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BIF
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Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:50 pm

Hello.

I am still struggling with mouse lags in Windows 8. They went away for a week or two and just a few days ago they started up again.

My core parking has been disabled since the first time this happened a couple weeks ago, I'm not running folding at all, and Process Lasso does not show any significant CPU usage for any of the 12 cores when this is happening. Really, there is NOTHING I can point my finger (or mouse) at.

It almost seems like it may be a graphic problem because the behavior is like "Drunken Mouse", the cursor lags way behind the mouse movements on the screen, and if you happen to have a grip on something (an open window or icon you might be dragging or resizing), the mouse lags will cause you to unintentionally "let go" of whatever it is you have, and possibly "grab" or launch something else from the desktop.

My mouse is a Microsoft cordless mouse (the one that is flat and you bend it to turn it on and use it), with the little tranceiver plugged into a USB 2.0 port on the back of the motherboard. The case is still on the workbench, with no USB hubs or devices plugged in other than a USB keyboard, this mouse, and a PS2 keyboard. It even happens when no software is opened yet.

It happens infrequently, like not even every hour, and (as far as I can tell), not at the same time of day. Maybe a couple times in a 4 to 6 hour window of usage. It lasts for no more than 30 seconds or so and does not produce any overt messages or dialogs.

I do not have Bitlocker or any other disk encryption facility installed and I do not yet have any backup software or automated tasks running.

The only things I am running in the background are Windows Defender (as it comes with Windows 8 from the factory), Diskeeper 12 30-day trial, Asus AI Suite (motherboard monitoring), and Corsair Link (also monitors motherboard stuff), although the last time it happened, I hadn't yet launched Corsair link.

It is very difficult to pin this one down because the lag does not happen at any predictable time, nor does it happen when I'm running a specific app or tool. Sometimes it just happens right when I arrive at my desktop, at other times when I'm browsing the web with Firefox, and still other times when I am looking at my folder structures with the File Manager.

I wish there were a way for me to take a checkpoint of what's running or in memory when this happens. And again when the problem goes away.
 
TechNut
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:55 pm

Whenever my cordless mouse or keyboad lags or drops keys, typically the batteries are dying. Have you changed them? I'm using a cordless mouse and cordless keyboard to type this on Win Pro without any problems... I end up hating my cordless devices when the batteries get low!
 
absurdity
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:03 pm

I'd suspect the mouse. Your system should be able to handle just about anything. The mouse should be easy to test (swap it with another).
Last edited by absurdity on Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
EsotericLord
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:05 pm

I would think batteries or interference. is there anything in particular that happens in your house when it starts to lag?

My microwave actually makes my entire houses wifi funky for the entire time its on, for example.
 
absurdity
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:07 pm

EsotericLord wrote:
My microwave actually makes my entire houses wifi funky for the entire time its on, for example.


Yeah, weird stuff like this. Swap with a corded model for a while and see what happens, and then take it from there.
 
BIF
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:57 am

I tested the batteries, and though they were not the strongest, they were not that low either. Even so, this sporadic drunkenness could be a matter of degrees, so I changed them anyway. We'll see what happens.

Interference or signal blockage: Less likely but still an outside possibility. Here on my workbench, the signal has to go through my flat panel monitor and part of the HAF 932 case to get to the little wireless bud at the back of the case. I'll see if the symptoms reappear with the fresh batteries, and if so, I'll experiment with relocating the mousebud.

Something else I hadn't thought to mention before, but it may be relevant. This is not my "production" mouse; this one usually rides around in my laptop bag because it's flat and the little bud doesn't stick out of the laptop far enough to sustain damage to either bud or laptop. Here on a cluttered workbench got put into service and it's been convenient. Anyhow, I'm thinking that there's a possibility that maybe the wireless mouse behavior in my house is environmental and sporadic in nature, but I wouldn't know it because I normally use a wired Logitech USB trackball on a day-to-day basis.

In any event, next week the PC will be back under my home office desk. Just waiting on one last delivery from Amazon and hopefully I'll be able to seal it up! 8)

Thanks guys; I'll post back.
 
vargis14
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:03 am

I second trying a wired mouse. Even more so if you have yet to try one.
Ohh BTW Did you end up with the h80i and what are you waiting for before you seal her up until you have to clean it?
2600k@4848mhz @1.4v CM Nepton40XL 16gb Ram 2x EVGA GTX770 4gb Classified cards in SLI@1280mhz Stock boost on a GAP67-UD4-B3, SBlaster Z powered by TX-850 PSU pushing a 34" LG 21/9 3440-1440 IPS panel. Pieced together 2.1 sound system
 
BIF
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:04 pm

Hi Vargis:

I did buy the H80i and it was the right decision. The perfect choice because I was able to avoid putting a radiator on the ceiling! Of the case, that is... :roll: :lol:

On the workbench, the H80i keeps the CPU cores around 32 C. When folding at 100% CPU, temps rise to 52-53 C. The fans are fairly quiet, though on the workbench with the side off, I can hear them since they're right at ear level. It will be interesting to see what the temps are once the case is sealed up and installed in the home office.

The last thing I'm waiting for is for my NZXT Sentry LXE fan controller to be replaced. This model has a touch-screen that goes on your desk instead of taking up an external drive bay. It has a 6 foot wire from the touch-screen monitor to a small PCI card on the back of the PC. The PCI card does not need an actual motherboard slot so technically it could be mounted/hung from any number of places inside (or outside) the enclosure. It has capacity for up to 5 temp monitors and 5 fans, but at this time I only need to drive 3 big case fans (front, side, and top). I might have 4 temperature probes in there, however. The two H80i push-pull fans will continue to be run off of the H80i Corsair Link interface, since that seems to have been designed pretty well.

Of course, with today's motherboards having goood built-in temperature monitoring and fan control, any fan controller is pretty much a "nice to have" item. For me, I've had problems with motherboard monitoring software in the past, so I've been old-school. Not needing an external bay is also nice because I only have one 5.25" bay free (and it's a 2U unit). The prices have been dropping on these, too. I didn't pay $60+ list price for this one (my price may have been around $40, not sure).

On my first shipment, the touch screen would light up and show all temp and fan statuses correctly and accurately, but would not accept touch input, so I could not adjust the clock or fan speeds.

A long winded explanation, but there it is. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! :lol: :D
 
BIF
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:53 am

UPDATE

The lags do indeed have something to do with the Microsoft wireless mouse. When the behavior occurs, I just reach for my USB trackball and THAT has instant reaction.

Next step: Install the Microsoft driver and config software for this mouse and see if the lags stop. That's low on my priority list at the moment, but I'll post back once I've done that.
 
BIF
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:23 am

I haven't added the Microsoft driver applet yet, but I did want to add something first.

I saw Ryu's latest comment in the core parking thread. While I don't know factually whether or not Microsoft disables it with 8, I trust RYU on this. Furthermore, disabling core parking didn't seem to help me in this instance because it looks like "drunken mouse" is purely due to the behavior of the wireless mouse and/or driver software.

Was it a placebo to disable core parking on this Windows 8 system? Possibly. It sure seemed fine until the mouse behavior reappeared a week later. This of course negated any placebo effect and caused me to reexamine the problem. :)

One other note: My core parking was "placebo disabled" automatically when I installed Process Lasso. So it's also possible that PL was getting in there and that any placebo effect was due to PL lowering the priority of some other tasks in the system. So in my case, any observations as to cause/effect...well, it's a muddy issue right now.

Sidebar: I'm not so certain that Process Lasso is really necessary for a system such as mine with 6 cores and 12 threads, so I need to reexamine this before I decide to get the paid version.

Anyhow, I do agree that implementing "core parking disablement" on my factory shipped Windows 8 install probably didn't fix anything at all; and I thought it was important to clear this up.

I'll get back to you on this mouse thing later this week.
 
vargis14
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:03 am

I have the plain NZXT Sentry that takes 1 5 1/4 bay. I have been very happy with it since it will control 5 fans separately, 5 diff temp sensors, and it has a auto mode that goes off the temp sensors that takes the fans down to 50%...so it effectively makes it silent.
2600k@4848mhz @1.4v CM Nepton40XL 16gb Ram 2x EVGA GTX770 4gb Classified cards in SLI@1280mhz Stock boost on a GAP67-UD4-B3, SBlaster Z powered by TX-850 PSU pushing a 34" LG 21/9 3440-1440 IPS panel. Pieced together 2.1 sound system
 
morphine
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:30 am

After you tried another mouse, if it doesn't work:

- Unplug all other USB devices and try.
- Uninstall Process Lasso (as a test). I've seen it cause issues instead of solving them.
There is a fixed amount of intelligence on the planet, and the population keeps growing :(
 
BIF
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Re: Windows 8 Mouse Lags

Tue Feb 05, 2013 4:22 pm

vargis14 wrote:
I have the plain NZXT Sentry that takes 1 5 1/4 bay. I have been very happy with it since it will control 5 fans separately, 5 diff temp sensors, and it has a auto mode that goes off the temp sensors that takes the fans down to 50%...so it effectively makes it silent.


The new one works great and is very visible when placed below eye level (where it would be sitting in front of me on my desk) and I'm very happy. The older ones that mount in the case are too low to be seen unless I kneel down and look at them straight-on; making them somewhat less useful.

morphine wrote:
After you tried another mouse, if it doesn't work:

- Unplug all other USB devices and try.
- Uninstall Process Lasso (as a test). I've seen it cause issues instead of solving them.


Process Lasso was installed after the initial behavior began, and this was my first attempt at serious diagnostics and resolution of Drunken Mouse. And the behavior doesn't happen when I have only the USB trackball installed, so I doubt that Process Lasso is contributing to this particular issue.

I think Drunken Mouse would be a fabulous cartoon character, except that he's not PC and would probably be banned everywhere.

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