I have a couple of HP M-U0013-O USB optical mice which have recently began generating phantom mouse clicks. I'm at a complete loss for figuring out what's going on, here.
Based on the recommended hardware list on the Plan 9 Wiki (back when it was still live), I bought a Hewlett Packard DY651A USB optical mouse. Knowing that everything eventually breaks, I actually ordered two of them, so I would have one as a "critical spare" to swap-in when/if the first mouse ever failed. The mice which I received were actually model M-U0013-O, not DY651A, but they appeared the same as the DY651A. I had been using the M-U0013-O regularly, for about 13 years, without any problems, since I bought the pair of mice in 2011. Then, just a couple of months ago, one of the M-U0013-O began generating spurious button-1 clicks. When I pressed down button-1, the mouse would behave as if I was pressing and releasing button-1 in rapid succession. It was kind of like the mouse somehow switched from semi-automatic to full automatic fire. :) But it didn't happen with buttons 2 or 3, just button 1. Since the mouse was more than a decade old, and button 1 is used more than buttons 2 or 3, I figured some metal part (maybe a spring or switch) had fatigued. The malfunction appeared to be classic switch bouncing, so I swapped out the first M-U0013-O for the "critical spare" M-U0013-O. To my amazement, the second M-U0013-O exhibited the same exact behavior (phantom rapid-fire button-1 clicks) despite the fact that it had been sitting, unused, in a box for 13 years. The strange thing is how intermittent the malfunctions are. Sometimes button-1 works fine. Other times, it acts like someone secretly slipped an autoseer into the mouse. It happens whether the mouse is connected to a desktop or to a laptop. It happens at home, and away from home. It also happens when I use the laptop in a completely different town. When there is RFI on a USB cable, the Linux kernel's USB driver will often generate errors, but I wasn't receiving any of those error messages. There aren't any cell towers near my house. There is a cell site hidden in the steeple of a nearby church, but that's been there for decades, and there's no way it could possibly affect my mouse when I'm two towns away. Although they are easily hidden, I'm not aware of any 5G antennae in the area which have gone up in the past couple of months. Both my next-door neighbor and I are ham radio operators. But, like the cell site, that couldn't cause these problems when I'm out of town. I never carry a cell phone, smartwatch, or even any devices that use Bluetooth. The only wireless charger I use (for my toothbrush) sits at home, next to the sink. I've even checked the "spaceweather." These phantom clicks occur even when the spaceweather is clear: no solar flares or geomagnetic storms. Yes, I'm sure I'm using the mouse correctly, just the same as I have for the past decade. This is not user error! I don't have parkinsons, seizures, or a pacemaker. I'm not sneezing while I click. I'm not shivering from cold or trembling in fear. I'm quite certain I'm not hallucinating the spurious clicks, either. I'm just completely baffled. The thought of "planned obsolesence" came to mind... both mice might have been designed to fail after a certain period of time after their manufacture. But one of them went completely unused (and, thus, unworn) that whole time. Even if the failure were pre-programmed in firmware, there's no way the spare mouse could possibly know what year it is, because the USB HID protocol doesn't report that information to mice. It's also highly unlikely that anyone could have sabotaged the mice. I keep tight physical control over my hardware and... more realistically, why would anyone pull such a BIZARRE prank? I have made no changes to either hardware or software during the past couple of months, when the strange behavior began. Has anyone here experienced this problem with the HP DY651A or M-U0013-O mice? Since it's recommended "Plan 9" hardware, I figure someone else here might have encountered the same problem. Any idea what could be causing these mice to hallucinate mouse clicks? ------------------------------------------ 9fans: 9fans Permalink: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/T6b4baee49a9f704b-Mfab8770591f67b597fed3256 Delivery options: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/subscription
