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From: time@tbomb.ice.com (Tim Endres)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: jumpy mouse pointer
Message-ID: <1CE00001.s7wwnx@tbomb.ice.com>
Date: 2 Jan 91 02:08:18 GMT
Reply-To: time@tbomb.ice.com
Organization: ICE Engineering, Inc.
Lines: 35
X-Mailer: uAccess - Mac Release: 1.0.3


In article <14264@june.cs.washington.edu>, tmccabe@cs.washington.edu (Tom McCabe) writes:
> My mouse pointer recently started making small, unexpected jumps
> horizontally when I move it.  I've cleaned the rollers inside, changed
> the mouse pad I use, checked for viruses, and can't think of any
> changes to the inits I use.  Anybody seen anything like this that can
> explain it to me?  Any ideas about what else to look at?
> 
> More details:  When I move the mouse around at moderate or high speeds,
> everything works fine.  But when I slow down the pointer will
> occasioanlly jump anywhere from 1/8th to 1/4th of an inch as I move
> left and right.  The pointer never jumps vertically.  The problem is
> most noticable when I try to make fine motions such as selecting a
> single letter in a word processor, trying to click on the close, zoom,
> or resize boxes of a window, or in drawing programs.  It seems like
> sometimes the jump occurs when the mouse is not even moving, but just
> after I've move it a very small amount horizontally at slow speeds.

I am having exactly the same type of problem.
It is only happening on my new mouse which came with a IIfx.
It has the little flip open hole instead of the old twist type.
It also has the long thin rollers inside along the ball.
I think something is wrong with the way the ball is seating on these
rollers (the long ones) but I can not figure it out. It seems that
cleaning the rollers helps, but the problem returns almost immediately
(within minutes)!

I suspect that there is something inherently wrong with the design
of the new mouse but I have absolutely no evidence other than the
fact that my older mice (3) have not shown this problem. I should
also note that my environment is not sterile, so the rollers do get
dirty on a regular basis.

tim.