Wireless Mouse Problems

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I am helping a friend set up a new laptop. She wanted to use her Logitech MX1000 mouse. The Device Manager sees the mouse and I can hear XP SP2 O/S recognize when the cradle is plugged in but still the mouse doesn’t work. The red light does not come on. It is fully charged. So my questions – is there a BIOS setting that needs to be made? I didn’t think so since the device is enabled in Device Manager but now I don’t know….. Any ideas why the red light does not activate?

This is a Dell laptop – Vostro 1700. Would the fact that it has a touch pad make a difference? Is there a setting someplace that would need adjusting to accommodate a wireless mouse?

I was toying with the idea of bringing an identical mouse and cradle and trying it but I don’t want to mess up the other person’s mouse by experimenting. What is anyone’s opinion or are there any suggestions how to correct this problem?

Thanks!

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There is no BIOS setting required. Make sure that your friend has the latest version of the Logitech SetPoint software installed. The software has an option to disable the touchpad if a mouse is connected. Try switching USB ports for the receiver. Are the receiver and the mouse both switched on? There may be a button on the bottom of the receiver or the mouse labelled “Connect” or “Reset”.

Edited to add: a pdf user manual is available here .

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I guess I have to put this project on “hold” and not know what the outcome will be. I just spoke with my older friend. She decided she would rather use her wired mouse and doesn’t want “to fiddle” with the wireless one anymore. If she changes her mind, she’ll let me know. She also is going to use her new setup a bit and gather lots of questions and will call when she has them compiled. Hummmm – this will be a challenge for my brain!

I had another thought about the mouse problem that I really wanted to try. What about making this my first step in troubleshooting since the other person who has this same set up lives close by. I thought rather than bring the other person’s mouse to my client’s home, how about I take the client’s mouse and cradle to the known working situation. Then I’d know if the mouse worked or not. There would also be the opportunity to see how the software side of things was set up as well. Good plan? Good place to begin? Gee, I hope I do get to troubleshoot it. Thanks for “listening” – and thoughts are always appreciated!

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how about I take the client’s mouse and cradle to the known working situation

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[/indent]Excellent idea, and the very first step. Whenever possible, working with a known quantity is extremely beneficial. If you suspect the mouse is faulty, putting it on a good system is the place to start. Could save a lot of extra time spent troubleshooting that wasn’t necessary. By way of example, I had a client PC that was running exceptionally slow, so I got permission to take it offsite to my bench. There, I could plug the hard drive into a known working PC and eliminate the possibility that the drive was failing (it wasn’t). That simple step saved me a lot of energy, because it turned out to be the controller on the mainboard that was bad. If I had blamed Windows and kept looking for software solutions, I would probably still be looking!

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Thanks Mark and I agree, sometimes I have searched through the software side for errors before thinking “duh” it might be hardware related. I am fortunate to have a set up so close by that I can try the mouse on. Now to talk the client into letting me see if I can resolve the problem for her !

And Ed, I appreciate your follow up post. I can’t remember there being a connection button on the mouse, only an on/off switch! I’ll check that notion as well when/if I get to resume my quest for determining what’s going on with this critter!

Thanks for the help!

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I think that is a reasonable thing to try.

Sounds like you’ve done some of these things already, but just in case: you might make sure you have the most recent Setpoint software, unistall the existing mouse software and shut down. Turn on the machine and shut off any anti virus software, install the hardware/software according to the instructions after making sure the mouse battery indicator light shows a full charge and make sure you hold the connect button (on the bottom of the mouse) down long enough.

This may well be a hardware problem. One thing you could try is to hook the mouse up to the PS/2 port (if the machine has one) using the adapter that comes with the MX1000.

Good luck,

Paul

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I’d try the other rodent just to eliminate the possibility that you have a bad mouse on your hands. It’s highly doubtful that plugging it into the system will damage the mouse. What you might find is that the port you’re connecting it to is bad, or that there is a problem somewhere within Windows.

This, of course, might also be resolved by following John’s advice. Drivers first, then try the other mouse.

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Hi John:

#1- BIOS – I’m glad to hear that I don’t have to try and find an obscure setting!

#2 – I did download the latest Logitech software but it didn’t seem to make a difference. I didn’t think to check it for settings however because it didn’t open up the way I thought it should – for doing the SetPoint for the mouse, etc. So I’ll give it a good going over when I return to her home.

#3 – There wasn’t any on/off button for the cradle, only a reset button, that I did try. There was a mouse on/off but no reset button for the mouse. I hooked it up in the sequence the instructions had listed – a couple of times……..

#4 – The USB ports seem to be functioning just fine. The USB items were working okay. I checked the Device Manager for any problems with ports and there didn’t seem to be any conflicts.

#5 – Thanks for the pointer to the manual! I do end up reading the thing when all else fails!

Thanks for your observations! I hope to return to finish up this project soon and I’ll remember to post my results – hopefully good ones! – when I complete the assignment!

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Hi Mark: I checked with the person with the identical mouse setup and she said it was okay to use it. So I’ll give it a go if I can’t get the mouse going from John’s suggestions! It does puzzle me that the red light doesn’t activate at all. I’ll see how this all goes when I return to my project!

Thanks for the support!

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Hi,
I know I’m now promoting my old post, but just as a reminder (don’t know how it’s progressing over there), if you would like to check and see what the PC “knows” but not is showing. That is, sometimes an initial attempt to install and connect something can go wrong, and it can be a good thing to remove the device from the device manager and start over.

Troubleshooting controllers and devices

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Thanks Argus! I’ll check out your suggestions! Trying to solve problems that are contrary can be a pain! I appreciate any help I can get!

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I wanted to wrap up this problem. I brought the misbehaving mouse and its cradle home to try on my Very Dependable XP SP2 computer. It did not want to work – at first – but finally after fiddling with the on/off switch, plug/unplug/plug, newest software, etc. I did get it to work. And then wouldn’t you know – a blue screen complete with message that recent software or hardware might be the cause…… So I rebooted and decided to let it run for awhile anyway. Nope – the blue screen happened again. So I uninstalled the mouse software, deleted the hardware from device manager, shut down the system and rebooted. I haven’t had a blue screen happen since. So the conclusion I’ve come to – something is very wrong with this wireless mouse and it is finding a new home called File 13!

Thanks for all the thoughts that were offered. I appreciated the support!

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Yes, once it is clear the some particular hardware has a problem the best approach is to get it out of your computer, get it out of your head and get it out of your house. Otherwise, at some point you are going to waste some more precious moments dealing with it.

Paul

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