Mouse "jumping" issue

MOH

I've a bog standard Dell USB optical mouse (wired), about 4 years old.

I've got a recurring problem where the pointer keeps "jumping" - on the desktop it seems to jump to the top left (and I think occasioonally bottom left) of the screen, which is mildly irritating, but if I'm playing an FPS it means my view suddenly switches to straight up or straight down and starts spinning, which is really annoying.

After it jumps it works fine.

Just wondering if anyone's any suggestion for what might be causing it.
It's as though the PC is losing the connection to the mouse for a fraction of a second and resetting it to the top left.

Tried updating the mouse driver, but didn't find anything better than the generic mouse driver that's installed.

I wonder if it's either a damaged cable (unlikely, since it only happens occasionally), a glitch in the USB port, dirt or something on the mouse, or just a kaput mouse.

I'll happily replace the mouse, but don't want to if it could be something else.

dulpit

Sounds like dirty/uneven surface that you're using the mouse on... In my college we had an awful lot of mice that would be useless without some sort of mouse mat (of which there were none, cheap ass CIT) so we just used an a4 pad or something...

Cuddlesworth

Replace the mouse. Its a common problem with all first gen optical mice, or the really cheap ones. I have never seen it on a decent optical or laser mouse.

PogMoThoin

Are you using it on a shiny surface? I replaced a mouse before, thinking it was broke, only to find out that optical mice jump on shiny surfaces. Laser mice dont have this problem. Try it on a newspaper or A4 pad for a day or 2 to see how it goes.

Zorba

That used to happen with my mouse if i was running a lot of applications at the same time. So i tried updating my graphics drivers and it fixed the problem. Might be worth a go.

Overheal

its true that its a common optical problem. its more noticeable the older you get but even my year old optical will rarely suffer from it.

MOH

Thanks folks. It's on a mat, but I'll try a flat A4 surface, and if it's still acting up I'll feed it to the cat and get a new one.

thatoneitguy

There is no problem with the mouse, I can almost promise you that. Get you a standard piece of paper and use it as a mouse pad for a while, if it doesn't do it get another mouse pad or something. As stated previously, optical mice are sensitive to the surface they are used on. Shiny surfaces reflect back too much light preventing the sensors from working correctly.