Mouse Randomly Stops Moving (12 Causes, Fixes)

Have you ever had your mouse stop moving out of nowhere?

Sometimes, your cursor disappears, too.

Does this keep happening every few minutes or even seconds?

Your cursor freezing can be pretty annoying, especially if you are unable to use the keyboard instead.

The information we have provided below can help with any type of cursor freezing that you may come across.

Causes and fixes may be different in various versions of Windows, but we made sure to cover solutions for each of them.

Mouse Randomly Stops Moving (Causes, Fixes)

Cause 1: Non-Functioning Mouse

First things first.

You’ve got to make sure your mouse works properly.

Computer mice are prone to wear and tear, especially cheaper ones.

Plus, if you’ve recently dropped the mouse or you’re not usually the most careful while handling your mouse, you’re more likely to have this issue.

Look for any frayed wires, visible signs of damage, or damaged USB ports.

How To Fix

Make sure the light at the bottom of the mouse is on.

It shows that the device is connected to the computer and is active.

You could also rule out a damaged mouse by connecting it to another computer.

If it doesn’t work on the second system, you can be 100% sure that the mouse is faulty and either replace or repair it.

Cause 2: Not Enough Power

Power issues are common in wireless mice, which need a battery to operate.

When the batteries reach the end of their life, your mouse starts to act weirdly and randomly stops moving.

That’s why the first thing that you should do with a wireless mouse is to make sure its batteries are full and functional.

How To Fix

Consider switching out the batteries if your mouse is wireless.

If you use rechargeable batteries, check if they’re fully charged.

After making sure the batteries are on a full charge, use them on another mouse or device, if possible, to make sure they are working properly.

In case the batteries don’t work in the new device, consider buying new ones.

Cause 3: Physical Disconnection

Wired mice use the USB port to connect to your computer, so the problem may come from the USB port.

However, that’s not the only point of connection you should check.

For example, an optical mouse should have the light on its back panel fully touching the mouse pad.

Sometimes dirt or debris can cause your mouse to malfunction, preventing it from fully contacting the pad.

Even a dirty or old mousepad can lead to sloppy mouse movements, leading to frequent disconnections.

How To Fix

Try another USB slot.

Some motherboards have two different groups of USB slots, one controlled by the base Intel chipset and the other by the motherboard-specific chipset.

Don’t be afraid to move things around and check if it works.

Even a clogged USB port can be the culprit, so you can clean the ports with compressed air.

Make sure the mouse is clean using a microfiber cloth and rubbing alcohol.

Some optical mice have holes in which the infrared or the LED light is housed.

You could blow into this hole or use compressed air to drive out any dirt or debris built up inside.

Also, if the mousepad is dirty or old, get a new one to make sure you’re not losing your mouse to a cheap mousepad.

Wireless mice may also lose their connection, which is more common than wired mice.

In such a case, you just need to disconnect it from the computer and connect it again.

To do so, unplug the USB dongle from the computer and turn the mouse off.

Now plug the USB connection back in and turn on the mouse after a minute.

Cause 4: Windows Disappearing Cursor

Windows 8,10, and higher have a disappearing cursor feature designed for user convenience while typing.

When this feature is enabled, the pointer disappears to give you one less distraction and comes back when you move the mouse.

If your mouse stops moving, or your pointer disappears only when you’re typing, this feature is a likely cause.

Fortunately, it has an easy fix: disable this feature.

How To Fix

To disable the disappearing feature in Windows 10, follow these steps:

Open Control Panel
Left-click on the “Mouse” icon.
A window with “Mouse Properties” should open; you will need to left-click on the “Pointer Options” tab on the upper side of the window.
Uncheck the box next to “Hide pointer while typing.”
Click OK and reboot your computer.

While you’re in the “Mouse Properties” window, you can check for another mouse setting that users have reported can cause the mouse to randomly freeze.

While it may not be the case in your system, you could give it a try.

After you open the “Mouse Properties” window, navigate to the “Pointer” tab.

Under “Scheme,” open the dropdown menu and select “None.”

Now go to the bottom of the window and see if the “Enable pointer shadow” is checked.

If so, uncheck the box and apply changes.

Cause 5: Driver Issues

Updated Driver

Sometimes when you update your drivers, you create conflicts with the other drivers on your computer.

The fix is simple.

You simply need to roll back the new driver to see if the problem gets fixed.

Here are the steps:

Type in “Device Manager” in the Windows search box on the left-hand corner of the taskbar.
Scroll down to find “Mice and other pointing devices.”
Expand the menu and find your mouse.
Right-click on your mouse and select “properties.”
Go to the “Driver” tab and select the “Roll Back Driver” option.

If the rollback option is grayed out, it means Windows doesn’t have the previous update, and you need to install it manually.

To do so, you should head to the manufacturer’s website and look for the previous updates.

Then, uninstall the current update and install the previous version after downloading it from the manufacturer’s website.

To uninstall the driver, you need to take the above steps for rolling back.

Instead of clicking on “Properties,” select “Uninstall device.”

Old Driver

The opposite can also be true.

Software programs get updated frequently, and you sometimes need to install new versions of your drivers to make them compatible with the rest of your setup.

Here is how you can do that:

Go to “Device Manager” and click on “Mice and other pointing devices.”
Right-click on your mouse and select “Update drivers.”

Alternatively, you could click on “Uninstall device” and restart your computer.

After Windows boots up, it will automatically look for the latest updates and install them.

Cause 6: Pointer Precision Issues

Enhance Pointer Precision is a type of mouse acceleration.

When you have this setting enabled, Windows will monitor how fast you move your mouse and adjust your DPI as you do so.

The DPI increases when you move the mouse faster.

As the DPI grows, your cursor moves a greater distance.

How To Fix

You can easily fix this issue by disabling the Pointer Precision feature.

Type “Control Panel” in the Windows search box and click on the top result.
Find “Mouse” and click on it.
Go to the “Pointers Options” tab and uncheck “Enhance Pointer Precision.”

Cause 7: HP Control Zone

If you have an HP device, your mouse may stop moving due to the HP Control Zone feature.

It’s a program developed by Synaptics and divides the touchpad into three zones, each performing a different action.

It defines an auto-start registry entry upon installation and setup, making this program run on each Windows boot for all user logins.

It adds a background controller service that runs automatically.

However, many users have reported that it develops glitches quickly, leading to problems like randomly clicking on different things.

How To Fix

If your HP device has this mouse issue, you can try disabling it.

To disable HP Control Zone, follow these steps:

Navigate to the Mouse section in the Control Panel.
Go to the HP Control Zone tab and disable HP Control Zone.
Click on Apply and OK.

Cause 8: AdAware

AdAware is a powerful antivirus tool that can protect your computer from spyware and malware.

However, users have reported that this program has caused issues with their mice, causing the cursor to disappear or freeze.

How To Fix

Uninstalling a security program like AdAware can put your system in danger of malware infections.

Therefore, you may want to try other fixes before uninstalling the program.

You could try updating AdAware and see if it solves your issue.

Then, rule out this program by uninstalling it, and if the problem persists, re-install it to make sure your system remains safe.

Cause 9: Realtek HD Audio Manager

Realtek HD Audio Manager acts as a control panel for your audio adapters.

It automatically detects newly added devices like speakers or headphones or microphones on your PC, allowing you to set them up when you link them, but it can cause issues with your devices.

That’s because it starts upon each bootup and may interfere with the functionality of some other devices.

Some users have even reported Realtek causing Windows to crash.

If Realtek is among your recently installed programs, after which the mouse issue emerged, then you should look into it.

How To Fix

You need to prevent Realtek HD Audio Manager from starting automatically with your PC.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
When the Task Manager opens, go to the Startup tab. Find Realtek HD Audio Manager, right-click it and choose Disable.
Restart your PC and check if the issue reappears.

Suppose you can’t find Realtek HD Audio Manager on the list.

In that case, you can fix the problem by going to C: Program Files > RealtekAudioHDA and renaming FMAPP.exe.

Cause 10: Virus Infections

Malware and viruses can create a wide range of issues, some of which we may never suspect come from an attack.

If you can’t find any apparent reasons for your mouse issue, make sure your system is clean and virus-free.

How To Fix

Windows has a built-in anti-malware tool called Windows Defender that frequently scans your system and looks for threats.

However, it may not do a good job of detecting every possible threat.

Because of this, you may want to install a more powerful antivirus and run a system scan to remove any virus or malware that might be lurking on your system.

Cause 11: Missing Or Corrupt System Files

Missing or corrupt system files can frequently emerge after you install or uninstall software, updates, and hardware drivers.

During the installation process, different system files may go missing, which can cause a myriad of problems for your operating system.

They can range from random freezes and crashes to Blue Screen and startup issues.

It would help to check for these corrupt file systems and resolve their issues to see if your mouse problem goes away.

How To Fix

Use the System File Checker to repair missing or corrupted system files.

This tool allows users to scan for corruption in Windows system files and restore corrupted files.

Open Start, type: CMD
Right-click CMD
Click Run as administrator
Type in at the prompt OR Copy and Paste these one at a time (hitting enter after each):
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Also, run the System File Checker utility:
Open Start, type: CMD
Right-click CMD
Click Run as administrator
At the Command Prompt, type: SFC/scannow
This scan will check for any integrity violations
Restart your system