Missing Mouse
Missing Mouse: a reader asks…
I have a Lenovo all-in-one with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Today I’m trying to use my computer and the darn mouse cursor is missing! What should I do?
How long has it been since you replaced the batteries in the wireless mouse? Generally, you can get anywhere from a few weeks to a year on a set of batteries, but different mouse models operate differently. So perhaps the first thing to try is to put in a fresh set of batteries, and also restart your computer.
If you know your batteries are good, then go right to unplugging the smal USB “Unifying Receiver” and then plugging it back in. Sometimes, wireless devices can lose their connection and it just takes restarting the connection mechanism to get them communicating again. Look on the back of the Lenovo screen for USB connections, those are small rectangular holes with a tab in the hole (like a tongue). One of them should have a small device plugged in – that’s the Unifying Receiver.
If there are no USB ports with a Unifying Receiver, then your model of all-in-one may have a Bluetooth mouse. Look for a Connect button on the bottom of the mouse that you can press to restore the connection. You can also look in Windows’ notification area for a blue Bluetooth icon that you can click on to open the Bluetooth Control Panel and make your computer “discover-able” to Bluetooth devices.
But most often you’ll see a tiny device plugged into a USB port, and that is the most likely thing to fix your connection problem. Please note that the USB device may be hard for you to grab hold of and may be harder than normal to plug and unplug. Be sure when you plug it back in that it’s in all the way.
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