Scrolling quirk

[Terry Pinnell]

Is there some setting that I may have accidentally altered to cause
the following weird behaviour please? When I left click the scroll
arrow at the bottom of the scroll bar (in a window with many
screenfulls of data), and *hold* it down, it scrolls only about 8
lines and then stops, instead of continuing until I release the mouse
button.

 

[Alec S.]

Is there some setting that I may have accidentally altered to cause
the following weird behaviour please? When I left click the scroll
arrow at the bottom of the scroll bar (in a window with many
screenfulls of data), and *hold* it down, it scrolls only about 8
lines and then stops, instead of continuing until I release the mouse
button.

What about dragging? Try clicking and holding the left mouse button and drag it (for example drag a selection rectangle around some
files). See if the rectangle suddenly stops as well?

If so, then it's probably just your mouse button. You should clean it out because the button is not making the connection properly.
Often, sudden mouse button releases are due to a dirty button (on the inside).

 

[Terry Pinnell]

What about dragging? Try clicking and holding the left mouse button and drag it (for example drag a selection rectangle around some
files). See if the rectangle suddenly stops as well?

If so, then it's probably just your mouse button. You should clean it out because the button is not making the connection properly.
Often, sudden mouse button releases are due to a dirty button (on the inside).

Thanks. Dragging rectangles seems OK. But I've just discovered that if
I first *double* click before holding down the left button, then I do
get continuous scrolling! Does that offer any sort of clue?

 

[Alec S.]

Thanks. Dragging rectangles seems OK. But I've just discovered that if
I first *double* click before holding down the left button, then I do
get continuous scrolling! Does that offer any sort of clue?

Well if I'm right and it is a bad connection/dirty button, then yes it does. Double-clicking could clear the obstruction
momentarily, allowing the following click "stick" instead of falling open.

If could be that the metal parts that make up the contact points in the mouse's button have gotten a little corroded, causing a
patina to build. When you click the button, the metal contacts are supposed to touch, closing the circuit and signaling that the
button is down. The patina would make it difficult or impossible for electrons to flow through the circuit so as far as the mouse
is concerned, the button is up. Of course this kind of problem would be intermittent, so it might happen some times, and not at
others.

Does it stop scrolling each and every single time without fail? Or, does it do it some/most of the time? Try shaking the mouse
first. Try clicking the left button a few dozen times then doing the scroll a few times without double-clicking to see if it still
happens like clockwork. Try tapping the button hard a few times. Try pressing the button and while keeping it down, moving the
button around as much as you can (scraping the metal contacts).

If any of those seem to get it to work, especially if it only works for a while then happens again later (a day, a week, maybe more)
then it is likely just a bad connection in the button. If you feel comfortable doing so, you could crack open the mouse and clean
it out. If not, you could try doing suggestions I gave more and extended to try to scrape the contacts completely clean.


I've experienced similar things with a couple of mice (including my best/most expensive one). For example, I would be dragging a
file and suddenly it would release the drag and the file would get copied/moved/whatever somewhere where it shouldn't. Or, I would
be carefully selecting a group of files then it would suddenly release the drag and I'd have to start over again. Eventually I got
fed up and opened my mouse. I disassembled every single piece and washed them all in a soap bath (except for the circuit board
which I washed with a damp cloth). It works better now. I've done the same thing for my keyboards over the years. I love a fresh,
clean new keyboard and mouse.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Well if I'm right and it is a bad connection/dirty button, then yes it does. Double-clicking could clear the obstruction
momentarily, allowing the following click "stick" instead of falling open.

If could be that the metal parts that make up the contact points in the mouse's button have gotten a little corroded, causing a
patina to build. When you click the button, the metal contacts are supposed to touch, closing the circuit and signaling that the
button is down. The patina would make it difficult or impossible for electrons to flow through the circuit so as far as the mouse
is concerned, the button is up. Of course this kind of problem would be intermittent, so it might happen some times, and not at
others.

Does it stop scrolling each and every single time without fail? Or, does it do it some/most of the time? Try shaking the mouse
first. Try clicking the left button a few dozen times then doing the scroll a few times without double-clicking to see if it still
happens like clockwork. Try tapping the button hard a few times. Try pressing the button and while keeping it down, moving the
button around as much as you can (scraping the metal contacts).

If any of those seem to get it to work, especially if it only works for a while then happens again later (a day, a week, maybe more)
then it is likely just a bad connection in the button. If you feel comfortable doing so, you could crack open the mouse and clean
it out. If not, you could try doing suggestions I gave more and extended to try to scrape the contacts completely clean.


I've experienced similar things with a couple of mice (including my best/most expensive one). For example, I would be dragging a
file and suddenly it would release the drag and the file would get copied/moved/whatever somewhere where it shouldn't. Or, I would
be carefully selecting a group of files then it would suddenly release the drag and I'd have to start over again. Eventually I got
fed up and opened my mouse. I disassembled every single piece and washed them all in a soap bath (except for the circuit board
which I washed with a damp cloth). It works better now. I've done the same thing for my keyboards over the years. I love a fresh,
clean new keyboard and mouse.

Thanks Alec, much appreciate your patient interest and advice.

This is an optical Microsoft Intellimouse. I'll take a harder look,
but don't immediately see any way to get to the innards. It would
definitely make sense to clean it though, as it's been in heavy use
for at least 4 years.

But I'll first try replacing with an old spare manual mouse and report
back what happens there. Because, to be frank, I suspect a cause other
than dirt, if only because the left click result *does* seem so
consistent. And immediately after successfully using the double click
work-around to scroll down, if I then hold a single click on the upper
arrow, I'm always immediately back to the 'interrupted result. I'd
expect a dirty contact or bounce problem to give more unpredictable
results. And affect dragging, exactly as you speculated. Instead, it's
just as if my PC now interprets all 'left click hold' operations as
lasting only about 500 ms!

 

[Alec S.]

But I'll first try replacing with an old spare manual mouse and report
back what happens there. Because, to be frank, I suspect a cause other
than dirt, if only because the left click result *does* seem so
consistent. And immediately after successfully using the double click
work-around to scroll down, if I then hold a single click on the upper
arrow, I'm always immediately back to the 'interrupted result. I'd
expect a dirty contact or bounce problem to give more unpredictable
results. And affect dragging, exactly as you speculated. Instead, it's
just as if my PC now interprets all 'left click hold' operations as
lasting only about 500 ms!

Take a look at the accessibility features in the control panel. Perhaps one of them is "helping" by preventing excessive input.
Perhaps there's a problem with the port, try using a lower mouse (if currently USB, use PS/2; if currently PS/2, use serial).

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Take a look at the accessibility features in the control panel. Perhaps one of them is "helping" by preventing excessive input.
Perhaps there's a problem with the port, try using a lower mouse (if currently USB, use PS/2; if currently PS/2, use serial).

Found the cause this morning!

It's a conflict with my invaluable 'power utility' program, Stiletto,
which is normally permanently resident. It's now obsolete, but I've
had it for many years and couldn't work without it. Mainly use for
launching programs, starting keyboard macros, inserting standard text
strings (like my sigh, email, etc). As soon as I close it, my left
click is normal again.

So far though, I haven't yet found the fix ;-(

Thanks again for your kind help on this.

 

[Alec S.]

Found the cause this morning!

It's a conflict with my invaluable 'power utility' program, Stiletto,
which is normally permanently resident. It's now obsolete, but I've
had it for many years and couldn't work without it. Mainly use for
launching programs, starting keyboard macros, inserting standard text
strings (like my sigh, email, etc). As soon as I close it, my left
click is normal again.

So far though, I haven't yet found the fix ;-(

Thanks again for your kind help on this.

No problem, glad you've figured out the cause. I've also had problems where after some testing I could trace it to some program.
It's really bad when it's a program I need. If lucky, it's possible to contact the author and work with them to fix it; so far I've
done this with a couple.