MouseTrapped! How can I make my mouse load faster in Win 7?

December 8, 2009 5:12 PM

Why is my USB mouse the last item to load when Windows 7 is finished booting up? Sometimes I have to wait while it recognizes external USB drives, and in the meantime, I have no control over my mouse. Is there a way to change the order which my USB devices load?

I suppose I could just haphazardly unplug and re-plug my USB devices to see if it changes the load order, but I suspect there must be a software solution to give my mouse priority over all my other USB devices. You would think it wouldn't make much of a difference, but it does. It makes me feel like my system has crashed for that 30 seconds or so when I see my desktop but have no mouse control.

posted by newfers to computers & internet (7 answers total)

Model of machine and/or motherboard if built? I ask because I'm wondering if there's not a BIOS option that would help.
posted by datacenter refugee at 5:20 PM on December 8, 2009

It's a Dell Inspiron 531, and I suspect (but don't know) that a BIOS option won't help, since my mouse loaded quickly enough in Vista. This is a recent install of Windows 7, and now the mouse has moved to the end of the line.

Nonetheless, I will look at the BIOS settings...hadn't considered it, truthfully...
posted by newfers at 5:23 PM on December 8, 2009

I've seen this behaviour on Windows XP, but only when a USB mouse is plugged in for the first time. Could it be that Windows 7 is simply forgetting that your USB mouse exists? Are you using the standard Microsoft HID driver, or a fancy-schmancy manufacturer-provided one? Check the Device Manager to find out. If you've got non-generic mouse control software of any kind installed, I recommend removing it - most of that stuff is way more trouble than it's worth.
posted by flabdablet at 5:29 PM on December 8, 2009

Often the USB ports on the motherboard are actually in a USB "hub"-type device from the software perspective, except for the ones in the lower-left (where the keyboard/mouse inputs is/are). Try plugging the mouse in to one of those ports and see if things improve.
posted by 0xFCAF at 5:39 PM on December 8, 2009

How much is between your mouse and computer? Maybe there's an unpowered USB hub in the mix that causes problems.

Rule out hardware weirdness first. Burn an Ubuntu CD and boot it to see if it finds your mouse any closer. If that demo mode finds your mouse soon, even booting off a dog-slow medium like CD, then it could be Windows' drivers or whatnot. If it's about the same time, then you should rearrange.
posted by cmiller at 9:08 AM on December 9, 2009

hmm this is a wierd problem we have tons of dell machines and i have a dell xps 410 with windows 7 that doesnt do this. Maybe a bad driver for the mouse . What is the mouse brand? That would really help.
posted by majortom1981 at 9:47 AM on December 9, 2009

I have a Windows 7 netbook that does this with the built-in touch pad. The cursor just freezes for around a minute after startup. The 7100 build preview of Windows 7 did not have this problem.
posted by chairface at 3:36 PM on December 11, 2009