Why does the mouse pointer jump around the screen?

Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed for comments on this article.

One other possible cause of mouse bouncing:

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/09/17/230839.aspx

I'm using a e-machine with Windows XP and using a Logitech V-200 cordless opticalmouse. I like to play a lot of games and do jigsaw puzzles, when I click on a puzzle piece to drag it in to place it will take off and dance all over the screen, sometimes after I am no longer touching the mouse. I have replaced the mouse and changed mouse setting to no avail, drives me crazy when I'm working a puzzle or game. Fastgeorge!!!!!!!!!

There's a problem with the Microsoft Intellimouse (the cheap one you can find for around $10). I have one that does the same thing and it has nothing to do with the mousepad. The mouse is just a piece of junk.

I have just discovered that my optical mouse which was jumping all over the screen and sometimes off the edge started working ok, (knock on wood) when I purchaed a new solid black mouse pad. It failed when I used just the grainy surface of my desk or a mouse pad with graphics on it. I suppose it isn't necessarily true any more that optical mice will work on most any surface as seemed to be the stated case when they were first introduced. Thanks Leo for the tip.

I had a similar problem with the pointer jumping around the screen without me touching the mouse.
If you use a cheap wireless mouse/keyboard then watch the positioning of you mouse, keyboard and transiver as they may be open to interferance. I had interferance from an external usb hard drive. Watch mobile phones, monitors and power cables.
All these should not cause a problem if they are in good working order and good quality
hope this helps
Stephen

I was having an interesting time. I'm on a laptop at college, so I had the opportunity to borrow many different known good mice from other people, and even just use the touch pad, and still the mouse would jump around randomly, click at random, or just stop clicking for minutes at a time. Finally went into the device manager and deleted all of the mice drivers (there appeared to be an unexplainable, extra one present), then plugged in my mouse again and it works fine now. So for anyone who KNOWS it isn't just the mousing surface or low batteries, I would endorse this course of action to rid you of your demonic possesion.

well.. I found that if you spread some.. (don't know how you call it.. some kind of medicinal white pouder used for wounds.. found it in the house.. ) on the mouse pad.. and then dust off the exess away.. the mouse starts to behave :) well the mousepad isn't that shiny now.. so it doesn't reflect the laser in all the directions..

i have a laptop and my mouse seems to have a spring back on it, ie if i got down and let my finger off the pad it will spring back up to the top. The only thing i can think of is the heat from the hard drive which is just underneath it. Is this so??? Please any1 with knowledge of this problem email me

Discovered your site while googling for 'erratic mice' because I've just has the worst case of such I've ever seen. It seems to be caused by mousing over the high d.p.i. half-tone screen of a financial propectus I was using as a mouse-mat. Ripping the cover off and mousing on the text cured the problem. Don't do this with just any old printed matter: only classy stuff doesn't leave your mouse hand filty!

There is a problem with the OEM Microsoft Mouse (the cheap black one). They all jump around ocfcasionally regardless of the surface they are on. I just had to replace all ours in the office. If you have this problem with this mouse try a different mouse and it may well solve the problem.

To post a comment on "Why does the mouse pointer jump around the screen?", please return to that article's main page.