Razer support has replied me today:

Hi There,

Thank you for contacting Razer Support. My name is Raymond and I will be assisting you with your case involving the Razer Ouroboros.

As i understand it, the cursor for your Ouroboros keeps skipping,

Please turn off the surface calibration option on your mouse and this should solve the issue of your mouse skipping.

If turning off the surface calibration for your mouse does not help your resolve your issue, try using the mouse on a white piece of paper to see if the mouse still skips.

Please let us know of the results and we will try our level best to help you resolve your issue.

Thank you and I look forward to hear from you soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just FYI, i have refunded my Ouroboros and switched to Steelseries.

 

[irondog55]

Its still getting looked into unfortunately, here's whats been going on since the last update:

Razer Support:
Salutations Gamer,
Thanks for the files, I have forwarded them to the team to look over and we will have an update for you in the next few days.
Also, Synapse updates this weekend, have you seen any difference?
Best Regards, Razer Support Team

Me:
Hi again,
unfortunately there does not seem to have been any difference after the weekends update. I have recorded a short video to show the issues im having as well to make it a little clearer:
The sound is a little quiet on the recording but hope this helps put things in the picture a little more. The video is unlisted so only people with the link can see it
Again, I hope this helps for both future users and myself and eagerly await your reply.
Thanks again,
irondog55

Razer Support:
Salutations Gamer,
Thank you for the video, I was able to duplicate the issue here as well and the Engineers are still looking into the issue.
I have not ETA on an update at this time, once I have some news I will let you know.

Me:
Just a quick email to enquire how things have been going as to a fix to this issue.
Been testing the mouse in wireless mode and the problem is more apparent.
Is it something that will be fixed in the next synapse release or has a solution still not been found?
Thanks in advance,
irondog55

Razer Support:
So far we were able to replicate the issues.
It does appear to be a slight delay while changing DPI on the Ouroboros. This kind of delay can be expected, but we may be able to resolve.
The engineers are looking into the issue.

Me:
Hi again,
Can you clarify 'expected'? Do you mean to compensate for the lag by expecting it. If so, it is hit and miss on the timescale. It sometimes takes a few seconds to activate. It's not possible to compensate by those means in an online game.
If you mean to expect any dpi mouse to lag, I would rather go for a refund and use my RAT5 or my aging MX518 which has no lag on DPI switching. I would hope not as do like this mouse and all the time I will have spent with it will be for naught.
Please clarify,
irondog55

Razer Support:
Salutations Gamer,
a few millisecond delay when changing DPI is what we have seen here, in both wired and wireless.
I meant expected in that it is witching the optical sensors DPI, similar to shifting gears in a car.
We have our engineers looking into this and I have no further information. They will be working on a fix once the investigation is over.

2 Updates down the line (Firmware and software) and over a month of having this mouse I still haven't seen any improvement. Whilst I love my Nostromo and my Goliathus I fear that this may be my last Razer purchase. Teething troubles are expected with new hardware but are normally fixed faster than this. Feel like I should have stuck with the RAT5. Due to most of the bother, I think I'm going to ask for a refund if this is not resolved by the New Year. I honestly wish they would hurry up with a standalone driver and then add it to Synapse once its working, the current crop of drivers are terrible!

Will keep you all posted on an update...

 

[nitrium]

I got pretty major issues with my Razer Ouroboros too.

In wired mode only: on waking from S3 sleep the mouse takes about a minute to be usable - the polling rate seems to be about 2 secs (or 0.5 Hz - seriously that bad). It doesn't matter if I set the polling rate in the Synapse driver to 125 Hz or 1000 Hz (or anything in between) - on waking from sleep it is always ~0.5 Hz for about 60 secs. Rebooting the PC would be a LOT faster than waiting for my mouse to become usable!

In wireless mode only: I'll start by saying the issue above is (remarkably) NOT present in wireless mode. However, there is another issue (that is NOT present in wired mode!). After a few mins of not using the mouse (allowing the mouse to go into its lower power standby mode), on movement ONE (always one) of the axis SOMETIMES has a very low sensitivity, also making the mouse unusable, i.e. left-right will be say 500 dpi while up-down is 6000 dpi or vice versa. It never recovers from this by itself, but simply clicking the DPI button up and then down fixes it almost instantly. I've settled for using it wireless mode for now, due to the wired mode issue making sleep on my PC 100% useless.
UPDATE 11 Jan 13: Even with Synapse 2 drivers fully uninstalled this problem STILL occurs (i.e. even with the standard Windows default mouse drivers). This means it is either a firmware issue (bad) or the the hardware itself is defective (catastrophic)!

Obviously neither of these issues is remotely acceptable for such a high-price mouse from a supposedly high-quality premium brand. Synapse 2/Ouroboros firmware is horribly broken, and should not have been allowed to be released in this state. We are, once again, simply beta-testers... but minus the part about being paid for the testing.

 

[andrewballa]

yeah, I think I'm going to ask for a refund if this is not resolved by the New Year too.thank you

 

[inzone]

Guess I'll be staying away freom the Razer Ourboros.

 

[irondog55]

Well, after all that with no more responses after a month, I've returned my Ouroboros.
Shame really as it worked fine until the DPI issues. TBH its not the mouse, its those gawdawful Synapse drivers. Ive had a Razer Nostromo with no problems (separate drivers), an excellent Razer goliathus and, recenly, a Razer bungee ( to deal with post-Ouroboros wire issues). All great kit.

Think Razer put all their eggs in one basket with Synapse 2.0.
Its horrible... and while they continue to use it, I am staying clear of any more Razer products that use this shambles.

If you do use a Razer product that uses Synapse 2.0, and you have no issues, continue to use it. Otherwise take it back at the first opportunity as the post-sales support is rubbish at keeping you updated.

Sorry I couldnt post a resolution for you guys

Peace out!

 

[kschulze]

Hi irondog,

Thanks for all you posts they've been helpful. I too bought an ouroboros and had exactly the same DPI issues that you describe, which I'm also convinced is related to the synapse 2 drivers. I've had a similar experience with post-sales support. They want me to return it for a replacement but I'm not to keen to go through it all again - I even offered to take a different Razer mouse but apparently only one-to-one replacement is possible. Anyway, the questions I have are regarding your refunds:

1. How did you request the refund and,
2. Did you have to return it box and all?

In my RMA email they say you don't need the packaging for a replacement, but it's not clear in the case of a refund. I've tried to get a clear answer but it's taking some time.

Cheers.

 

[irondog55]

Hi kschuItz,

had an extended guarantee with the shop I bought it from, so just took it back and got my refund that way

I kept the box. Bit of a hoarder that way. Always keep your boxes and receipts for the full warranty period, just in case you need to take it back

 

[inzone]

I usualy keep the boxes for that reason and if I go to sell something it's better to have the original box and packaging and yes always keep the reciept for the length of the warranty because that's the first thing they ask for.

 

[cdm1671]

I'm having the same issues with my Ouroboros. The battery needs to be charged every day and after it has been charging all night, it doesn't track correctly. The pointer sticks, jumps and tracks very slowly. When this happens, I usually have to take the battery out and put in back in.

 

[inzone]

Depending on how long you've had the battery , it may not be able to be recharged for ever and if it's new then possibly you have a defective battery so a new one might work better. But that won't fix a bad mouse design of bad software.

 

[sigoshi]

This isn't just an issue with the Ouroboros. I use a naga epic and it has this issue too. It actually sometimes goes so far as to crash the synapse application entirely, requiring me to leave the game in order to fix it. I had no problems just using the on-the-fly with the basic software, but it seems synapse just isn't working correctly with DPI yet.

 

[nitrium]

Just a quick update for 2 Feb 2013. Still no improvement on my issues detailed in my post above after TWO driver updates. Synapse 2.0 needs to just die already.

 

[lolpc]

I bought mine a couple of days ago, instead of the latest Mamba, as I highly prefer wireless gaming mice. These issues you all are refering to are troubling me, right now mine works fine. I have a small issue where the mouse does some weird DPI changes after sleep mode, but pushing the DPI buttons clears this issue for me.

Should I take my chances and keep the mouse since it works fine right now, or should I return it and get a Razer Mamba instead? And please, don't give me suggestions for wired mice, as I am exclusively a wireless gamer.

 

[nitrium]

Should I take my chances and keep the mouse since it works fine right now, or should I return it and get a Razer Mamba instead? And please, don't give me suggestions for wired mice, as I am exclusively a wireless gamer.

I'd say if you like it, and it works on your system, keep it. Clearly people are experiencing a variety of issues with this mouse and/or the Synapse 2.0 drivers, but these issues were there from the day it purchased (i.e. it is NOT due to hardware failure as such). I'm hanging on to mine at this stage, 'cos I kinda like the mouse itself, and am assuming they fix it eventually with firmware/driver updates.

 

[ChinnyxD]

I am also the owner of the Razer ouroboros since the day of release and I also had "Lag input" problems. So thanks to the guy of the first post and a tip of my friend, I was able to resolve this issue.

My friend said to me. Just use Synapse to configure the DPI. When that is done, also "Clear the synapse folder(see post 1)". At last run "msconfig" and click on the tab "programs" then uncheck razer synapse. By doing this, Razer Synapse will no longer open at the boot of your windows.

Suddenly my lag was gone and i still have the same DPI!

So I hope this post will help some people and enjoy their mouse to their full extent! I hope someday Razer will develop better software than Synapse, because its just crap.

 

[vflow]

Same issues on my new Ouroboros, bought 13th (hmm!) of February 2013. Here is part of my conn with Razer Support:

Me:
"OS Win 7 Ultimate x64
1. When changing from wired to wireless mode mouse freezes. Only solution to restore the mouse functionality is to log off-log on which means the game session is compromised.
2. I am using Razer Goliathus Control Edition mouse pad. Despite the calibration for this pad it seems that Synapse cannot remember the settings so each time I start the computer I find different settings under Calibration tab.
3.After mouse stand-by mode on wake up, it becomes unusable, it moves like having different DPI settings for x and y axis. The only solution is to select a DPI setting from the top buttons.

Please note that before Ouroboros I was using Logitech G700 for gaming (same game and same PC) and I never had an issue in switching from wired to wireless mode (or vice versa) during the game."

RS:
In order to assist us in troubleshooting, please send us the MSinfo file for the system experiencing the issue. To do this, please follow the instructions below.

1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information.
2. Once system information has loaded click on File > Save and save the file onto your desktop and name it as msinfo.nfo.
3. Also click on File > Export and save the file as msinfo.txt.
4. Attach these files to your reply email.
PLEASE NOTE - If the size of your MSinfo file is greater than 5MB, please compress the file using a utility such as 7-zip, which should allow the attachment to be downloaded by our system.

RS after sending the req. files:
Thanks for contacting Razer. We have escalated your issue to a specialist who will personally handle your case and get back to you shortly. While most escalations are answered within one to two business days or less, some escalations can take a bit longer due to the nature of the escalation and/or during peak customer demand. We appreciate your patience.

RS with "The Solution":
Hey Gamer,
Have you tried putting Synapse in offline mode before going from wired to wireless or visa versa? Does synapse show that it is connected with our servers properly? This can typically be indicated by a green light next to your email address along the top of the Synapse window. Thanks
Best Regards,
Sean M.
Razer Support Tier II
Note: If you need further assistance please include all previous replies when/if responding to this message

Me again (obviously not happy with "The Solution"):
Dear Sean,
Thank you for your answer.
No, I haven’t tried putting Synapse in offline mode when switching from wired to wireless but I must confess that this is a weird procedure to follow, just imagine that Ouroboros is a gaming mouse so most of the time the switch have to be done during the game. As you can understand this procedure would compromise the game session. Is this procedure an official Razer solution for the hangout issue when switching the mouse from wireless to wired?
What do you mean by “Does synapse show that it is connected with our servers properly?”. If you mean the green light, yes it is on every time I open Synapse window and all the other software (game, Team Speak, etc.) are also connected.
In the mean time I noticed some new issues to add to my new Razer mouse strange behavior:

1. Scrolling is problematic sometimes, I don’t know how to explain this but very often the scroll wheel is non responsive, I have to scroll many times the wheel in order to get a small amount of movement AND THE AMOUNT OF MOVEMENT IS DIFFERENT IF I SCROLL UP OR DOWN.
2. Despite of setting the standby time to maximum in Synapse settings, if I leave the PC idle for 10 min. when I come back the mouse sleeping or having tracking issues (very different DPI movement from X to Y axis). As I mentioned before I have same DPI settings for both axis and the only solution to solve this is again … log off log on.

I would like to express my deep concern regarding the operation of my new Razer Ouroboros, especially after making some search on Internet and finding out that there are other people with same issues out there. I really don’t want to go for a replace so please give me a solution to make this device work properly.
Thank you in advance,

Apologize for too much space used. I hope its helpfull.

 

[nitrium]

Same issues on my new Ouroboros, bought 13th (hmm!) of February 2013. Here is part of my conn with Razer Support:
"OS Win 7 Ultimate x64
1. When changing from wired to wireless mode mouse freezes. Only solution to restore the mouse functionality is to log off-log on which means the game session is compromised.
2. I am using Razer Goliathus Control Edition mouse pad. Despite the calibration for this pad it seems that Synapse cannot remember the settings so each time I start the computer I find different settings under Calibration tab.
3.After mouse stand-by mode on wake up, it becomes unusable, it moves like having different DPI settings for x and y axis. The only solution is to select a DPI setting from the top buttons.

I don't get issue 1 with my Ouroboros personally. Switching from wired to wireless is relatively painless, altho it does take about 20 secs for Windows to "install drivers" (even though you'd think they're the same drivers).
Issue 3 is exactly as you describe it for me also. I have an additional issue since I use S3 sleep on my PC, where, upon waking the system, the mouse doesn't work really atl all for up to a minute.
I have had just as little useful help as you from Razer, and have long since given up. If they ever come out with a fix that actually works, please post it here!

 

[S4CR0S4NCT]

Greetings, has anyone managed to get a working fix with the Razer Ourobors?

Ive bought one recently, about 4-5 days ago and am having most of the above problems:
0.5s to 1s delay when changing DPI (this includes actually using the clutch triggers, basically making them virtually useless)
Cursor behaving eratically (tends to act almost as if it is constantly loading jumping from point to point on screen)
DPI and side buttons stop functioning eratically (only way to fix this is a full reset of the pc)
DPI of x and y axis mismatching at seemingly random intervals (tends to be fixed by changing DPI on the mouse itself, if the DPI buttons are working)

Thats in short what I have encountered on the first day.... The second day, while playing starcraft 2, along with the same errors, I noticed that clicks often go unread, needing multiple clicks before any response happens.

All these errors occur when the synapse software is either online or offline and also disabled. I currently use a logitech G7 and have been doing so for the past 7 years with no faults. So the fact that this brand new, top of the line gaming mouse, essentially underperforms when compared to a 7 year old wireless mouse is just ridiculous...

P.S. Ive mailed a support request to Razer and have recieved no response as of yet (it has been more than 5 working days)

 

[Mikkel Petersen]

I am also the owner of the Razer ouroboros since the day of release and I also had "Lag input" problems. So thanks to the guy of the first post and a tip of my friend, I was able to resolve this issue.

My friend said to me. Just use Synapse to configure the DPI. When that is done, also "Clear the synapse folder(see post 1)". At last run "msconfig" and click on the tab "programs" then uncheck razer synapse. By doing this, Razer Synapse will no longer open at the boot of your windows.

Suddenly my lag was gone and i still have the same DPI!

So I hope this post will help some people and enjoy their mouse to their full extent! I hope someday Razer will develop better software than Synapse, because its just crap.

i just did as you and i works fine, no lag. even when I switch DPI.
its must be bad software

 

[lolemenos]

hello guys..
i hope you are all ok..so i have this issue with the razer ouroboros nad want to see if i am the only one with that or not...
So the day before razer ouroboros stopped working wireless,and i found out that it was a dock problem cause when i connect it to my pc it recognizes it as razer bootloader.so everything fine i said ok i will flash the firmware and everything will be ok..so i opened Syanpse 2.0 and nothing happened...should it prompt me to install firmware since i have a razer bootloader device connected?it only says please connect a razer synapse 2.0 enabled device and thats it.if i connect the mouse with wire everything works perfectly.
i have the latest vercion of synapse and windows 7 with all the updates done.
i also tried it on my laptop and i had the same issue.both pc are x64 so this might be the problem.for a start i think this is a software problem since the computer recognizes the razer bootloader.so what can i do?anyone with the same issues?

 

[Bayezid]

I think i found the answer to this problem.

When i used the ouroboros mouse for the first time, i used it in wired mode. It worked fine. Synapse 2.0 was installed and set up, it still worked fine.

When i switched to wireless mode, problems occurred where the mouse would change in sensitvity all of a sudden. It would move from high DPI to low DPI.

I restarted the PC while on wireless mode and then the dpi changes went away after awhile and now it works fine.

Try restarting the PC.