USB mouse sometimes stops working at boot

[Just17]

Have you got any other USB devices you can try whilst on battery power? Because in my case this isn't solely a mouse issue, it's a USB issue. All USB devices refuse to work on battery power, but all work as soon as power is connected. It's driving me nuts

Have you any powered USB devices .......  such as a HDD with its own PSU?

I wonder if it would work properly with its own PSU.

If it did that would point to a device power problem while on battery .....

[JayMot]

FYI I read somewhere that some another distro users were having similar issues, and that plugging in an external USB hub between the mouse and the computer "fixed" it for them- even an unpowered hub worked for one guy. (Sadly, I can't find mine to try it. I continue to just unplug AC power until the mouse comes on then reconnect the AC.)

To reiterate, in my case no other USB devices are affected, and a different USB mouse works. Just not this A4Tech mouse (just like this one.)

[richiereyn]

Just18

That's a good idea, unfortunately I don't have any hard drives that have their own PSU, I have two WD drives, both USB powered. But it certainly I think it's a device power problem whilst on battery, but the hardware itself is fine. I know this because if I boot the current live CD, everything works perfectly whether on battery or mains, it's only when I run Synaptic and do an update. To prove this already I did a clean install off the latest ISO. Everything worked until I updated via synaptic

[miniol]

Hi
I am having the same problem with my hp usb mouse. I charged the battery up last night, and when I came to use the laptop tonight, the mouse would not work after I had lodged in to KDE, after reading the post here, I plugged in the power adapter, and the mouse worked.
I do hope some one can fix this, as I not to adapter plugged in all the time and ruin the battery.
old ( and confused ) jim

P.S I have a ‎PIXART USB OPTICAL MOUSE if this is of any use to helping fix this problem.

Hi,
I discovered the same problem with my Logitech M195 wireless mouse. I use the mouse under PC Linux OS and Win XP on the same machine (Dell E5500) for a long time. Everything was fine until the last week. I'm not sure the exact date but after one of the recent updates I found that my mouse doesn't work at all when my laptop is supplied from battery. I tried to remove and plug back the USB mouse receiver but it didn't change anything. It looks like the problem is only with the mouse - I have no such problem with a USB memory stick. 
Plugging my AC adapter brings the mouse back to work. No such problem under Win XP.

This problem looks like a software bug as it started after one of the recent PCLO updates. I'm not sure if this is related to KDE or Linux kernel?

[richiereyn]

Well, I have noted that whilst the OS boots, the mouse is powered because turning it upside down you can see it glow. But it goes dead just as it's logging in to KDE... So I don't think it's a kernel issue. But then again I note that a package called "laptop-mode-tools" was included in the last update. I'm wondering if this package is causing the issue. The description of this package in Synaptic is:

"Userland scripts to control "laptop mode" Laptop mode is a Linux kernel feature that allows your laptop to save considerable power, by allowing the hard drive to spin down for longer periods of time. This package contains the userland scripts that are needed to enable laptop "mode."

I'm not experienced or technical enough to really know, it's purely a guess.

[richiereyn]

As an update to my last post, it appears that it is the package "laptop-mode-tools" that's causing the problem. Removing it using Synaptic and rebooting solves the problem. I now have USB support back on battery. Oh Joy!!