I’m confused.
by Mez on Apr.30, 2008, under Personal
Could someone please tell me why, around 5pm every day for the last couple of weeks, my wireless laser mouse stops working when it’s on the mousemat, but if I take the mousemat away, and use the mouse directly on the desk, it works fine…
I could understand if it just decided it didn’t want to work on the mousemat, or didn’t want to work at certain times, but specifically at a time, and specificaly on the mousemat. It’s confusing, and REALLY annoying.
April 30th, 2008 on 4:38 pm
Maybe some sort of mild wireless interference occurs at 5pm every day, like central heating turning on, or someone parking their car nearby as they return from work. The tracking on your desk might be easier for it to work out than that of the mousemat.
April 30th, 2008 on 4:48 pm
Well, it’s a wireless mouse, so I guess the low battery level after working a couple of hours is the reason.
April 30th, 2008 on 5:02 pm
Here’s another possibility; If the mousemat is mildly shiny, and there’s sun shining on it at that time of day, it COULD be reflecting back up into the mouse brightly enough to overwhelm the reflected laser light. The desk, being a different surface, might not reflect the same way.
April 30th, 2008 on 5:03 pm
Except that after about 10 mins of it not working on the mouse mat, it works fine for another 24 hours…
April 30th, 2008 on 5:03 pm
do you have a really shiny mousemat?
Lazer + Summer + 5PM could mean there’s to much reflection.
April 30th, 2008 on 5:04 pm
The mousemat is matte black. http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/19509.jpg
April 30th, 2008 on 5:27 pm
I run a batch job daily on your PC to recompile all your drivers. You know, the keep them current. You can thank me later.
April 30th, 2008 on 5:48 pm
Maybe it’s hungry? Try giving it a big lump of cheddar at 4pm and see if that carries it through
April 30th, 2008 on 6:05 pm
perhaps it’s a microwave
April 30th, 2008 on 6:29 pm
It’s earth radiation. Seriously. Wireless mouses (mice are little rodents) are very sensitive to it. Usually, earth radiation is generated by crossing underground streams but I think it could be man-made in this particular case. 5pm means lots of people come home. First thing they do is have a good piss and flush their toilets. If there are crossing sewage pipes under your place, you get beams of earth radiation that will cease after a short while.
What about the mousepad? Well, depends what it is made of. It probably acts like a lens concentrating the radiation on your mouse.
Uwe
(staring blankly into infinity)
April 30th, 2008 on 6:54 pm
I had a very similar problem and turned out to be wireless interference from next door.
May 1st, 2008 on 12:07 am
The mouse mat is where the mouse goes to work, and 5PM is quitting time.
May 1st, 2008 on 10:55 am
If you have roughly regular life, maybe it’s not about 5pm, maybe it’s about how long you have been using it? Mousemat might make it heat more than your desk.
August 22nd, 2008 on 11:44 pm
More interesting than looking for car insurance