CORDLESS MOUSE

[RICHARD SANDS]

I have a Logitech Cordless optical mouse (M/N M-RM67A) running on XP Home, P4 1.6gig, 512 Ram, 64 meg Video ( Nvidia Geforce2), and occasionally I get a lock up of the cursor where I cant get out of the drawing area to any commands, nor do any keyboard shortcuts work. It only happens in MSCAD(2002 SP3) and I not in any other programmes in which it occurs.
I wondered if any other users have similar problems. I notice on other user groups (Corel Graphics) similar scroll mouse problems occur.
Any feedback appreciated.
I have reverted to my old PS2 mouse to see if that solves it, but its too early to say.
regards
Richard Sands

[rwhatman]

Hm, I have had similar problems. I have found how do it and how to
get out of it.

I don't have your mouse, but mayby the answer is the same.

When you get locked up just minimize the Microsurvey program screen.

When you bring it back the curser will function normally.

What locks it up for me if I pan the screen using the alt key and the left
mouse button, then pick on a line. the second pick it will lock up.

Now it only does it on my mouse at work. I have a optical mouse
at home and it has no problem. The mouse at work is a intelimouse.


Hope this helps you.

[Wes Mossing]

This happens to me periodically as well on XP Pro but with an old style mouse (ball and cord). All I do is move the curser all the way to the bottom left corner. It (the curser) shows up on the start button, click it (Start) and then go straight back to your drawing. That seems to re-set it all the time.

It seems to come from different sources for me but mostly after changing something in the "Hot Toggles" box.

Regards, Wes Mossing

[R Sands]

Since starting this I have chased around other sites and there seems to be a link between people experiencing problems with there mouse and the Nvidia Gforce video drivers. They dont get blamed, but when people quote their computer specs this driver/card gets a mention. I too have a Nvidia Gforce (2) card and driver and again I wondered what others have. I have sent an email to Logitech for their input.
Computers seem to be more like humans every day in there quaint little quirks!
regards
Richard

[rwhatman]

Richard
You may be on to something. The Video Card at work NVIDIA QUADRO2
Its the computer that has the problem.

My home computer has a ATI Card no problem with the mouse.

Richard Whatman

[Glen Cameron]

Over the last 16 years that I have been doing this, I have seen many times where video drivers can cause some very strange things to happen. Even back in the old DOS days, video drivers could manufacture problems in other locations on the computer, that you would swear could not be the video, but in the end was the video causing it.

Good luck in solving it - have fun playing detective!

Cheers,

[rwhatman]

I wasn't playing, I thought I was just reporting a minor problem.

I think it is great to have a place to compare notes.

Who should report the problems. The user or the software company that
knows a lot more about their program then the user.

I know MicroSurvey has no poll over the Video Card manufacture, but
I think if there is a problem for there users because of a video card.

Then MicroSurvey should report problems and not the users.

Over time it all may be fixed anyway.

[Richard Sands]

I feel Microsurvey could have input here, it is there product, but then it is our computer. I wonder if the manufacturer of such things as Video Cards/ drivers would take more notice than from a Joe Blogs off the street. ( I know 2 companies who take there work seriously and would/ have addressed issues - yes M'survey is one so who knows?). I would support Microsurvey taking this up, but I will certainly be making enquiries with the Card/ Driver manufacturer to see what their view is, maybe they are completely ignorant that there maybe an issue with the card/ drivers. It would be good to hear from other users and their experiences.
regards
Richard Sands

[Glen Cameron]

The only problem is, we do not own any of the video cards in question and have not done any internal testing. So for us to call the video company would be based upon our customers findings only and not our own findings.

This would be like the police coming to a house anywhere in the world simply because I said they were a crook even though the police had no evidence and had done no investigating at all.

We also can not afford to purchase every brand of video card, and for that matter any device, to test it and report back to either our customers or the manufacturer.

For these reasons,and many others, we suggest that the person running into the problem is the one to contact the manufacturer of the video card, if they think the video card is causing them any problems. If the video card manufacturer would like to speak with us, we would be happy to discuss things with them to see if we can assist in solving the problems that may exist.

With all the different combinations of hardware and software out there, it would be impossible for any company to test them all and then followup on them.

Cheers,

[Richard Sands]

Glen
I appreciate your comments. When I had a problem with MSCAD which I tracked to my VET AntiVirus they sent me a 'diagnostic file' which I installed and then used MSCAD and they had a fix within hours. NOt being a programmer, is such a tool something which all programs could have. In this case could Microsurvey give us (me) a file which when loaded could track the progress and 'bingo' catch the offence when it occurs?
The other thing you mentioned you dont have any Nvidia cards. It would be good to know what brand you do have. I'm not averse to trying another card. I know different combinations of PC makes it difficult to track down problems, but these are desparate times when programs freeze, crash etc and only the ones which relate to graphic/ CAD .

[Glen Cameron]

Hi Richard,

I do not know what the head office is using on all of their computers but on both of the company computers, I have in my office, I am using ATI video cards. ATI is a Canadian made video card and a brand I have used for many years. I do not know if you have it available down under or not. Also keep in mind that I do not do production work as you would so what video card I use here MAY not be the exact model or make you might wish to use. ATI has many different cards so look them over carefully to ensure it will do what you require.

We do not have such a file or program as you mentioned the virus software people had. Part of the issue is that we do not write the entire program. The CAD engine and Raster portions we do not have much control over being they are written in Germany and we simply license the engine from them and build on top of it. Other portions of the program are licensed from their respective owners as well, such as the GeoConverter portion of the program, etc. The virus program also only does one thing and is much easier to track and monitor compared to a CAD engine that does many things.

Saying this, we do on occasion create an error log file that can help us in some crashes. It is found in the PROGRAMS folder and is called "microsurvey error log.txt". You will find that most of the errors that do happen are related or caused by Windows and the way it manages memory. Windows will also create an error log that it will attempt to send directly to Microsoft. This will not help us at all.


Cheers,