Cursor drifts to the left

[Jim]

My cursor (HP optical mouse if that matters) started drifting to the
left (exactly horizontallly) intermittently (while the mouse was not
moving) some time ago...perhaps after loading SP2. I've seen others
post with this problem. Usually the cursor will stop moving if
one moves the mouse a bit.

Checked the HP support and forums and didn't see anything there.

Any ideas how to stop this?

 

[Stan Brown]

My cursor (HP optical mouse if that matters) started drifting to the
left (exactly horizontallly) intermittently (while the mouse was not
moving) some time ago...perhaps after loading SP2. I've seen others
post with this problem. Usually the cursor will stop moving if
one moves the mouse a bit.

I don't believe it's specifically an HP problem. I have a brand-new
Logitech optical mouse on a brand-new XP Pro SP2 system, and I see
the drift too, though not necessarily to the left. I suspect it's
inherent in the optical technology.

Have you tried running the mouse on a diffeent background? My desk
has a faux-woodgrain pattern and I wonder if perhaps that's
confusing the mouse.

 

[Jim]

I've had the same PC, mouse and gray mouse pad for 2+
years and had no problems until a few months back. The mouse does have
some crud inside it, though not near the optical sensing area. Will
try disassembling and cleaning.

My drift is ALWAYS to the left, exactly horizontal as near as my eyes
can see.

Jim