Everything you need to know about gaming mouse not working, 8 fixes for double-clicking, disconnecting, and tracking issues, explained plainly.
Work through these in order, the most common causes come first.
Our picks
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SteelSeries
A light, affordable wireless gaming mouse with an 18K DPI sensor and dual wireless modes.
Logitech
The updated G502 keeps the famous shape and adds hybrid optical-mechanical switches and a HERO 25K sensor.
Logitech
A low-cost wired gaming mouse with an 8,000 DPI sensor, 6 programmable buttons and RGB.
FAQ
The Windows double-click speed setting reduces false double-clicks from a bouncing switch. In Settings, Bluetooth and Devices, Mouse, Additional mouse settings, move the double-click speed slider toward Fast. This increases the time required for Windows to register two separate clicks as a double-click, filtering the false signal from a bouncing switch. This is a software workaround, the switch still bounces, but the effect on the cursor is suppressed. It works until the switch degrades further and bounces too fast even for the increased threshold.
Input lag in a gaming mouse comes from four sources: high latency connection (Bluetooth vs 2.4GHz vs wired), high USB polling interval (125Hz vs 1000Hz), in-game mouse sensitivity settings, or Windows enhanced pointer precision (mouse acceleration). Check polling rate in the companion software, 1000Hz is the competitive standard. Disable Windows enhanced pointer precision. Use 2.4GHz wireless or wired connection. If the mouse still feels laggy after these changes, the companion software or a background process is interfering with input processing, test in clean boot mode.
A cursor that moves without input has one of three causes: a contaminated sensor (debris on the lens creating false movement signals), a surface with reflective or repetitive patterns that confuses the sensor, or tracking angle calibration failure (the sensor is not perfectly perpendicular to the surface and the software compensation has drifted). Clean the sensor lens, move to a clean solid mouse pad, and run the lift-off distance calibration in the companion software (G Hub, Synapse, and SteelSeries Engine all have this calibration tool).
Scroll wheel middle-click failure is usually mechanical debris under the wheel encoder or a failed click switch in the wheel assembly. Spray a small amount of electronics contact cleaner into the gap around the scroll wheel w here it meets the body. Rotate the wheel repeatedly to distribute the cleaner and dislodge debris. Allow to dry fully before testing. If middle-click still does not register, the switch under the scroll wheel encoder has failed, this requires switch replacement. Scroll wheel middle-click failures are covered by gaming mouse warranties in most cases.
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