Mac Mini - USB/Mouse Issue?

Maybe two or three months ago, the mouse that I use with my Mac Mini stopped working when I unplugged it and plugged it into the Mac again.  It's a Corsair Dark Core RGB SE gaming mouse.  I've had it since the pandemic (not long, as far as mice go).

No matter what I did, the mouse wouldn't work.  I've a spare micro-USB to USB-A cable (that's what it uses), so I thought I'd try to see if swapping out the cable would fix the issue.  It did not.   I then tried other mice and they worked - these were just Dell wired mice.  When I tried the Corsair mouse again, it worked.

 Today, the Corsair stopped working again...same deal - I unplugged it and tried to plug it into a different USB-A outlet.  I tried all the same things and it eventually started working again.  Then I purposely unplugged it again.  It stopped working and will not activate again.

Right now, I'm using a wired EVGA X17 mouse as a temporary solution until I can get another Corsair.

Either my Corsair's battery (it's a wireless mouse that has wired capability) is dead or there's something internally wrong with it.  I'm leaning toward it being the battery - maybe it needs a charge to work, even when wired?  Batteries are finite items.

Maybe I won't get another Corsair wireless mouse, because if I do, this will happen again.  I also have a Corsair wireless mouse at my cubicle at work...it's the same age and it hasn't died.

I'm unsure what to do.  I don't want to use the Dell wired mice - those feel disposable.

UPDATE (8/22/2025):  I forgot that I've some cheaper but just-as-nice-as-Corsair mice.  One that I love is the Venus Pro RGB MMO wireless mouse.  They're cheap ($30) and have lots of buttons.  I just now ordered another one to replace the Corsair Dark Core.

New Keyboard for My Mac Mini - Royal Kludge S98

When I bought my Mac Mini, I bought it without buying a keyboard for it.  Not long after purchasing the Mini, my older iMac died.  I ended up trashing the iMac, as I couldn't repair it (was unwilling to pump anymore money into it and it was over 10 years old.  Prior to it dying, I was using it as a monitor for my iMac and other systems (using Target Display Mode).

With the iMac gone, I still had the Magic Mouse and the keyboard that came with the iMac.  What I hate about the keyboard is that it eats batteries.  As well, I like full sized keyboards.  So, I thought I'd buy a nice keyboard for the Mini.

I purchased the Royal Kludge S98, mainly because it was a full sized keyboard (or nearly so), it could be used with other computers (it has 3 BT profiles), it's wireless, and it was a mechanical keyboard -- I've never owned a mechanical keyboard.

I've mixed feelings.  I like the keyboard a lot, but it doesn't have software for Macs.  It's software is Windows-only.  I would've liked to use the software's macro configurations.  As well, it doesn't have labeled Mac buttons (command and option buttons).

The specific version I bought was the Linear Viridian switch version in turquoise green.

I might try to buy Mac-specific keys for it, as the keys can be swapped out.  Maybe I'll get those two keys in red.

I like the keyboard screen in the upper right corner.  I like that I've the option for 2.4 GHz connectivity, BT, or USB wired connectivity.

I also love the lighting (it's RGB).  It also has a beefy battery - I can get a lot of use out of it, on one charge, if I disable the keyboard backlights.

I did notice one hiccup with the Mac Mini last week where I had the keyboard linked to it via bluetooth - I'd logged out of the Mac and came back later to do some work, but the keyboard wouldn't let me type out the password properly.  I noticed that it kept hanging on the 2nd character.  I had another BT keyboard handy and tried to log in with it and it was doing the same thing.  I thought it was strange.  I ended up doing a hard reboot (I hadn't thought of SSH'ing into the Mini to do a restart - I could've done that).  The system recovered and let me access it while using the S98.  I'm not sure if it was a keyboard-related issue but I've been using the Mac 2+ years and nothing like that has every occurred until I started using the S98.  I'll keep a watch to see if this occurs again.

UPDATE (2/5/2025):  Well I had the keyboard issue again, today.  Again, I don't think it's an actual keyboard issue, as I tried two different keyboards and both were doing the sme thing.  This go-around, it was the 6th character tht wasn't rendering on the first keypress.  After experimenting, I was able to press the key for the 6th character a second time to get it to register...doing that, I was able to log in successfully.  After I logged in, I typed in Terminal to see if I was having that same issue across my password characters - it rendered fine.  I then logged out and tried to log back in - I was able to successfully log in (I did this 3 times, successfully, to test).  I searched for some tips and most articles I saw suggested that there was a hardware keyboard issue, which is't the case here since I'm using two different keyboards that experience the same exact issue.  I also used Disk Utility to do a disk repair - there were no errors to repair.  I think there's a bug in the latest OS update (the latest OS update was applied a few days ago).  This didn't start occurring until after that OS update was applied.

UPDATE 2 (2/7/2025):  It happened again, just now.  It's definitely not a hardware issue, as I used my Mac wireless keyboard this time, too - I used all three keyboards and the issue still occurred.  As well, two characters weren't being recognized this time - characters 6 and 7.  This is so odd.

I'll report any issues with the keyboard, but I'm enjoying it thus far.

Logitech G700

I forgot to mention that I got a new mouse a few weeks ago.  The TactX was acting wonky (apparently, the mouse cable tends to wear over time).  I was a bit pissed, since I spent a good deal of money on that mouse.  It works very well, but I expected it to last much longer.  That was the first wired mouse I've owned in awhile, but this time I went back to the tried-and-true wireless mouse.

I bought a Logitech G700, a gaming mouse.  And it is badass.   It has a replaceable battery and can be charged while using it (via USB cable).  It has profiles and has adjustable on-the-fly sensitivity settings.  It has this tactile material where your thumb sits that offers nice feedback/grip.  It has a ton of buttons.  It is heavy, as well, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Loving it so far.

I explain more about it here.