Windows 7 SOLVED: Problem with mouse

[phantom16]

EDIT: "problem".... what a stupid typo to make.... haha

So i am having a weird issue. I have a laptop, that is otherwise running pretty well. I am usually really good about fixing these sort of problems, but as i have become kind of stumped, i have actually made an account to ask, because i can't quite find the answer anywhere else

I have an acer aspire 5750g-9463.
it has an i7 processor, 4gb ram, nvidia 540m graphics card, and is running windows 7, as up to date that i know of.

My problem is that I plug in my mouse, and it seems to not work. If i turn on my laptop and just use the touch pad, everything is fine. Then i plug in my sidewinder mouse. I have used it in the past, and it has never had any issues either. But for some reason now when i plug it in it seems to not allow me to click anything, with the mouse or the touchpad. I can move around the mouse on both things, but neither will really let me click anything. if i do click anything, it makes the window inactive. I can scroll oddly enough, so when i'm on firefox i have to use keyboard controls. I can also scroll with the mouse, but once i click, it makes the window inactive. then i have to alt+tab back to it, and i can keep using the keyboard/scrolling. This seems to work on any game/program i try, including windows explorer. I can't even click the windows button or anything, all keyboard controls once i plug the mouse in.
Actually, upon multiple restarts and trying to figure out what is up, sometime when i plug in the mouse, the current window that was active will be the only one i can manipulate. So if i had open notepad, i can still click notepad and it will make it active and i can type and such, but nothing else will work. Same with firefox, if it's the program that's up when i plug it in i can still use firefox fine, but every other window becomes deactive if i click on it. If i close the current one window that i active it seems the next window becomes the "active one", and is the only one i can manipulate now. Truly weird...

If i remove the mouse, the problem persists until i restart.

I should also mention that a couple weeks ago i broke my mouse physically, it was in my backpack, and the 2 side buttons broke. I have since used it then with no problems though other than the fact the 2 buttons (which i never used) don't work anymore, so i can't imagine that that would be doing anything now, i'm just not sure though. This problem just started today when i wanted to play a game. I'm wondering if there could be some coding or something it's feeding my computer that is messing it up....

I have also downloaded the most recent synaptic touchpad driver from acer.com, and it still is doing this.

I have also borrowed my friends mouse to even further trouble shoot, and it's not the same mouse, but a wireless bluetooth mouse, and when i plugged it in, it seemed to work fine. no weird deactivating behavior. This seems to point at something my mouse is doing. If i unplug it and then plug in my mouse the problem happens again, and if i unplug it and plug in my friends mouse the problem still persists.

So... any ideas? every sign seems to point to my mouse, and i tried updating the driver via the device manager, but it says it is up to date. It was working fine a couple days ago and i haven't installed anything since then.

 

[Jimbo22]

I think, since you damaged the mouse, that it's the mouse itself causing the issue. I'd replace the mouse.

 

[badrobot]

just to be sure that it really is the mouse acting up like what Bass said above, try using it on another machine and see.

 

[Pauli]

First of all, for future or present use, you should be able to correct or change the topic. Up right on the thread, there's probably a Thread Tools, with the option Edit Title. You should be able to use it, as OP.

About the mouse, I agree with both replies above. You could also try your computer with another basic mouse, one you may have lying around. Special mice also work well with standard Windows drivers, although some functions may not be available.

But mice aren't that expensive, luckily.

 

[Jimbo22]

Hey Pauli, your right, most mice/mouse's.....lol...are really inexpensive these days for the every day user....BUT....for us gamers (like me) out there we have gaming keyboards and mice which can be quite expensive. The bottom line I think is, if you dropped the mouse and it broke or not functioning properly after the drop/fall, replace it.

The OP says he has a MS sidewinder mouse, not sure if a gaming mouse or not but back in the day, those were up there in price. Now they're discontinued by most sellers as MS isn't making them any more. I did find a few on Amazon and Ebay in the $20 to $60 range.

 

[Pauli]

Ah well, bassfisher, you're right. Expensive is a very relative term, I didn't mean to be harsh, I occasionally do act like that, or bluntly, in an inconsiderate way, my apologies.

 

[Jimbo22]

I didn't get that, I was merely stating - if broke replace it .....no need to apologize. As a valued member and contributor to the site, keep on doing what you're doing with the excellent advice you give.

 

[Pauli]

No problem. I'm just a bit sensitive about "pushing" opinions = means not you, but me pushing. I don't want to do that.

 

[Saltgrass]

I would try taking the mouse apart to see if the broken buttons were causing the input to be on all the time. You should be able to remove any part that might be causing a problem.

If there was a mouse control panel, changing what the buttons do might also be effective.

I suppose something more than just the buttons could have been damaged in the accident. A new mouse might be in your future.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Phantom: All replies above are good advice. My son actually has a 4 yr. old version of that sidewinder gaming mouse on his $1,300 Qosmio gaming laptop and he has no problems.

One thing that you can try also that wasn't mentioned, is to get a "Vanilla" corded Microsoft Mouse from a friend or you can still buy them for $10 or so on eBay or Amazon and plug that into your Acer laptop. All versions of windows are hardcoded in the kernel to use built-in Windows drivers by Microsoft! Therefore, when you have a problem with a internal Mouse or trackpad device or a Mouse/External Mouse combination (either external PS/2 or USB); I found out years ago that when you hook up a Standard $10 wired Microsoft Mouse (and I don't mean a knockoff here, it has to say MICROSOFT somewhere on the top or the bottom label) to a computer having device driver problems on the mouse, internal or external, the best way to troubleshoot this is to disable any/all internal TrackPads, pointing-stick devices (usually only on ThinkPads and Lenovos), and plug in your $10 Real-Deal Microsoft mouse. It shoud work, as their is no external driver to load; the MS Mouse either works or it doesn't. If it works, then you know that the USB or PS/2 port on your laptop is good, and your Mouse (sidewinder in this case) crapped out!

Not to surprising since you say you dropped it and heard it crack?

Further troubleshooting advice: When your wireless external mouse fails, plug in your $10 Real-Deal MS Mouse. If that works, your USB or PS/2 port is good. If the $10 Real-Deal MS Mouse works, chances are your wireless external mouse is gone or the batteries need to be changed. If you have an external Mouse (USB or PS/2) that uses a 3rd party driver such as Logitech or Kensington and that will not work, and neither will your $10 MS Mouse, it usually indicates you have a bad port on your laptop Motherboard. Remember, while testing external Mice, you must disable any and all embedded mouse or trackpad devices in your laptop BIOS.

Occasionally, when troubleshooting this type of problem, a Windows reinstall will resolve this problem. That is if the problem mimics a faulty USB or PS/2 port on the Motherboard. Running full hardware diagnotics on your Motherboard, RAM memroy, and Hard Drive will help you narrow this problem down. If all your hardware diagnostics pass, it's most likely a corrupted Windows install, and that has to be repaired. This problem occurs maybe only 30% of the time. Usually when I use the $10 MS Mouse method, it points to a defective external Mouse that has broken, and driver replacement update cannot fix broken hardware! And I always keep a few of those $10 MS Mice on hand--in fact I collect them just for this sort of thing.

Methodology here then is to disable internal TouchPad device-->Plug in $10 MS Mouse to Test. If $10 MS Mouse works, port you are testing on laptop is Good-->Replace faulty external Mouse. Pretty Simple!

If $10 MS Mouse fails in above test, port is bad. If it's a PS/2 mouse port, you're Motherboard is done, and it cannot take another cause most modern laptops only have 1 PS/2 mouse port if they have one at all. If it's a USB port you probably have 1-3 more you can repeat this same test on. Sometimes, only 1 or 2 USB ports will fail on the Motherboard not all at once, and you may just have to switch your sidewinder mouse to a different USB port. Of course if the $10 MS Mouse test fails on ALL of your USB ports, then the USB controller chip on your laptop Motherboard is toast. At that point, you either suffer along with re-enabling your TouchPad device, but I suspect you can't really use that on your Gaming. You either replace the laptop Motherboard $85-$175 plus labor unless you do yourself; or replace the laptop!

Good luck!

BIGBEARJEDI

 

[phantom16]

Ok, so after having read your guys suggestions i have managed to fix it. It seems that yes it was in fact my mouse, which i was afraid of. It seems that the 2 side buttons were in fact the root of the problem. I was actually able to download the specific software for my mouse, which allows you to program what every single button does. I just completely deactivated the 2 side buttons, and now it works just as it should (except the 2 side buttons obviously )

Thanks for all your help guys

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Sure thing, phantom! Always glad to help. That's what we're here for.

Enjoy,
BBJ

 

[Pauli]

Amen to that.