MX Linux Forum

Just re-installed MX16 yet again, previous problems gone, but now the behaviour with the mouse is worse than erratic. I wonder if the is something to do with kde??
For one thing, the scroll wheel doesn't respond at all. Also it's impossible to use the mouse normally as anything clicked on just disappears up into the side panel. I can drag the item to the screen and it will usually only stay there as long as I hold down the left click. The rest is really impossible to describe properly, other than to say that stuff jumps about and / or disappears unpredictably, and when there is a screen display it shimmers every time the mouse is moved. Also the side display of which window is active will often oscillate rapidly between its two states. I can't even use the file manager to look at any files because of this condition.
Another thing is that if I click on, say, settings then it's impossible to select what i want to run because the display scrolls up and down unmanageably when I use the scroll bar to try and select.
I have checked that the mouse itself is in fact OK and working correctly.
I am having to use this forum via a windows machine (and the same mouse!)!

If you are using the KDE community version, then this belongs in that forum.

It would help if you give some details.

Mouse:
Is it wired?
Is it Bluetooth with a USB adaptor, or via built-in Bluetooth?
Is it wireless via a USB adaptor?

Machine:
Laptop or desktop?

Chris

I don't know what version I am using. It is from the MX16 iso which I downloaded and installed with all default settings. Previous installs from this disk did not show these symptoms. I only mentioned kde as I thiught it might be related.
The mouse is wired, and is exactly as it was before the re-install. I only re-installed becaus of problems with samba, and the re-install cured them.
The machine is a 64 bit desktop with Intel processor. I cannot recall more detail without looking into records.

Can you give us the file name of the iso you used to install?

Looking at the DVD in Windows, it identifies itself as
MXLIVE
and then down one level there are three or four directories, including boot, and one is
MX-16_May_x64
which I guess should identify the edition etc.

I downloaded the iso and have used it a few times in my attempts to get MX16 working correctly, but I have never had this problem with the mouse actions.
I am using the same mouse on this Win system at the moment.

I hope this info helps. I don't have the downloaded file on this machine, and can't access it on the MX16 machine of course, even if I have kept it.

I do realise that yet another re-install might fix this, but every time it seems to throw up another problem. Since th big samba problem seems to be fixed at last, I am not too ken on risking another re-install unless I really have to!

DId you look at Settings > Mouse and Touchpad? Is the mouse identified correctly, etc.?

That was the first thing I tried to do.In fact that's the nub of the problem!
It's impossible to get the mouse to control the pointer properly. It will move about the empty screen OK, I can click on Settings, and then as soon as I move over to the list the list jumps up and down uncontrollably. I can scroll the list by putting the mouse pointer in the scroll bar in the normal way, then as soon as I move the mouse over to select Mouse and Touchpad the list shhots either to the top or the bottom depending on where I put the mouse. No way can I stop it to click on it in the normal way.

When you have no mouse, you can navigate through most things using the keyboard. Use the 'Windows' key to open Whisker, the arrow keys to move around, Tab to select the next item, Alt-F4 to close a window and so on.

Can you unplug the mouse, then use the keyboard to navigate to the location Jerry suggested to check that your mouse has been correctly identified as to the make/model?

Chris

OK thanks. I'll try that tomorrow and report back.

I downloaded the iso

Yes, I was trying to get the file name of that ISO you downloaded. Do you still have it, or only have the DVD?

Do you have KDE installed, or did you mean the default XFCE desktop? None of my KDE respins have May in the file name, and there is some tweaking necessary if you add KDE yourself to MX 16.

Also, if you have a hardware issue, the standard procedure involves giving us the output of from the start.

1. I have managed just to look at the output of inxi -F, but cannot capture it in the present situation other than to photograph the screen, which I have done.

I think the info you need is probably
Distro: MX-16_x64 Metamorphosis 12 December 2016
System: Viglen DQ35JO
Intel Core 2 duo E8500 (-MCP-) Cache 6144MB

2. I must be using the default XCFE desktop as I have not changed anything there. I had wrongly assumed that KDE was the the default.

I am hoping that, if someone can tell me which file to edit, I might be able to run using the live dvd and hopefully edit the relevant file to what is required. Failing that I think yet another re-install is going to be the only way out.

Thinking back, I now think that what has caused the mouse problem may be that while the installation was proceeding, instead of just getting the conventional coffee, I used the KVM switch to go over to the Win machine, and so the installing distro failed to see and recognise the mouse, simply seeing some sort of passive termination. Evidently a big mistake on my part, and a lesson learned.

I think I have found the cause of the problem.
So once again it's Thank You to all who offered help, and this thread can be regarded as closed.
It seems the problem was something to do with a faulty PS2-to-USB adaptor wich somehow caused the OS to see the mouse as a barcode reader instead of a mouse - hence the jittering of the display when I moved the mouse, presumably it was trying to scan.
Replacing the mouse with a USB wireless mouse enabled a clean re-install and now smooth operation of MX16.

Faulty hardware is tough to diagnose, especially remotely--so good job!

Can you please go to your first post, edit it and put [Solved} or something similar in the subject box.