PS2 Mouse problems on A7N8X Deluxe

[Ian]

Hi all,

Recently my mouse has started misbehaving. Currently the pointer will
happily move left/right (or horizontal), but when moving it up/down
(vertical) it doesn't respond properly. Sometimes the pointer will slowly
move upwards (whether I'm moving the mouse up OR down), sometimes it'll move
slowly in the direction I want, or more often it will start and stop with
jerky motion. In the meantime, I'm using what windows labels a "Human
Interaction Device" (HID). It's a little USB trackball type thing, not
meant for hours of use. Occasionally while using this (my PS2 mouse is
still plugged in), the pointer will drift up on the screen.

Here's what I've done:
Cleaned the mouse rollers.
Taken the mouse apart and cleaned it.
Bought a new mouse (still problems).
Tried the mouse on another computer (no problems).
Tried another mouse on this computer (still problems).

In summary, I don't believe it's mouse.

So I did this:
Updated the driver.
Removed the device (and let it redetect).
Cracked the shits and followed the instructions here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;321122 (and I know my mouse
isn't an Intellimouse).
Didn't follow them closely enough (especially the backup part) and partially
wrecked my registry, removing ALL mouse abilities (including the HID I'm
using in the meantime). Finally fixed that.

All of this still didn't fix the mouse.
I rebooted to Win 98 (dual boot system) where the mouse used to work.
Doesn't work properly anymore.

In summary, I don't believe it's the software.

I did read somewhere on google newsgroups about this sort of behaviour being
caused by hardware (bad surface mount capacitor or similar) near the PS2
port on the motherboard (on a different system). But I think they said that
usually affects BOTH PS2 ports, and I've had no troubles with my keyboard.
I have enough electronics knowledge to be able to replace something, but I
know how fiddly SMD's are.... <shudder>... I don't like them.

Does anyone have any knowledge what could be causing this (hardware or
otherwise)? Any suggestions about how to fix it, which cap it is, or how to
test for faults?

Cheers,
Ian

If I can't fix it, I'll just have to buy a USB mouse, but I'd like my PS2
mouse port to work.

 

[JANA]

This may sound a bit illogical, but try another keyboard. I have see this
before. If it is not the combination of the keyboard and the mouse, then it
is something with the PS2 mouse port.

In any case, I would get a USB mouse. You will find it to be better than the
PS2 type.

--

JANA
_____


Hi all,

Recently my mouse has started misbehaving. Currently the pointer will
happily move left/right (or horizontal), but when moving it up/down
(vertical) it doesn't respond properly. Sometimes the pointer will slowly
move upwards (whether I'm moving the mouse up OR down), sometimes it'll move
slowly in the direction I want, or more often it will start and stop with
jerky motion. In the meantime, I'm using what windows labels a "Human
Interaction Device" (HID). It's a little USB trackball type thing, not
meant for hours of use. Occasionally while using this (my PS2 mouse is
still plugged in), the pointer will drift up on the screen.

Here's what I've done:
Cleaned the mouse rollers.
Taken the mouse apart and cleaned it.
Bought a new mouse (still problems).
Tried the mouse on another computer (no problems).
Tried another mouse on this computer (still problems).

In summary, I don't believe it's mouse.

So I did this:
Updated the driver.
Removed the device (and let it redetect).
Cracked the shits and followed the instructions here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;321122 (and I know my mouse
isn't an Intellimouse).
Didn't follow them closely enough (especially the backup part) and partially
wrecked my registry, removing ALL mouse abilities (including the HID I'm
using in the meantime). Finally fixed that.

All of this still didn't fix the mouse.
I rebooted to Win 98 (dual boot system) where the mouse used to work.
Doesn't work properly anymore.

In summary, I don't believe it's the software.

I did read somewhere on google newsgroups about this sort of behaviour being
caused by hardware (bad surface mount capacitor or similar) near the PS2
port on the motherboard (on a different system). But I think they said that
usually affects BOTH PS2 ports, and I've had no troubles with my keyboard.
I have enough electronics knowledge to be able to replace something, but I
know how fiddly SMD's are.... <shudder>... I don't like them.

Does anyone have any knowledge what could be causing this (hardware or
otherwise)? Any suggestions about how to fix it, which cap it is, or how to
test for faults?

Cheers,
Ian

If I can't fix it, I'll just have to buy a USB mouse, but I'd like my PS2
mouse port to work.

 

[Ian]

Thanks for the suggestion, but it didn't help.
Interesting idea though, I would never have thought of it.

 

[Ian]

Well, I got sick of having to use the little trackball HID thingymabob, so I
bought a USB mouse. For the first day, it worked flawlessly. But now...
sometimes the pointer will barely move at all, simply crawling to the left
no matter which direction I move the mouse. Or it will move fine from left
to right, but very jerky motion (if any) up/down.

The problems seem to come and go though. It'll work fine for 5 minutes,
then it won't. Sometimes rapid vertical movement will help it work, but
sometimes the pointer will only move 1 or 2 pixels.

The USB mouse comes up as a USB HID, and uses the same drivers as my
trackball. Yet one works and the other does not. I'm reasonably sure it's
not the hardware as:
1. It's new
2. I haven't been able to replicate the problem on another system
(admittedly Win98 when I'm using WinXP)

WHAT'S GOING ON! Working without a mouse is EXTREMELY difficult.

I've tried virus and malware scans in the past (and I'll try them again now)
but with no results.

Any help at all would be great, I'm pulling my hair out here!

Cheers,
Ian

 

[kony]

Well, I got sick of having to use the little trackball HID thingymabob, so I
bought a USB mouse. For the first day, it worked flawlessly. But now...
sometimes the pointer will barely move at all, simply crawling to the left
no matter which direction I move the mouse. Or it will move fine from left
to right, but very jerky motion (if any) up/down.

The problems seem to come and go though. It'll work fine for 5 minutes,
then it won't. Sometimes rapid vertical movement will help it work, but
sometimes the pointer will only move 1 or 2 pixels.

The USB mouse comes up as a USB HID, and uses the same drivers as my
trackball. Yet one works and the other does not. I'm reasonably sure it's
not the hardware as:
1. It's new
2. I haven't been able to replicate the problem on another system
(admittedly Win98 when I'm using WinXP)

WHAT'S GOING ON! Working without a mouse is EXTREMELY difficult.

I've tried virus and malware scans in the past (and I'll try them again now)
but with no results.

Any help at all would be great, I'm pulling my hair out here!

Cheers,
Ian

With both PS2 and USB mice acting strange, I'd suspect
either the mousing surface, OS installation, video driver or
mouse driver. Is it possible your PS2 and USB ports are
jumpered to use 5VSB power (consult motherboard manual) and
those mice (trackball) that works ok is merely more tolerant
of power problems? If so, changing that jumper should help.

 

[Ian]

BUMP.

Please help, this is giving me the shits! I can't work out why both my PS2
and USB mice would exhibit the same faulty behaviour, yet the USB trackball
doesn't (using the same drivers as the USB mouse).

I'm beginning to think it DOES have something to do with Win-XP.... I'll
try reposting to another newsgroup as well, but don't let that stop you from
helping!

 

[kony]

BUMP.

Please help, this is giving me the shits! I can't work out why both my PS2
and USB mice would exhibit the same faulty behaviour, yet the USB trackball
doesn't (using the same drivers as the USB mouse).

I'm beginning to think it DOES have something to do with Win-XP.... I'll
try reposting to another newsgroup as well, but don't let that stop you from
helping!

So did you try a clean OS install for comparison?
I'm still wondering about the trackball though, perhaps your
drivers are messed up from multiple mousing driver
installations.

 

[Ian]

With both PS2 and USB mice acting strange, I'd suspect
either the mousing surface, OS installation, video driver or
mouse driver. Is it possible your PS2 and USB ports are
jumpered to use 5VSB power (consult motherboard manual) and
those mice (trackball) that works ok is merely more tolerant
of power problems? If so, changing that jumper should help.

Sorry kony, forgot all about these suggestions. I put them in the "check
later" pile....

No, not the mousing surface. I've been using the same mouse pad for a
while. I tried the old one. I've even taken the ball out of the mouse and
jiggled the roller with my finger. No help.

My OS installation hasn't changed recently (that I can think of). Ditto for
video/mouse drivers.

I've just checked my motherboard manual. The closest jumper I can find is
the "USB Device Wake-up" jumper (labelled USBPWR_12). It mentions that it
can be set to +5V or +5VSB. The same for "Keyboard Wake Up" (labelled
KBPWR1). But I can't find one for PS2 Mouse (maybe it uses the KBPWR1
jumper). These are all set in the default position of +5V.

BTW what is the +5VSB. +5 volts system bus? How is it different? The
motherboard manual says that the power supply must be able to supply at
least 2A for this setting. Is that the only difference?

 

[Ian]

So did you try a clean OS install for comparison?
I'm still wondering about the trackball though, perhaps your
drivers are messed up from multiple mousing driver
installations.

Reinstalling the OS is probably the last option. I do have multiple OS's
installed on my system, but I haven't used the others recently. Also, this
problem is only intermittent (the mouse is working fine at the moment), so
it's not a simple test to see if the mouse works under another OS.

But I will give it a go, I've just been lazy. Linux wants to change all my
settings because I went from PS2 to USB, and I'm not a Linux PowerUser
yet... Win98 takes ages to boot up for some reason to do with SATA I think,
so I avoid using it. WinXP is the one I've got running the way I like it.

How would you suggest I fix my drivers. I've tried removing the devices,
I've tried updating the drivers, I've tried removing them from the registry.
At one stage I deleted the files, and replaced them by "expanding" them from
the WinXP CD.

 

[kony]

Sorry kony, forgot all about these suggestions. I put them in the "check
later" pile....

No, not the mousing surface. I've been using the same mouse pad for a
while. I tried the old one. I've even taken the ball out of the mouse and
jiggled the roller with my finger. No help.

My OS installation hasn't changed recently (that I can think of). Ditto for
video/mouse drivers.

OK, but random memory errors while defragging or windows
updating itself or ??? may still foul up an OS that is still
"seemingly" static.

I've just checked my motherboard manual. The closest jumper I can find is
the "USB Device Wake-up" jumper (labelled USBPWR_12). It mentions that it
can be set to +5V or +5VSB. The same for "Keyboard Wake Up" (labelled
KBPWR1). But I can't find one for PS2 Mouse (maybe it uses the KBPWR1
jumper). These are all set in the default position of +5V.

BTW what is the +5VSB. +5 volts system bus? How is it different? The
motherboard manual says that the power supply must be able to supply at
least 2A for this setting. Is that the only difference?

5VSB = 5V Stand By, the power rail from your power supply
which is always on so long as AC is getting to the power
supply. Typically this rail has capacity of 2.5A or less,
sometimes much less, and due to it being on ALL the time
when PSU fan is off, sometimes it's the first portion of a
power supply to degrade and/or fail. Unless you specifcally
need support from PS2 or USB while system is "off", to turn
it on, it is best to leave it jumpered to 5V rather than
5VSB.

Another issue here is that "some" PSU haven't had their 5VSB
rail increase in capacity substantially over the past few
years but with more and more USB devices and numbers of
ports supported by typical motherboards, the average USB
load increases.

However, since the trackball works this would tend to be an
issue only if that trackball was more tolerant of power
fluctuations or used less power... which is possible but I
don't know if it's the situation.

PS2 usually has same power trace running to the pair of
sockets, so a jumper for either PS2 keyboard or mouse, would
be for both.

 

[kony]

Reinstalling the OS is probably the last option. I do have multiple OS's
installed on my system, but I haven't used the others recently. Also, this
problem is only intermittent (the mouse is working fine at the moment), so
it's not a simple test to see if the mouse works under another OS.

I was thinking of a test OS installation for the time being,
just throw an old HDD into the system if you haven't a spare
partition or do whatever, just to see if it makes a
difference while retaining ability to continue using the
current OS installation.

But I will give it a go, I've just been lazy. Linux wants to change all my
settings because I went from PS2 to USB, and I'm not a Linux PowerUser
yet... Win98 takes ages to boot up for some reason to do with SATA I think,
so I avoid using it. WinXP is the one I've got running the way I like it.

How would you suggest I fix my drivers. I've tried removing the devices,
I've tried updating the drivers, I've tried removing them from the registry.
At one stage I deleted the files, and replaced them by "expanding" them from
the WinXP CD.

Seems you've tried the usual things then. I'm out of
ideas... might have more if the system were in front of me
but remote troubleshooting of obscure problems is more
difficult.

Is it possible the motherboard's ports don't fit flush
against the rear I/O shield such that only a few plugs are
narrow enough to fully insert? As for the prior
suggestion about a clean windows installation, you could
instead see if the problem "mice* would work from a dos
bootdisk... some utilites do load a mouse driver for their
GUI, like Partition Magic or some of the HDD manufacturer
utilities. Problem is that this is intermittent, the harder
type of problem to troubleshoot. Along with that, see if
there's any commonality to when problem occurs, like changes
in ambient temp or ???.

 

[Ian]

Seems you've tried the usual things then. I'm out of

ideas... might have more if the system were in front of me
but remote troubleshooting of obscure problems is more
difficult.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Thanks for the ideas though, it's really been a
help.

Along with that, see if
there's any commonality to when problem occurs, like changes
in ambient temp or ???.

Another good idea, I'll be on the lookout for a pattern. You may be right
with the power sensitivity, and when it's hot more power is directed
elsewhere, leaving my mice suffering. Perhaps a new PSU would fix it.
Certainly a better alternative than buy a new motherboard.

 

[kony]

Another good idea, I'll be on the lookout for a pattern. You may be right
with the power sensitivity, and when it's hot more power is directed
elsewhere, leaving my mice suffering. Perhaps a new PSU would fix it.
Certainly a better alternative than buy a new motherboard.

If it is a power (supply capacity) issue, jumpering to 5V
rather than 5VSB should be enough, would fix it.