If your wireless mouse stopped working and you’re scratching your head, asking yourself “Why Won’t My Wireless Mouse Work?” this is the right guide for you. We have done our research and identified several factors that could lead to a wireless mouse malfunctioning or becoming unresponsive.
So, if your wireless mouse pointer is moving erratically, doesn’t respond to gestures or is simply dead, read ahead, we have a proven solution to bail you out.
Why Won’t My Wireless Mouse Work?
There are several reasons why your wireless mouse would stop working. These include improper connection, incompatibility with the operating system, dead battery, insufficient power, malfunctioning ports and possible issues with a fast startup.
Below is how to fix each of these issues.
Wireless Mouse Not Connected Properly
Before taking any extreme actions, you should first make sure you’ve properly connected the wireless mouse. Try doing the following:
- Check if the wireless receiver is connected to a functional port with enough power. You can do this by inserting the receiver into different ports.
- If all the ports won’t work, try the same on a different computer.
- If the mouse still doesn’t respond, try changing the batteries. They might have run out. If the batteries are new, make sure you inserted them correctly into the wireless mouse.
- After changing the batteries, unplug the wireless receiver and wait for about 10 seconds then reinsert it. This will help to re-establish the wireless connection.
- Make sure the wireless receiver is within range and nothing is blocking its connection.
Incompatibility with Windows 10
A lot of wireless mice issues end up being an issue of incompatibility with operating systems, especially Windows 10. Although most new wireless mice are compatible with Windows 10, some older ones might develop problems.
Usually, when a wireless mouse is incompatible with an OS, it means there is a problem with the mouse drivers or the OS itself. In this case, you will have to either reinstall your mouse driver or consider replacing the mouse.
Reinstall the Mouse Driver
Follow the following steps to quickly reinstall your mouse driver in Windows:
- Press the Windows and X key on the keyboard at the same time the click on the Device Manager.
- Double-click the ‘Mice and other pointing devices’ option to expand it.
- Right-click on the wireless mouse name and click ‘Uninstall’ then confirm on the pop-up box
- After uninstalling, restart the computer to apply the changes.
- When the system reboots, it will automatically reinstall the mouse driver.
If this doesn’t work, you can try reinstalling the operating system. However, this can be a long, tedious process, so you’d have to consider whether it’s not simpler to replace the mouse.
Reinstall Windows 10
If after updating the drivers your wireless mouse still doesn’t work, you can opt for a fresh install of Windows 10. Although this is a big step that some people are not willing to take, it has worked for most people who had issues with their wireless mice.
Reinstalling Windows is necessary if the mouse is utterly crucial to your laptop’s usability. If you are not sure how to do it yourself, you can either use a helpful online tutorial or find an expert to do it for you.
Issues with Fast Startup
While the fast startup feature helps to significantly reduce boot up time, it has been associated with most compatibility issues. A wireless mouse not working is one of them.
If you update the mouse drivers but it still doesn’t work, you might have to disable the fast startup feature.
Disable Fast Startup
Follow these steps to disable the fast startup feature and have your wireless mouse working again.
- Press a combination of Windows and the R key at the same time to bring up the dialog box.
- Type powercfg.cpl on the box and press Enter or click OK. Wait for the Power Options box to appear then click on ‘Choose what the power button does‘. It is the second option on the left column.
- On the ‘shutdown settings‘, uncheck the ‘Turn on fast startup box’.
- Click on Save Changes.
- Restart your computer. The boot time will take longer than you are used to. This helps to provide ample time for the wireless mouse drivers to initialize.
Sometimes you might find that the options under shutdown settings are greyed out meaning you can’t make any changes. In this case, you will need to click on the ‘Change settings that are currently unavailable’ option.
This is on the upper part of the box just before the Power button and lid settings.
Conclusion
There is a high chance that one of the above methods will help fix your wireless mouse issues. However, if none of them works, we recommend that you contact the manufacturer of the mouse for further assistance.
