Wireless USB Mouse Not Working on Surface 2

[mcraine]

I am trying to resolve a problem with a Surface 2 where the wireless (NOT Bluetooth) usb mouse stops working. This started several months ago. A new mouse solved the problem for a while. In the past few months the new mouse doesn't work or works intermittently. A third and fourth mouse of different manufactures also won't work most of the time but occasionally a reboot with the mouse usb bud unplugged will allow the mouse to work for a short time after the usb bud is plugged back in. I am troubleshooting this via telephone with my father who owns the Surface 2. Any thoughts? I did plug in an external hard drive to the usb port and that worked fine.

 

[RajeevT]

Sounds obvious but did you try with brand new batteries?

 

[mcraine]

I did try that. The first mouse I tried when we got the Surface 2 stopped working after a few weeks. It did work on other machines. We bought a new wireless mouse and that worked for several months. In the last few weeks it seemed to stop working intermittently. A reboot often got it back. This week it stopped working completely yet works fine on other machines. Bought two new mice this week and neither will work. I tested the usb port with a portable hard drive and that seems to work fine. I'm going to try a Bluetooth mouse next and see if that works.

 

[Cobb]

I have the wedge mouse that connects by bluetooth and it works fine. I also shutdown and start up the surface as needed vs use the sleep option. If there isnt interference with another device it maybe sleeping vs restarting that is causing linking issue.

I guess the question is can he see it on the bluetooth menu and its not paired or is it not showing up at all on the bluetooth menu? Then plan B, try another blue tooth device at the same time to see if it can detect the mouse.

 

[mcraine]

The mice that have failed have not been Bluetooth. We finally bought a Bluetooth mouse and that seems to be working fine. No idea what a non-Bluetooth wireless mouse won't work. Especially since I had one working for months.

 

[DMGal]

Hi mcraine - I'm having the same problem with my Mother's Surface 2, so I'm curious - has the bluetooth mouse been more consistently reliable??

Thanks!!

 

[mcraine]

Solid as a rock. It has worked perfectly since the day we connected it.

 

[hotphil]

First thing I'd check is my pet hate: Device Manger>USB> find your USB device, right-click, Properties "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".
That setting has cost me so much time (and data!) in the past, it's just not funny.

 

[schmechf]

I have this exact same problem. Drives me crazy. Is a work machine so will have to get IT to try turning off power saving for USB devices and see if that works.