mouse dies intermittantly

I have a mouse with a mind of its own. At any given time it stops working. Upon further examination, as its a USB optical wheel mouse, I see that the laser has died.

What works is to pull it out of one port and plug it into another. This is totally illogical. As well, I can pull it our of its own port and plug it back in the same port. If it were the mouse, it should not work again.

I am protected up the yin yang. Have done numerous file checks, and have uninstalled and reinstalled both mouse and its software.