BS: Tech: Jumping cursor

Subject: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 11:17 AM

Over the past couple of weeks the cursor on my laptop has suddenly started to jump all over the screen (with the mouse stationary). I've replaced the batteries in the mouse, but no difference.

Anyone know what causes this?

Pete

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 02:04 PM

An invisible cat writing on the mouse stationary.

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 02:08 PM

Fleas making it twitch?

If you've got a battery in the mouse, I'd suspect an IR connection to the computer. That eliminates bad cables. The receiver that plugs into the computer, and/or the driver for the mouse would be the likely suspects. Check for dirty contacts. If there's reason to suspect the driver, the usual first approach is to use Device Manager (Start|Settings|Control Panel|Systems, on the Hardware tab click Device Manager). Delete the mouse, and then reboot and let Plug-N-Play reinstall it.

Another device that shares the Serial Port (and/or USB = Universal Serial Bus) with the mouse can also sometimes cause interference, so dirty keys or bad cable/connectors on you keyboard can (rarely) make the mouse twitch.

The most common cause is a low battery in the mouse, and just because you just took a battery out of the wrapper doesn't necessarily mean that it's "like new," even for a one-shot battery. If you're perhaps using rechargeable batteries new means "just came out of the charger" since most of them self-discharge about as fast when they're not plugged into something as when they are.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: GUEST,:::
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 04:42 PM

Run AdAware or SpyCop...the behavior you describe is similar to that of when Komet or CometCurser or its variations are on your machine.

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: Bee
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 06:08 PM

Try all of the above. I had a problem mouse a while back which caused numerous things to happen which didn't seem mouse related, but were, including constant freezing and crashing. My very clever BIL told me what to do, which was most of the above. What worked was downloading new drivers for the mouse. (I cannot understand this as the computer is old, the mouse is old, there's no new software, I reloaded the original drivers, and still it needed new ones.)

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 06:41 PM

Bee

techies call it 'bit-decay' - the sw just seems to 'break' - loading a 'new' copy of the same file just fixes it!

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: Bernard
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 06:58 PM

'Bit decay' or 'bit rot' is what happens when a file has occupied the same part of a hard drive for a very long time, and the magnetism 'sags' a little. One reason why regular defragging is recommended - though there's no guarantee every file will be moved!

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 09:45 PM

Back in the old days, before most of the current puppies were around, we used to have SpinRite to reform the tracks on the drive without removing the data. It picked up each cluster, re-wrote the format markers and centered the track on the heads, and then put the bits back down.

It was considered magic, even by knowledgeable people who had some notion of how it worked (or at least thought we had a notion).

The author is still around, but these days he appears to spend most of his time fighting the hackers and spammers and other criminals.

Defrag will help some, but if you watch the monitor you'll eventually notice that some of the most critical files¹ are tagged as "unmovable," and a defrag can't do anything to "refresh" them.

¹ No one seems to want to explain what makes a file "unmovable," and they may just be the files that have to be open for defrag to run(?). They do seem to be the same ones every time you run a defrag.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 05:31 AM

Norton seemed to be able to move most stuff, including directories, and the MS-SWAP-File.

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 07:51 AM

for bit decay read soft errors on the HDD

loading the same driver may not move the file, but loading updated ones changes the locations of the code and probably the file.

I had reports of HDD about to go AWOL and struggled-on for maybe a year - the trouble was when it finally failed the back-up drive (a copy) does just about everything except dial-up properly. And it asks for a DLL that when given promptly looses it again. The registry was probably corrupt at the time of the last copy.

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: Bee
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 08:49 AM

Thanks for the explanations, guys. It was a mystery to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Jumping cursor
From: mack/misophist
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 09:04 AM

It seems that SpinRite is still being maintained. grc.com advertises it on the opening page. It now works with ntfs and linux.