When the cursor gets erratic, it's the mouse's nano-receiver at fault

It's common nowadays for wireless mice to be packaged with a nano-receiver, a tiny receiver the size of a small finger nail, that plugs into a USB port.

On two systems, I've experienced erratic cursor behavior as I move the mouse. The cursor jumps or sometimes doesn't react at all. 

The problem is due to the receiver being too close to the USB port. It picks up electronic noise generated by the computer's parts, interfering with the signals passing from the mouse. In addition, I found the problem specific to Logitech's Unifying receiver, which handles up to six devices. I suspect that there is just too much tiny electronics crammed  into the tiny chunk of plastic and metal.

The solution is to install an extender, a male-female USB cord. It moves the receiver away from the computer. Even a couple of inches helps, but in severe cases, you may need to use a longer cord.

Comments

[Patrick Thrush]

I have been using the Logi MX Master mice for a number of years now without any issue. It was after a major Win10 update that problems emerged--the sticking and erratic movements. Oddly, it seemed to come and go. Changes to Logi Unifying software, driver updates, so on, and so forth did nothing to change the behavior. I then found this article and moved the receiver to an empty port on the side of one of my Asus ProArt monitors--a good five feet away from the tower case. Problem solved! Thank you for posting this fix!

[Boyd Carter]

After replacing my win7 desktop with a new high-power win10, my Logitech K350 keyboard as well as my M510 mouse have been behaving erratically despite a variety of attempts to remediate. A 4 foot USB extender cord now places the receiver away from my desktop and about a foot past my keyboard and mouse. Both work perfectly now. Thank you so much for the solution.

[Simon]

Hello everyone! Thanks for this post. I wanted to share that I had this issue with a Logitech M510, erratic cursor, would drop connection, etc. I switched the batteries from almost dead Kodak AAs to charged (I believe fake) Eneloop Pro AAs, the issue persisted. I unpaired and re-paired the mouse and nothing.
Then I decided to use a brand new se of IKEA AAs made in Belgium and the mouse now works great!!!
So the quality of the battery should be something to inspect IMHO, the fake Eneloops were even heating up inside the mouse! I know my apple wireless keyboard doesn't even accept them so there you go... picky electronics.
Hopes this helps
Cheers!

[Manny]

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tried it myself. My trusty M705 which I have had for years, started doing the erratic jumpy thing. I tried everything before I googled it and presto I found this blog. Works like a champ now

[Pascal P.]

I came to the same conclusion for awhile as it seemed to fix my issue, but recently it resurfaced. Erratic cursor movements, bad tracking of the buttons, etc. I needed to be real close to the receiver for it to somewhat work. This time I tried another receiver I had, repaired everything (I have an MX mouse and a keyboard), and all is good. So I come to the conclusion that the Unifying receiver can fail in a slow manner over time. Using a usb extension can alleviate the symptoms for a while, but if it degenerate again, you may have to change the receiver.

[Greg T]

Using the USB Extension lead solved the problem brilliantly... Someone at Microsoft should look at this solution instead of the BS answers they continually provide. I had tried every solution they proposed short of rebuilding my system none of which worked of course.

Thank you for a simple but effective and very logical answer

[asdf]

Look for dirt or lint in the optics - I had a small hair near the lens causing chaos.

[Brian D]

Thank you so much for ending hours of frustration trying other solutions that I found online.

[john rogers]

A million thanks!!!!! changed to the back USB and this works excellent! I F'ed around with this for 6 months! http://oppjunk.com

[Al]

This article made me do a double check on the nano receiver, and notice it was plugged in right next to a wifi nano-dongle. After moving them apart, the problem was gone.

[Steve]

I have the K850 keyboard that came with the M720 mouse. My mouse would slip away from the word document that I was moving to another location on my screen by sliding it across. The mouse would drop the word document and as I was sliding it would start dragging whatever was in the way (other folders in its path). Luckily I had another new Keyboard and M720 mouse. The new mouse with the new receiver fixed my problem. I can guess that maybe the receiver was failing, but since I replaced the mouse and the receiver I will have to later put back the old receiver on the new mouse and see if the problem comes back. I hope this will help the community with this problem and later I can add to this post. Thanks for sharing your info on your similar problems.

[Harisse Gokani]

So useful, this saved my expensive purchase!!! My sensor does not like to work on the back of a printed A4 paper but works wonders on the flap of my 2nd laptop!! I will now get a proper mousepad and see. Thanks article for inspiring!

[John Krajeski]

Thank you thank you thank you. You have saved my marriage of 51 years. My wife's Lenovo all-in-one computer just started doing this about 3 weeks ago, albeit on an intermittent basis. Prior to tonight I had solved it by unplugging and re-plugging the unifying receiver from one usb port to another (note all the ports are on the back of the huge monitor which also houses the hard drive, motherboard and other assorted electronic beasties). Then I found this post and Ta-Da, it worked a charm. Mr. Ralph Grabowski, you are a god among men. My wife thanks you, I thank you and my dog thanks you. If you were my next door neighbor, I'd make a couple dozen pierogis and come knocking on your door with them and a six pack of your favorite beer. Thanks again for your wonderful post. -John

[Edward]

I added a USB extender years ago and solved the problem. Then the problem came back! The cure was a longer USB extender cable and now the nano is just one foot away from the mouse.

[dan]

Dude - you are a helpful guy - thanks!

[Jochem]

Almost 7 years later and this is still a brilliant solution to my problem. Thanks! My mouse works perfectly now. But it's really bad that the logitech reciever is so weak.

[John]

My Logitech MX 310 corded mouse, after many years of trouble-free service, began to act erratically. I have a 2nd Logitech corded mouse, different model, that I use with a portable Mac computer. I tried using this 2nd one with my Mac. But I got the same erratic behavior, stalling and jumping. After reading a few of these comments/solutions, I arrived at the conclusion that Bluetooth might be involved. I've used Bluetooth lately, to transfer files between my iPhone and my Mac. So I went to the System Preferences>Bluetooth, and turned it off.

Bingo! The problem was completely solved. Both mice never worked better! If I need Bluetooth again, I can turn it on, and then turn it off when I'm done. Both my keyboard and mouse are corded, so I generally don't need Bluetooth.

[Trackball hater]

you saved me a new mouse. thanks I was just about to lose hope on this trackball.

[mag]

Wow, thanks!

[Sylvain de Montréal]

I noticed that weird behaviour when rearranging my USB cables and swapping my Logitech nano receiver from USB ports. It took me a while to figure out the problem. I searched in Google, found your article that pretty much confirms my thoughts. More swapping tests confirmed your theory. I found out about the same problem with a Dell nano receiver. Damned technology!

[chi]

Thanks so much for this tip!! I Moved the receiver to the other side of my laptop away from the power lead and second monitor cable side and it's fixed it .... smooth as now :)

[Ron Mooshagian]

I am having the same problem. I am going to purchase a male-female USB cord/Dongle and try it.

What is a good/optimum length to get?

Thanks in advance!!!

Ron

[Ralph Grabowski]

Logitech used to include an extender with their nanoreceivers; it is two inches long.

As for using a USB cable as the extender, a short one will do, such as six inches. Even long ones work fine, if you need to run the cable behind a desk or something.

[Mike]

I have long suspected the erratic behavior of my logitech keyboard and mouse could be due to signal interference. Thank everyone for your inputs. I just turned off my PC bluetooth, so far so good.

Another suspect is my Plantronics V5200 earphone, unplugging its connector seems to solve all problems at this moment. Guess I will be back to my wired headphones for Zoom meetings until I get to replace wireless keyboard and mouse with wired ones.

[Bernard Dionne]

I had tried to down load a new driver for this wireless mouse tracking problem. I searched and searched the internet to no avail until I fouind your advice.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, IT WORKED SIMPLY BE USING A USB PORT LOCATED FURTHER AWAY FROM THE PROBLEMATIC LOCATION ON MY DESKTOP WINDOWS 10 COMPUTER.

SO SIMPLE BUT THE BEST CURE! YOU ARE GREAT!

[MikeS]

Wow, so simple - I never thought to do this. Noticed instant improvement in the reliability and feel at home on a desktop. A win!

I use a laptop at work and it has the same issue with its TB16 (Dell) dock. Will try first thing tomorrow!

[Leo Champion]

This helped; completely solved my problem.

Thank you!!

[Caiolinn Ertel]

THANK YOU!

I had an extender and it worked like a charm!

[Bill Cash]

Has anyone used the extension method to solve the problem of having monitor randomly go black for a few seconds and then come back on without doing anything to your computer
Has placing the nano receiver in usb port on monitor been successful ? I saw on a Dell site that one customer solved the problem by changing the output voltage on an extra usb port he added to his computer. Probably an OK fix for people who can solder in new port like he did.
Logitech included a 5 foot extension with my keyboard- I am anxious to try this for my black screen fix.

Please note that in my research I did see that Logitech says nano receiver must be plugged into a usb port that is directly connected to the motherboard to be sure of voltage nano is receiving. Voltage to usb also appears to be something that needs to be checked out. Maybe another person posting can tell us how to test output voltage from usb port..

[Ralph Grabowski]

I don't think that the wireless mouse affects monitors. In your case, it might be a loose or faulty cable. Try substituting another cable.

I have experienced the distant-USB problem on my desktop computer. Some USB devices are not recognized when I use the USB outlets at the front of the computer (further from the motherboard) but then work when attached at the back of the computer (closer).

[Jim Randall]

Excellent solution

[phil]

Yup, USB hub worked for me too!

[John Shannon]

This solved the problem a year ago. But then it came back. Dongle on six-foot extension. Periodically it won't respond, then after a lot of fussing works perfectly.

[Ralph Grabowski]

I find that the cursor can be jerky when the computer is busy doing other things, such as with a high CPU or disk load.

[Dwight Ivany]

Awesome, I switched back to Windows from Mac, and Windows really does need a mouse. Multiple computers, and mice, and I kept going back to a wired mouse until I read this.

So easy a fix and counter intuitive to get distance between the devices.

You have made my day, and cleaned up my desks.

[Dinakar]

The tip worked. Thank you !
I changed the location of the mouse from the back of PC to front ,hopefully there was less interference.