Re: Cordless keyboards, mice and telephones.
Baron
> Maybe some poor soul will see this post and resolve an odd problem.
>
> Found myself tracking the cause of accelerated graphics pauses while
> gaming last six weeks. Spent much time reading logs and testing my
> graphics card looking for the reason of pauses only on graphic
> acceleration. Tried different kernels and nvidia drivers. Until I
> finally concluded it not to be the graphics card and began checking
> the cordless keyboard/mouse combo.
>
> Tried different keys for movement and still had the same problem.
> Then, looking over to where the keyboard/mouse receiver rests on my
> desk, which is next to a new portable phone - yeah, about 6 weeks old,
> I decided to move the receiver away from the phone about 12" thinking
> the phone's polling and receivers' polling may be clashing. BINGO !
> That was the culprit.
>
> Lesson is obvious but the cause hadn't been.
>
I had a neighbour ask me to pop over because he had a problem with a
mouse with a mind of its own. It turned out that the mouse cursor,
apparently at random, moved over the screen on its own.
Coincidently his son also mentioned that his mouse on his machine in his
room sometimes did a similar thing.
The penny dropped when I realised that they both had the same wireless
keyboards and mice. A quick press of the little button on the sensor
solved the problem.
--
Best Regards:
Baron.
Ivan Marsh
> Maybe some poor soul will see this post and resolve an odd problem.
>
> Found myself tracking the cause of accelerated graphics pauses while
> gaming last six weeks. Spent much time reading logs and testing my
> graphics card looking for the reason of pauses only on graphic
> acceleration. Tried different kernels and nvidia drivers. Until I
> finally concluded it not to be the graphics card and began checking the
> cordless keyboard/mouse combo.
>
> Tried different keys for movement and still had the same problem. Then,
> looking over to where the keyboard/mouse receiver rests on my desk,
> which is next to a new portable phone - yeah, about 6 weeks old, I decided
> to move the receiver away from the phone about 12" thinking the phone's
> polling and receivers' polling may be clashing. BINGO ! That was the
> culprit.
>
> Lesson is obvious but the cause hadn't been.
Yes, wireless devices can interfere with each other. Assuming you're in the
U.S., read the FCC warning on each of the devices and it will tell you if
they will play well together in close proximity.
...and you play games with a cordless keyboard and mouse?
--
"All right, all right, if it will make you happy, I will overthrow society."
- Philip J. Fry
Thad Floryan
> sk8r-365 wrote:
>
>> Maybe some poor soul will see this post and resolve an odd problem.
>>
>> Found myself tracking the cause of accelerated graphics pauses while
>> gaming last six weeks. Spent much time reading logs and testing my
>> graphics card looking for the reason of pauses only on graphic
>> acceleration. Tried different kernels and nvidia drivers. Until I
>> finally concluded it not to be the graphics card and began checking the
>> cordless keyboard/mouse combo.
>>
>> Tried different keys for movement and still had the same problem. Then,
>> looking over to where the keyboard/mouse receiver rests on my desk,
>> which is next to a new portable phone - yeah, about 6 weeks old, I decided
>> to move the receiver away from the phone about 12" thinking the phone's
>> polling and receivers' polling may be clashing. BINGO ! That was the
>> culprit.
>>
>> Lesson is obvious but the cause hadn't been.
>
> Yes, wireless devices can interfere with each other. Assuming you're in the
> U.S., read the FCC warning on each of the devices and it will tell you if
> they will play well together in close proximity.
The FCC has basically abandoned checking RFI compliance. This started with
the advent of GSM cellphones in the USA.
We had a long discussion thread in comp.dcom.telecom earlier this year
after I brought up the weird "dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit ..." that
was appearing on my computer speakers. Turns out this is an inherent flaw
with GSM (vs. CDMA) and was known and ignored by the FCC. GSM TDMA cellphones
basically turn the RF channel ON and OFF 217 times a second which will mess
up any audio system (even professional recording studios) and even affect
commputers and other electronics. Recent reports in the NY Times show GSM
cellphones turning on electronic kitchen ranges and starting home fires.
For an overview of the problem, another correspondent in comp.dcom.telecom
found an article from 1994 in the archives and I've placed it online here:
<http://thadlabs.com/FILES/GSM_and_TDMA_Problems_1994.txt>
so it'd be easier to find and read. Long story short, keep your GSM cellphones
(AT&T and T-Mobile) away from your computers and other appliances.
Unruh
>In <xeydnUCtpc8dRWTX...@bresnan.com>, on Tue, 10 Nov 2009
>15:17:52 -0600, sk8r-365, sk8r...@sk8r.debian.user.invalid.org wrote:
>> Maybe some poor soul will see this post and resolve an odd problem.
>>
>> Found myself tracking the cause of accelerated graphics pauses while
>> gaming last six weeks. Spent much time reading logs and testing my
>> graphics card looking for the reason of pauses only on graphic
>> acceleration. Tried different kernels and nvidia drivers. Until I
>> finally concluded it not to be the graphics card and began checking the
>> cordless keyboard/mouse combo.
>>
>> Tried different keys for movement and still had the same problem. Then,
>> looking over to where the keyboard/mouse receiver rests on my desk,
>> which is next to a new portable phone - yeah, about 6 weeks old, I decided
>> to move the receiver away from the phone about 12" thinking the phone's
>> polling and receivers' polling may be clashing. BINGO ! That was the culprit.
>>
>> Lesson is obvious but the cause hadn't been.
> Similar thing here. Every time we got a phone call,
>the laptop would go offline for a few seconds. Phone
>base had been maybe nine inches from the router. Now
>that it's 4' away, problem solved.
Wireless AP and cordless phones use the same frequency bands. Interferences is not
only possible, but highly likely. Get a cordless phone which uses a different band
from your wireless.
>
> That only took 3 days to figure out though. ;-)
>--
>☯☯
>Unlimited webspace - Unlimited bandwidth
>http://www.dreamhost.com/r.cgi?74713
Kevin Collins
I recently discovered that with my iPhone placed within about 10 inches of my
wireless trackball receiver, the trackball sporadically "slows down", as if the
batteries were near dead. I was able to isolate this to times when the phone
was checking for updates, or calls were coming in!
Kevin