scavengertype

I have a homebuilt Athlon XP 2000+, 512 PC2700, 2X WD 80GB in RAID 0, Optorite DVD+/-, Lite-On DVD-ROM, Generic media card reader, SB Audigy2 Platinum, Gainward Geforce4 ti4200 128, Dell-branded logitech wireless keyboard, Logitech wireless optical mouse (Mouseman-the blue and silver one).

Had my system off all weekend, turned it on sunday night but didn't use it extensively untill last (tuesday) night (everything seemed normal). Tuesday I got an external firewire/usb2 HD enclosure for a 40gig maxtor I had laying around. I put it together, and plugged it in via firewire. I think it was at this point that I started to notice a lag in the mouse movement. I didn't think anything of it yet.
I noticed that the 40GB was partitioned, so I went about reformatting the HD on another system. While I was doing this, I noticed the mouse lag on the other system was bad and really annoying. The cursor seems to lock up at times, and sometimes if I click on a program icon, it seems to lock at mouse down, and drag the icon around the screen, even though I have let go of the button. I noticed the problem is worse when there is a load on the processor (mouse movement is fine across the desktop with no applications running) so this leads me to believe that it might not just be a problem with the mouse.
I checked all the connections in back. The mouse/keyboard use the same RF receiver, which plugs into a usb port and the keyboard PS/2 port via a USB adapter. I replaced the batteries in both devices, and installed the newest versions of iTouch and Mouseware off of Logitech's site. Problem is still there.
My system is pretty much unusable now, because the lag varies but gets real bad.
I haven't tried a different keyboard and mouse, but that is my next thing to do when I get home tonight. I know on my work computer sometimes the keyboard PS/2 plug gets loose and the mouse goes flaky, but it doesn't seem to matter if there is a load on the processor or not. That's what makes me worry.

Sorry this is so long winded, just wanted to give as much detail as possible.

Any ideas??

Thanks.

tropple

Maybe the mouse driver is corrupt? The mouse on my home system is a corded IR by GE. Every so often the cursor will shoot off to the side or bottom.

I've had problems with USB mice and I won't use them anymore.

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hrdwareguy

The problem is with the external hard drive enclosure. I have had the same type of problems with them. That's why I switched to removable internal drive bays. The only problem with these is they are not hot swapable.

Everytime I did somehitng extensive with the external hard drvie I had system lag.

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mikec

I actually couldn't get that from the original post. is the mouse/system lag happening always, or only when the external enclosure is plugged in?

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scavengertype

Sorry, the lag is happening all the time, with or without the external drive plugged in.

scavengertype

hrdwareguy, i think you're right. it seems the external drive is what's causing it, even after i unplug it sometimes it's still laggy.
It does it with both firewire and USB2 connections.
Is there something i can do?, this sucks.

nothingx

I would suggest trying a PS/2 style mouse. See if it makes things any better for you. If so, that might be your only option for now. I'm willing to be that the external device is tying up your bus, causing the mouse to poll less frequenly. You might also want to check with Microsoft or your motherboard manufacturer to see if there are updated drivers that might be able to help you.