Erractic mouse behaviour driving me nuts!

[rexone]

Okay, this is bizarre & annoying... a couple of days ago (can't connect it with anything I installed or anything like that) my mouse movement went weird.
It jumps, it lags, it won't move then jumps etc etc.
Tried replacing batteries, restarting everything, but still it happens. Annoying thing is it's not constant. Happens for a minute then goes away then back again...
My Mac is 27" Retina running 10.11.6 & the mouse is a Logitech M525
Really, really appreciate any help before I smash my mouse into itsy-bitsy pieces.

 

[AZhappyjack]

I'd try unplugging the transmitter/dongle and plugging it into a different USB port. I'd done that previously with the MS mouse on my wife's iMac and it solved the issue for her.

 

[satcomer]

Okay, this is bizarre & annoying... a couple of days ago (can't connect it with anything I installed or anything like that) my mouse movement went weird.
It jumps, it lags, it won't move then jumps etc etc.
Tried replacing batteries, restarting everything, but still it happens. Annoying thing is it's not constant. Happens for a minute then goes away then back again...
My Mac is 27" Retina running 10.11.6 & the mouse is a Logitech M525
Really, really appreciate any help before I smash my mouse into itsy-bitsy pieces.

Run the free application EtreCheck and run it! Then the app will show you the path to Manually delete old/bad files, then reboot! This will speed up your Mac.

 

[Riku7]

Okay this might sound like a bit of a "have you tried turning it off and on again" kind of response, but because it's not yet been mentioned, I'll just leave the following suggestions here.

If it's not software or the batteries.... There are various reasons why that can happen, but at least in my case it's always been a matter of physics. Take a look at the optical "eye" in the underbelly of the mouse: Excessive dust buildup or especially hairs anywhere near that eye can cause exactly that kind of symptoms. A cotton swab is the cleaning tool to go for and use regularly. That's absolutely the most common reason why my mouse tracking would suddenly behave unreliably. If you're having trouble getting the clicks though, that's either a connectivity problem or a broken clicker button. Are your problems with the tracking only, or do clicks also hang?

Also, make sure that you are using the mouse on the correct type of surface: Optical mice are weird if used on surfaces that are far too reflective and smooth. In my experience, the ideal surface is slightly grainy by texture (fabric or cardboard kind of grainy), preferably not white, and most definitely not translucent or shiny. Forget glass desks, clear plastics, shiny laminated magazine tops et cetera.
I assume that your workstation setup hasn't changed recently, but if it actually has, consider whether the placement of your computer and mouse truly allows the wireless signal to travel at ease so there are no heavy objects blocking it. Bluetooth signal, after all, is a form of light, behaving as such.

 

[HBOC]

mouse pad i bet is the culprit, as mentioned above. as the mouse pad wears down, it become uneven.

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

I agree with Riku7. I get the same symptoms you described when a random dog hair gets in the way of the optical eye. Sometimes the hairs are very difficult to see. I remove the access panel on the bottom & use compressed air to clear out them out. I try to keep my mouse pad as clean as possible, wipe it down every morning, but my dog sheds a lot and the pad has a cloth covering that attracts dog hair like a magnet.

The bit you described about not being able to click the mouse? Also happened to me a couple times. Turned out it was a lint build-up from the mouse pad getting into the tiny crevice that runs around the sides of the mouse. My mouse pad is black, so of course the lint wouldn't be obvious to the eye in that shadowy groove. I use a needle or pin and run it around the groove every time I change the mouse batteries. Amazing how much mouse belly button lint gets in there.

(I've tried other fabric covered mouse pads and they've all done the lint thing. Unfortunately my mouse doesn't track as well on a smoother pad.)

 

[Riku7]

Turned out it was a lint build-up from the mouse pad getting into the tiny crevice that runs around the sides of the mouse. My mouse pad is black, so of course the lint wouldn't be obvious to the eye in that shadowy groove. I use a needle or pin and run it around the groove every time I change the mouse batteries. Amazing how much mouse belly button lint gets in there.

(I've tried other fabric covered mouse pads and they've all done the lint thing. Unfortunately my mouse doesn't track as well on a smoother pad.)

Oh I hate the mouse pad lint too. Those foamy pads that are comfortable and well functioning are unfortunately quite difficult to clean, I don't find water and soap scrub too intuitive but it would probably be the correct thing to do. But then you need to leave the mouse pad to dry. Now, I actually like wood for a mouse surface. It's not as quiet as a fabric lined pad but mouse tracks really well on the natural texture and wood can be cleaned like you would clean any table top: A cloth with some generic cleaning spray. In the absence of a padded mouse mat, a soft support just for the wrist might be in order.

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

Oh I hate the mouse pad lint too. Those foamy pads that are comfortable and well functioning are unfortunately quite difficult to clean, I don't find water and soap scrub too intuitive but it would probably be the correct thing to do. But then you need to leave the mouse pad to dry. Now, I actually like wood for a mouse surface. It's not as quiet as a fabric lined pad but mouse tracks really well on the natural texture and wood can be cleaned like you would clean any table top: A cloth with some generic cleaning spray. In the absence of a padded mouse mat, a soft support just for the wrist might be in order.

I use a vacuum attachment on my mouse pad, that helps, for a while. Thanks for the suggestion for a wood surface. Would something like a bamboo cutting board --which is thinner than a typical wood cutting board work? Bamboo is sort of slick though, but it can be sanded. I do use a gel wrist support already so that's no problem.

 

[Riku7]

I use a vacuum attachment on my mouse pad, that helps, for a while. Thanks for the suggestion for a wood surface. Would something like a bamboo cutting board --which is thinner than a typical wood cutting board work? Bamboo is sort of slick though, but it can be sanded. I do use a gel wrist support already so that's no problem.

What's a vacuum attachment? You mean those nozzle pieces that you attach to a vacuum cleaner?
Yeah sure bamboo, why not. Is the surface just smooth or actually glossy though? Smoothly polished wood that has a surface treatment that doesn't make it look glossy and glinting per se, should be fine. Bold varnish, potentially bad. I use the mouse on wooden desks, sometimes a wooden shelf that was an excess from a CD storage system. I think the problem with the glossy varnishes is that because it's a transparent layer of stuff that allows you to see all the way through to the actual surface of the opaque object, it means that some of the light bounces off from the varnish surface producing a shiny glint, while the rest of the light penetrates the translucent surface and bounces back off of the actual opaque object's surface so you can see its color and so on. When you have multiple coinciding light rays in the same place like that, for a mouse that uses a beam of light to "echolocate" its position, it's the contradicting light reflections from a layered surface that will confuse the device and make tracking behavior so erratic. Most mice also use red LEDs in the bottom instead of blue, so as a longer wavelength light, red light would be more likely to penetrate through a somewhat translucent surface layer than blue light would.

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

What's a vacuum attachment? You mean those nozzle pieces that you attach to a vacuum cleaner?

Yes.

 

[AZhappyjack]

I have an Apple Magic Mouse 2 that is connected to my iMac, though I don't use it often - I much prefer the Magic Trackpad... but the parts of my MM that got "icky" were black "runners" on the underside of the mouse - they would get a buildup of cruft that needed to be cleaned regularly - simple scraping with a fingernail... and the mouse pad that I love and use it the WOW!Pad that i got at Amazon - large (11.5 x 12.5), thin and slightly rough texture.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F3IS8I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Riku7]

Oh I see... Well I have a foamy type of mouse pad, the lint sort of gets absorbed into the surface so that's why the idea of a vacuum cleaner sounded so weird to me, it wouldn't work with this.

 

[rexone]

Hi everyone, thanks for your input. All awesome advice.
It wasn't an issue with dirt or anything as the mouse was quite new & the mouse-pad is in pretty good condition.
The weird part was that the problem was intermittent. Could go days without it happening then it would start & drive me nuts.
Sounds weirder still but I ***think*** it was somehow being caused by Firefox.
I'll often leave a heap of windows open but minimised & I noticed it seemed to happen most when I had windows kept that way for an extended period of time.
Seems to have gone away lately (and there was also a FF update...)
So again... thanks all