optical mouse problems

Hey guys, i have a optical IBM mouse and often when I am moving the mouse on the screen, the cursor becomes jumpy and unstable.
How do I fix this problem. It's extremely problematic for me as I'm a graphic design - 3d designer and I need precise movement.

Try changing your mouse pad to another design. Be warned red is bad.

Would the surface really make the difference there? I can run off my multi-colored mousepad, or off the solid hard surface of my desk without any problems.

Try changing your mouse hardware acceleration (pointer precision) in mouse properties, or in display properties, advanced, troubleshoot, turn down your hardware acceleration a notch and check the results.

if you need that kind of precision then ditch the optical and get a good ball mouse or a dual laser optical.

also, check in the mouse property's i nthe control panal and make sure the refreash rate is set right. my brother was messing with the before (because of the slap the monkey thing) and really messed up my mouse control.

I had the same problem (i think) and found out it was the mouse pad.It was some kind of nylon fabric on a gel kinda thing that says "Built for optical mice". When i switch it for my 10 years old pad , eveything was fine again.

yep, one word 4 optic mouse: pad!
u must use optic mouse on a clean rough-free surface!

the_poche said:

I had the same problem (i think) and found out it was the mouse pad.It was some kind of nylon fabric on a gel kinda thing that says "Built for optical mice". When i switch it for my 10 years old pad , eveything was fine again.

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I bought one of those.

Horrible.

ya know as much as i love optical mouses they have given me nothing but headaches.....ok i bought a logitech optical ..worked fine for about 4months...then it crapped out on me, it would start blinking, and not responding (really BAD for quake3!!!) so i figured ok maybe its the PS2 port, plugged it into USB, worked for like 2 min then it started giving me the same problems...so i threw it on my spare server and it wasnt working right either so i knew it wasnt my computer. Fine i cough it up to bad luck. I get an intellimouse 3.0.....about 4 mo later...SAME THING!! ...so i had to buy another intellimouse (didnt have recipt to return it) but this time i got the 3 year service plan from best buy so if this damm thing happends again i'll get a new one no questions asked...i dunno what it is about my computer that is literally killing my mice...weird...oh well free mouse from best buy from now on if it happends.

the_poche said:

I had the same problem (i think) and found out it was the mouse pad.It was some kind of nylon fabric on a gel kinda thing that says "Built for optical mice". When i switch it for my 10 years old pad , eveything was fine again.

Click to expand...

Yep, my mouse pad did the same thing. If it was turned to a certain angle and you dragged the mouse across it, the pointer would go crazy. Get a plain old mouse pad or use an old one and you'll be fine.