- My sensor skips or spins out on fast flicks. Is the mouse faulty?
- Usually it is the surface or speed, not the mouse. Every sensor has a max tracking speed, and glossy, patterned or worn pads make it lose track sooner. Try a plain cloth pad, clean the lens, and lower the lift-off distance in the software. If it still spins out on a clean pad below 4 m/s, then the sensor is suspect.
- Why do M4 and M5 not light up?
- Either the mouse software has rebound them to something other than back and forward, or a wireless receiver is dropping them. Set them back to default in the software and retest; if they register now, the buttons are fine and the rebinding was the reason.
- Is events per second my polling rate?
- No. A 1000 Hz mouse sends 1000 reports a second to the PC, but the browser batches them into far fewer events. This number is good for spotting dropouts during movement, not for verifying a polling rate claim. The polling rate test on this site reads the raw samples instead.
- My scroll wheel jumps back a notch or skips. Fixable?
- Often, yes. A wheel that registers the wrong direction or misses steps is typically a dirty or worn encoder. Compressed air and, for the brave, a drop of contact cleaner on the encoder fix many of them. If the counts here stay uneven after cleaning, the encoder needs replacing.
- The cursor stutters on my wireless mouse but not when plugged in.
- That is the radio link, not the sensor. Move the receiver to a front USB port or the extension dongle so it sits within arm's reach of the mouse, keep it away from USB 3.0 ports and hubs, and charge the battery; low charge on many mice quietly drops the polling rate.