modern led mouse freezes iMac G3

[redFrik]

hi Forum,
just to share a little discovery i made while restoring an old iMac Blueberry...
it'd freeze at random times running 10.4 tiger (patched). i though it was something serious like the ssd-ide adapter or the power supply (motherboard i already recapped), but it turned out it was the usb mouse! by coincidence i noticed it'd take longer until it froze if i was only typing in the terminal. replacing the moden mouse (led optical type - manufactured by sempre - model MOU-1T) with the original puck mouse made the system run flawless.
so maybe this mouse generate current spikes, or there's something else happening when the mouse has been sleeping and wakes up (turns the red led for tracking back on).
anyways, i'm happy i found the problem and would like to share the little story/warning.

 

[eyoungren]

hi Forum,
just to share a little discovery i made while restoring an old iMac Blueberry...
it'd freeze at random times running 10.4 tiger (patched). i though it was something serious like the ssd-ide adapter or the power supply (motherboard i already recapped), but it turned out it was the usb mouse! by coincidence i noticed it'd take longer until it froze if i was only typing in the terminal. replacing the moden mouse (led optical type - manufactured by sempre - model MOU-1T) with the original puck mouse made the system run flawless.
so maybe this mouse generate current spikes, or there's something else happening when the mouse has been sleeping and wakes up (turns the red led for tracking back on).
anyways, i'm happy i found the problem and would like to share the little story/warning.

My guess would be that the LED mouse you were using is asking for too much USB power. If you try any of the Apple optical mice of that period (Apple Pro Mouse, Mighty Mouse) you'd be fine.