On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:50:35 -0500 (EST)
Brad Spencer <brad@anduin.eldar.org> wrote:

> 
>    Two of my machines have USB mice.  On occasion, and without apparent 
>    cause, the system will stop seeing any mouse events.  Usually, 
>    unplugging the mouse and reconnecting it will solve the problem; 
>    sometimes, though, I have to reboot.  Any suggestions on the cause (or 
>    a fix)?  
> 
>    I'm running -current with xorg on new Dell Dimension 8400s, with ITAC 
>    Systems Mouse-Traks.
> 
> 		   --Prof. Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I see this all the time on my Toshiba notebook when there is large amounts
> of LAN activity on the wi device.  Other ethernet devices do not seem to
> trigger the problem as often, or at all.
> 
> 

I've noticed that placing a mini-fridge on the same power strip as my notebook
ac adapter causes the same thing to happen sometimes at exactly the moment 
when the compressor cycles on. I think this has happened under windows a few
times too, so perhaps it's really a hardware problem. I use optical mice, 
which I believe use about 100mA of current from the bus, so combinations 
of hardware and usb peripherals which use modest amounts of juice have similar
problems. 

This is just a hypothesis. I can't back it up, nor have I tested it. I can
think of a few reasons why it shouldn't be true. I do know that since
I've rearranged my power cables it happens much less freqeuntly than it used
to.


-- 
Harry Waddell
Caravan Electronic Publishing
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