USB Overdrive Compatibility

[Front 424]

I have some problems and questions regarding the USB Overdrive extension. 

I have only one mouse that seems to work nearly flawlessly with Overdrive.  It is a Dynex.  I've tried several other mice and had very mixed results.  Usually, when testing them, I would start up the computer with the mouse to be tested, and once the mouse cursor was up and running on the OS loading screen, the cursor would track fine.  I could move it all around and everything.  As soon as the desktop fully loaded, the cursor would suddenly stop responding to tracking, but the buttons would still respond.  Often, the arrow cursor would immediately disappear off screen, but I could hit the right-click button and bring up the contextual menu.

The one mouse that works (Dynex) I can always move the cursor around, and using it with the mouse being tested at the same time with both of them connected, usually the buttons on the other mice still work, but if I nudge the test device enough to trigger the tracking, the cursor always flies off to the right of the screen.  So I can maneuver the cursor with the working mouse, and use the buttons on the second mouse fine at the same time, but the problem devices rarely work on their own.  I have tested them with the working mouse disabled from startup.  System responds to both of them, but only one functions correctly.  I think I have tried up to 3 other mice.

To make matters weirder, one time just recently I started up with a mouse that I had previously tested that didn't seem to work, and actually got the cursor to retain its control after the desktop loaded.  How? I have no clue!
 Previously trying this particular mouse, as best as I recall, it behaved like the others before with the cursor going off screen.  But this time, although the cursor would track with the mouse finally, the right click button no longer worked.

So my question is basically, why can I only get one mouse to work right everytime, and the others are not?  Am I doing something wrong?  Are only certain mice compatible?  Is there a conflicting extension?  Are all of them cursed??? 

So if anyone has had compatibility issues or knows a solution, feel free to chime in! 

My main reason for concern is that the one mouse that works I think is getting old because the right click/context menu button I sometimes have to click twice or even three times to bring up the menu, and I have had other old mice gradually lose their responsiveness.  And not being able to get other mice to behave properly is kinda silly.  I don't get why this is happening.

Thank you! 



BTW QS 933 with 9.2.2 in case you're wondering

[Front 424]

Extra note, these current mice are all wireless.  I had a wired Logitech (with its own drivers) for a good while, but the left mouse button was starting to not want to respond.  It would work most times, but occasionally I would have to click 2 or 3 times, and sometimes it would cause problems.

[IIO]

you should either remove the apple mouse control panel, or see if it makes a difference when you rename it so that it loads before usboverdrive.

another thing to try would be to remove the device driver for the mice in question (if it has one)

[GaryN]

There may also be conflicts since you seem to be trying to use multiple wireless mice simultaneously. Are you using separate receivers? I doubt that USB overdrive can properly handle a herd of mice all at once.

[Front 424]

Thanks to both of you for replying.  Sorry it took me so long to get around to responding.

I must say, I think I solved my dilemma by accident for lack of a better term! 

Only the one Dynex mouse worked fully by itself.  None of the other mice would scroll the pointer when connected alone, but the buttons worked for the most part, which is why i sometimes tested them with the Dynex which could move the mouse cursor, and I could click the different buttons on the other mice just to see if they performed properly.  They would also trigger/highlight the corresponding button selection in the Overdrive panel.  But alas the mouse pointer always seemed to instantly scroll to the right of the screen and stay there.

Anyhow, I deleted the System Mouse Control Panel as suggested, and no change.. 
Then for whatever reason I changed the "Speed" selection in the Overdrive panel from "system" to a custom speed.  I think it is now currently at Medium 40.  Don't recall ever changing that setting with any of the non-working mice attached, especially because the mouse pointer doesn't work!

At that moment, the mouse pointer would now move about properly!  I've only tested it with one other mouse so far, but this mouse now works when only the buttons would respond before!

Is the cursor "Speed" setting something that has caused problems for others?  Certainly for sch a simple solution it is definitely something I overlooked for a long time.
  I still don't understand why the Dynex always worked correctly, but three other mice tested did not.  But the one thing that seemed to be common is that during the mac startup screen when the mouse cursor first appears, all the mice could move the cursor correctly until the desktop fully loaded, and then the cursor immediately leapt to the far right side of the screen and could be moved no more! (except for the Dynex of course)

Odd.       Just wish I knew what it was thinking, or not thinking!

Anyhow, thanks again.  Even though neither of your replies directly helped me, they somehow spurred me to make a simple change which fixed my problem!  So you inadvertently  did solve the dilemma in a funny way by making me look closer! 

[IIO]

Then for whatever reason I changed the "Speed" selection in the Overdrive panel from "system" to a custom speed. 

aha, that sound like an design error of overdrive... value is not added to the prefs when slider is not moved...

great that you solved it and thanks for sharing.

[IIO]

it is because mouse prefs are partially going into the PRAM i think.

that is also why i run my mouses without their device drivers. (with driver their speed setting are weird.)

[Front 424]

Then for whatever reason I changed the "Speed" selection in the Overdrive panel from "system" to a custom speed. 

aha, that sound like an design error of overdrive... value is not added to the prefs when slider is not moved...

great that you solved it and thanks for sharing.

There is a little description dialog field in the bottom right of Overdrive panel when you click on various selections and the Speed pull down menu says that the "System" selection relies on the default mouse speed within the OS.  Apparently some kind of conflict..
Could you please elucidate on this "value is not added to the prefs when slider is not moved..."   just for clarities sake?!? 

As far as drivers, only my previous wired Logitech had its own drivers and control panels.  That was before I discovered Overdrive.  That mouse was getting old and responsiveness was getting just a tad glitchy.
I may be mistaken, but it seems that some of the Overdrive documentation is a bit sparse regarding some of these peculiarities?

Good that we can flesh some of this out!  Thanks again for your input!

[Front 424]

And now to my next question: anyone used Overdrive to good effect with any gamepads?  Wouldn't mind being able to play some old console emulators, but I am unsure as to the compatibility or interoperability with or without Overdrive.

[IIO]

just for clarities sake?!? 

i basically wanted to say about that what you found out about the "system" setting.

and if i should  be honest i think i need to pull my claim that it is a design error.

i can imagine situations where somebody wants to run his apple mouse as is, but then use a joystick or trackpad in a CAD app or shooter game utilizing the usboverdrive functionality.

so ponting to the mouse controlpanels (and its prefs and drivers) can also make sense.

[IIO]

As far as drivers, only my previous wired Logitech had its own drivers and control panels.  That was before I discovered Overdrive.

my first logitech wouldnt remember its speed settings unless i put the mouse controlpanel in autostart folder, so that it is opened and saved at startup.

that was when i reinstalled overdrive

[Front 424]

just for clarities sake?!? 

i basically wanted to say about that what you found out about the "system" setting.

and if i should  be honest i think i need to pull my claim that it is a design error.

i can imagine situations where somebody wants to run his apple mouse as is, but then use a joystick or trackpad in a CAD app or shooter game utilizing the usboverdrive functionality.

so ponting to the mouse controlpanels (and its prefs and drivers) can also make sense.

I wonder if my particular experience is singular or if other people have had that happen?  Seems there are so many variations in systems and OS's that often a single answer doesn't actually resolve all the issues.

I still don't get why the one mouse worked great, but all the others had the mouse cursor stuck at the far right side of the screen, except when the system was still loading.  I don't remember testing all of them without USB Overdrive installed.  I wonder how they would behave using the standard system interface?

[IIO]

like i said, my first third mouse didnt work properly with its custom driver software.

and you can say what you want about mice with only one button: but back in the days the apple mouse was extremely precise, you never missed one pixel when programming or in photoshop. third party mice alyways stretch and scale the positions, and some even interpolate to make smoothing possible at fast movements.

[Opualuan]

I realize this is an old thread, but finding it really helped me out- hope sharing my experience may help others. I had the same issue with USB overdrive, three different mice stuck to the bottom of the screen. I can confirm changing the USB overdrive mouse speed setting to anything other than ‘system’ resolved the problem. Tip to be able to do this while your mouse is not working- start up with extensions disabled, usb overdrive is disabled until restart but permits changing settings even with extensions off. Great utility after resolving this hitch!

[DieHard]

FIX: MOUSE STUCK AT BOTTOM OF SCREEN

... three different mice stuck to the bottom of the screen. I can confirm changing the USB overdrive mouse speed setting to anything other than ‘system’ resolved the problem. Tip to be able to do this while your mouse is not working- start up with extensions disabled, usb overdrive is disabled until restart but permits changing settings even with extensions off.

This is an excellent tip, thank you, I am sure this will help others