mouse disconnection problem

I have an Alienware M14x and a Razer Imperator which keeps randomly disconnecting. The laptop is a few months old, the mouse is around 2 years.

The disconnection happens randomly, and usually involves the mouse lights going completely dark. It acts as if it is not connected. When it does this, reconnecting the mouse usually makes it work again for a short while.

There are also times when the cursor is rendered immobile (and all analogous actions like looking around ingame) but the mouse buttons continue to work. The lights remain on in this case, and cursor control comes back after a few seconds of waiting.

The cursor itself is very skippy in games where it tends to freeze for a second or so before becoming active again. Buttons also stop functioning when this happens. This is a constant effect, the cursor will have a second of free movement followed by a second of freezing, etc etc.

This behaviour occurs across all USB ports.

Is the mouse just on its way out do you think?

 

First, I would try updating the mouse's driver software and firmware from Razer's support site. If that doesn't help anything, try plugging the mouse into a completely different computer for a while and see if it still acts up. If not, then something's happening between the mouse and your computer. If it acts up, then it's the mouse itself.

IIRC standard warranty on Razer mice is 2 years, so hopefully you're still under that. Either way, if the mouse actually is broken, contact Razer support and they'll get you a replacement.

 

Updating the firmware was difficult since the mouse kept not getting recognized. Assuming the update worked correctly, it didn't help. The mouse still disconnects.

The problem doesn't seem to happen with a USB drive nor my printer.