Resolve Logitech MX Performance Mouse freezes… Having trouble with a Logitech MX mouse freezing or lagging?! Read on to learn some simple things to check to resolve what is undoubtedly driving you mad.

My Logitech MX woes..

Or at least it did. I’d previously been using a Logitech MX 5500 Bluetooth mouse/keyboard combo. For the most part it worked well, except for when it would just flat out stop working. If you have one and have issues with it try using high end Lithium Ion batteries. After a while the mouse on my MX 5500 stopped holding a charge. The reason I’d bought the 5500 was for the shape of the mouse. I’m sure it’s a personal preference but that style fits my hand the best. When it died I picked up the Logitech MX Performance Mouse. Yes, I’d have to deal with the little receiver but ce la vi.  I tried to just get by with this new mouse and the keyboard from the 5500 set, but without the corresponding mouse in the picture the first keystroke wouldn’t take. It’s like the keyboard would go to sleep and only wake up after the first keystroke. Needless to say, this got super annoying after a while.

Enter the Logitech K800 keyboard

I decided to just give up on the Bluetooth keyboard from the MX 5500. After a little research I landed on the K800 keyboard. It’s slick and I like the key action. The back-lit keys are a nice touch. The only downside is that it’s USB rechargeable. I’d prefer batteries so that if it died I’d just toss in some freshly charged batteries and be off an running. Either way, it uses the same “Unifying Receiver” as the MX Performance Mouse so I’d only have to deal with one thing clogging up a USB port.

… but the MX freezes

Click to enlarge

Oddly, once I paired the K800 the Logitech MX Performance mouse started freezing. It was erratic and unpredictable but getting supremely annoying. And I’m not the only one who’s experiencing this issue. So off to the interwebs I went to look for a solution. Here’s what I found:

• The Logitech Unified Receiver doesn’t like USB 3.0:
  • So the first thing to check is if you’ve plugged it into a USB 3.0 port. A USB 3.0 connector, sometimes referred to as Super Speed USB or SS, normally has a blue plastic insert in the connector. That should make it pretty easy to identify which ones are USB 3.0.
  • If none of your ports have a blue insert and you suspect you DO have USB 3.0 you can tell by the pins on the connector. A USB 2.0 connector has 4 pins within the connector, a USB 3.0 connector has 9 pins.
• Move your USB 2.0 wireless receiver to the opposite side of your computer:
  • If your PC has multiple USB 2.0 connectors available, separate your USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 receivers by as much distance as possible. In other words if  you have USB 2.0 on one side and USB 3.0 connectors on the other, use the one on the opposite side of the PC from the USB 3.0 connector.
• The solution to Performance MX freezing is an extender cable:
  • Use a standard, USB-extender cable to position your USB 2.0 wireless receiver as far away as possible from your USB 3.0 connector.
  • On my laptop my USB 3.0 port is pretty close to my USB 2.0 port. According to Logitech the USB ports being near one another can cause interference.  Their solution is to buy a USB extender cable from them. Hilarious, they’re out of stock via Logitech. Luckily for me, one came with my keyboard (hmmm so this issue must come up a lot). You can grab one on the cheap from Amazon though.

MX Performance and K800 mini review

OK, I really dislike that I have to use an extender cable. It’s one more thing to yank out when I want to take my laptop with me. If I didn’t have to deal with that I could just leave the Unifying Receiver plugged in and go. Oh well, sometimes you just have to deal with shit. Once the freezing/lagging issue was resolved with an extender cable I have to say that the Performance MX and K800 combo is working pretty well. The sculpted shape of the mouse is easy on your hands and “Darkfield Laser Tracking” means you can use it on most any surface. The keyboard has nice keystroke action and is pretty quiet. I don’t really NEED the backlit keys but they do look nice. The fact that you can wave your hand over it and it causes them to light up is a neat feature should you be sitting down at your desk in the dark. Also, despite a pretty low profile, you’re still getting a full size keyboard.