Good Morning,

I'm not sure if I should post in XP forum, software, hardware? Please forgive if I am in the wrong section and/or please move my post, thank you.

I did search the forums here but didn't come up with posts that seemed to address the issues I'm experiencing, again please forgive if I missed and please point me to those posts.

I have three PCs (two desktop, one laptop) all running XP Pro, one (desktop) is still on SP2 and the others are on SP3. All three use Windows Classic Desktop and there are no other users but the one userid - mine - and I am administrator of each machine. All are workgroup computers, no domains. (If that matters.)

The two desktops are on a KVM switch to share mouse and keyboard. The laptop is on a docking station and has its own mouse.

I previously used two MS Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0 for two years (one with KVM, one with laptop), with generic mouse drivers provided by XP, which worked beautifully. I just replaced both mice and opted for two MS Wireless Laser Mouse 5000. Not for its features, I just really liked the basic feel and basic actions of the mouse (left and right buttons, wheel scroll feel). I don't need the other buttons or features of this mouse.

On all three systems, WITHOUT installing the Intellipoint 6.2 software that came with the mouse, the basic windows-xp mouse driver works well with one very annoying exception: Frequently, "something" causes the focus to change from the current window (but there is no new window, popup or other screen activity, no flashing taskbars, etc.) and then the mouse cannot take the focus back. A left click, double-left click, or right click is ignored. The mouse also cannot cause pop-up of my taskbar (which is set to auto-hide).

The strange thing is, I can press CTRL-ALT-DEL (which clears the screen and presents the logon options panel for shutdown, taskmanager, change password, etc.), then just press ESC without choosing anything, and the mouse works correctly again. Until the next time, which can be anywhere from one or two seconds, to a few minutes. It loses the ability to interact with the screen all too often and is impossible to use in this configuration.

(FYI I did uninstall the generic mouse drivers and reboot the systems, and let XP load new generic drivers. Same result.)

So, I installed the Intellipoint 6.2 software that came with the mouse. Different problems. The mouse now works mostly correctly on all three systems. The exception is the need of "triple-left-click" - it seems that sometimes I have to click once to switch the focus and then the double-click action will work. Similarly with right-click, sometimes I must left-click once and/or double-right-click, to get a shortcut menu, etc.

Though annoying, I can live with this. But the worst part by far is the screen flickering. All three systems experience frequent rapid bouts of an open window's components flickering -- flashing on and off rapidly as if it has the focus, the focus is removed,the focus returns, etc. It is almost impossible to use the application when this flickering is at its peak. If I wait long enough (sometimes more than a minute), the flashing will stop and I can use the windows again.

Uninstalling the intellipoint software fixes the screen flickering but then the problem with the mouse frequently not able to interact with the screen, returns.

I have downloaded and installed the latest intellipoint 6.2 software from MS Mouse hardware site, it is a slightly higher build than what came with the mice, but it made no improvements.

I also found mention that screen flickering may be associated with video driver. I use an ATI HD2600XT video card on one desktop, the other uses the built in intel graphics chip on the mobo, and the laptop has intel graphics chip. I have verified and/or updated the drivers for intel chips and for the HD2600XT, all are current.

No differences with or without the intellipoint drivers.

I have played with mouse settings in control panel, both with and without intellipoint software installed, trying various speeds and options for click, etc. No difference.

Have I overlooked something? Is there something else I can check/do? I'd prefer NOT to run the intellipoint software as I prefer the feel of the mouse with the generic windows drivers, but if using intellipoint and doing something will fix the flickering (and hopefully the need for triple-clicks), I will use the intellpoint software.

Please forgive long post, I really have tried to check everything I can, have searched microsoft KB and mouse hardware site, to no avail. Please point me to any posts or links that might help. I really don't want to return these mice...

Thanks and regards,
--appyface

I have the exact same problem.

Hello Spotch,

I finally have nearly all my issues resolved. After downloading and installing every Intellipoint release since this poist, the current version (7.00.260.0) is working well on all three systems -- with and without the KVM switch.

If you're not running that version, I recommend giving it a try. You'll need to uninstall any intellipoint software first, it is supposed to do it automatically but I find that part buggy.

Here's where I downloaded my current package:
Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Hardware - Download Software

Knock on wood.

You may need to adjust for different package. Hope it works for you too,
--appyface

I have found that version 7 solves the problem here as well... thanks for your help!

Spotch