Fly away mouse pointer with new very fast computer

[DonLandis]

I bought a new Sony Vaio RA834G. It is a 3.6Ghz, 2 G ram and a Video card : Gforce 6600 256 Mb Ram. The speed is phenomenal with video rendering times that are faster than real time. eg. render a chroma key 6 minute clip in 3.5 minutes!

But, here's the problem:
I have the computer installed at my work station with 3 other computers on a CRT/mouse/keyboard Masterview switch box. All computers are on and ready to be accessed. The new Sony RA834G is switched on the mouse is present on the screen but as soon as I go to move it, the pointer flys away and very quickly start task bar and other applications begin to open windows very fast. For awhile, AOL installed application would launch and attempt to sign me up but I uninstalled that and several others like it. Now only my own applications try to open when switching to this box.

The dealer tech support suggested it was the mouse that was set to "snap to" but that wasn't it because it doesn't have the snap to box checked in the mouse setups in control panel. BUT, one thing I did notice was the mouse driver was "logitech MS compatible" driver installed but the only mouse I have ever used on this box was a Microsoft PS2 wheel mouse that is connected to my Masterview switchbox and connected to the PS2 connections.

I'm wondering if and how I should try to change the mouse driver and why did logitech get installed when this box has never seen a logitech mouse. Is this a Sony thing?

The only time this happens is right after I switch the keyboard/mouse and CRT to this box. After it settles down and stops launching applications on it's own, the computer acts normally, I can exit out of the aps and go to work.

Any suggestions other than try to do a new driver for the mouse?

[Cholly]

Don:sounds to me like you have a ton of apps that want to run on starup. I'd suggest you get Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel (free!) and install it on the Sony. You can use it to disable all those extra applications. Don't know whether that would clean things up, but it's worth a try.

[DonLandis]

No, I only said it would start with those and then attempt to open anything in it's path, including all the icons on the desktop. FYI- I only have 13 applications installed on this computer which includes things like IE6, and Office, WM10. It's not the apps I have installed but rather something that is triggering the mouse to behave wildly on its own.

[SimpleSimon]

Sounds to me like there's a difference in the expected resolution vs. the actual mouse DPI.

Definitely kill the Logitech driver and go with the basic MS Wheel mouse one.

[Cholly]

The reason I suggested Startup Control Panel is that it recognizes all applications AND processes running in your system at startup, and gives you the opportunity to prevent individual processes from running. Although you have only about 10 apps that you're aware of, there are many that are preinstalled on the system, such as the AOL nag screen and other startups that you say you disabled.
In rereading your initial post and Simon's post, I am inclined to wonder about the effect of your KVM switch on the Sony. This may sound stupid, but I'd certainly want to make sure that your keyboard and mouse drivers on the Sony are the same as on your other systems. The video driver obviously has to match the video card in the Sony. Also -- are your applications set up to start when the system is powered up? If so, they may be looking for keyboard or mouse input and thrash when you switch to the Sony. You didn't mention whether the Sony was selected when you start the systems. I'd certainly want to try having the switch set to the Sony when powering it up. As a matter of fact, I'd want to routinely start each system seperately, and allow it to stabilize before switching to the next system. As a final thought, have you tried leaving the KVM switch out of the loop, and connecting mouse, keyboard and monitor directly to the Sony? The key point I'm trying to make is to methodically try to isolate and identify the source of the problem.

Charlie

[DonLandis]

Update- I have not yet reloaded a new mouse driver but have discovered that if I just wait 5 seconds after switching to the new computer before attempting to move the mouse, it works fine from then on.

The switch is not a KVM. I have one of those, a 2x1 in my other edit suite but this one is a Master View CS-104. Same idea but by a different company.

The self launching apps are a sign of the problem but not the problem itself.

From experience, I do not recall having to add a different mouse driver before. As soon as I complete this video I'm working on I plan to try to reload a new Microsoft Mouse driver. These computers come preloaded and the mouse supplied is a wireless logitech so I'm hoping this will resolve the only problem I'm having with this new machine. But what an amazing speed machine it is.
I'm running a race now and a rendering to wm9 is taking 2 hr and 33 minutes on my old Sony RX670, a 1.8 Ghz with 1 G ram, This one finished the same project in 19 minutes!

[digital223]

are you using a wireless usb mouse?
I had a similar problem with a wireless usb mouse with windows xp pro.
My son has the same mouse using windows 98se and no problems!

after finally getting it to respond properly* and only using it for a few weeks I tossed it. because the batteries only lasted a week at most !

*fyi: windows xp without service pack 1 and 2 does not include usb 2.0....which most
usb wireless mice reqiure.

[kwajr]

are you using a wireless usb mouse?
I had a similar problem with a wireless usb mouse with windows xp pro.
My son has the same mouse using windows 98se and no problems!

after finally getting it to respond properly* and only using it for a few weeks I tossed it. because the batteries only lasted a week at most !

*fyi: windows xp without service pack 1 and 2 does not include usb 2.0....which most
usb wireless mice reqiure.
cheap batt mine last for 2 months i had to get energizers that were fresh every other batts lasted from 2 days to a week

[DonLandis]

OT- wireless mice work in different ways. If you remember to shut some off manually the batteries can last and last. Others, will go to sleep mode and have very low battery drain. I have both and my oldest one is the battery consumer as it fails to sleep. The newer ones (2) both have sleep mode. With Sleep mode be sure the mouse is resting on a good non-light porous surface to make it work. Storing it away in a bag does not work, you must shut it off! Of course, I think the best is the docking recharge station. My next one will be one of those!

Now back to the topic, I only use these wireless mice on my laptops, not at the workstations. The topic workstation uses a PS2 wired mouse. I already said this but guess you didn't see it in the opening post.

[DonLandis]

Simple Simon wins!

Killed the Microsoft compatible mouse driver by Logitec and replaced with the Microsoft PS2 wheel mouse driver. Fly away is gone!

Case closed.

Thanks everyone.

[MrC]

Glad you solved the problem. Just for the record:

The switch is not a KVM. I have one of those, a 2x1 in my other edit suite but this one is a Master View CS-104. Same idea but by a different company.

The MasterView CS-104 is a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) controller.

[Cholly]

Don -- glad you got the problem solved. Come to think of it, I had a few problems with the mouse on my homebrew mediacenter PC when I first installed it (Logitech wireless desktop SE -- wireless keyboard and mouse) until I downloaded the latest Mouseware driver. I don't recall exactly what the problem was, however.

[DonLandis]

Glad you solved the problem. Just for the record:



The MasterView CS-104 is a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) controller.


Well, OK. I have one made by a company called KVM Switch Co. :)

[SimpleSimon]

:)

That's what happens when you do it for a living. ;)