The nonsense never ends: MS Bluetooth Mouse

[Roy]

Yesterday I received a replacement SP2/128 from Microsoft. About a year since I purchased the first one and a year since the endless headaches began - after 30+ years of both professional and home use of PCs using a range of OSs. I've been using Windows since NT 3.5 on dozens of PCs of all types. At one time I even used to build them occasionally.

NOTHING has ever caused me the problems that the SP2/Win 8.1 has. But I'll spare anyone reading this (which I imagine excludes Microsoft) of a full accounting.

I finished installing the new unit's patches and applications and discovered that at last the Bluetooth "Sculpt Comfort" (or somesuch) mouse actually now worked without glitching every 10 minutes or so - a well known problem with bluetooth mice on this device (and maybe others, I don't know.)
Next morning on boot up there was an alert saying the the MS keyboard and mouse centre wanted to update something. My first reaction - which I should have maintained - was to reject the kind offer. The Type keyboard and MSBT mouse were working fine, thanks. But I ignored my scepticism and went ahead. Of course now the mouse is back to periodic and unpredictable freezing. They just refuse to fix this kind of nonsense, year on year.

Additionally the replacement SP2 has an insufficiently strongly magnetised power "socket". It can easily appear to be connected when it isn't. I was alerted to this by pulsing of the display's brightness. Who knows what the provenance of this unit might be?

I'm stuck with the damned thing. When the battery declines MS will want almost £200 to replace it (cf Apple who replace the iPad/battery for £85 all-in.) Never, ever will I buy Microsoft hardware again.

 

[mcsenerd]

Wow Roy, sounds like you've had a bad experience. Can't really help you much other than to say that if you're also using 2.4 Ghz WiFi, then that might explain some of the Bluetooth "issues". My Wifi is all 5Ghz, so I've never had a problem with the MS Surface Arc mouse. I've also never had the issues you've had with any of the Surfaces that I have (Surface Pro 1, 2, and 3). As far as the SP1/SP2 power connector...I agree. It's not the best design in the world and that's a big reason why they likely ditched the design for the "fin" based tip in the SP3 (which works MUCH better). I choose to make sure that the light comes on at the tip before I decide it's "connected". Also, there should be indication in the taskbar that it is now on AC power.

 

[sharpuser]

Sorry about all those problems, you're having.
I don't own that mouse, but now you've got me wondering if the periodic freezing happens in multiple places (away from home?). That is a giveaway for RF interference.... Not everyone has your poor experience. At this point, take that mouse outside, dig a hole, and bury it.

Regarding the power connector, as @mcsenerd wrote, the SP3 connector is of far better design. But keep the cable clip on that connector away from the end, because it will keep the connector from properly finding its slot.

Also, with the SP2 and SP3 connectors, some 3rd party charging cables have an LED which is lit regardless of the connection to the computer. This is a lousy cheap trick, making me doubt the safety of the charger altogether.

 

[Philtastic]

SP2 owner, never had a problem with Bluetooth mice (both the Surface Wedge and a Razer Orochi) even when using wifi at the same time (such as playing Diablo 3). My SP2 has the 4300U CPU. My power connector is fine. Could be that you've just gotten unlucky in terms of units you've had which sucks for you but I would say, on average, the SP2 and now especially the SP3 have done really well in being quality products.

I wonder if certain places are getting short-changed in terms of quality of units. I'm in Canada and I've actually had 2 SP2s (I traded the first one in to get the updated 4300U CPU) and both seemed quite fine. OP, where are you in the world?

 

[New2ToMe]

I have that same mouse with this SP2 and get the occasional freezing for about 15-20 seconds, maybe once a week. BUT, the occasional freezing has been happening for years on other win7 and win8 devices too. I have never been able to figure out what is causing it. It mostly happens when in Firefox, but on rare occasions it will happen in File Explorer.

I suspect it is some program or add-on to Firefox that I always use on my PCs. I have done security scans with all manner of programs and never found anything bad. I have also run WireShark to see if anything untoward is being shipped off to a URL and have found nothing. Yes it is irritating, but there are always some irritating things in life that we just have to live around.

I am a programmer and have a bunch of stuff I automatically install when I get a new PC, but am comfortable enough with the efforts I have made regarding the mouse freezing to believe it is a benign thing. YMMV.

Now, that BT Mouse. I found that when installed the windows MS Keyboard and Mouse Driver (MS-K&MD) software that it kept nagging about with Action Center every reboot, things got worse. I uninstalled the MS-K&MD and just let it use the default mouse drivers and all returned to some normality, albeit still with those occasional freezes.

So, OP, take a chill-pill, live with the imperfect power adapter connection, just take a few seconds of your valuable time to slow down when attaching it. MS are well aware they screwed up with that design and the SP3 connected redesign makes it amazingly simple to get it right every time. But, we SP2 fans must suffer a little for the format we prefer. By that I mean, I bought my SP2 (actually two of them) recently in preference to the SP3, not because of cost, but the 10" size makes more sense for a tablet to me.

To quote an Aussie friend of mine, "Don't spit the dummy (Oz term for baby-pacifier I am told)"