Mouse Keeps Randomly Disconnecting/Reconnecting

Hey,
I've got a Microsoft Sidewinder mouse (wired) which I've had for about 2 or so years. Recently, it has started randomly disconnecting and reconnecting. Some of the time, it doesn't automatically reconnect, so I have to unplug the USB connector and replug it back in.

I've tried setting my device settings to not automatically sleep to save power and I've also tried buying a new USB card for my PC, both of which did not work.

What's unusual is that the mouse seems to work on my netbook which, with the other solutions I've tried, leads me to believe it is something to do with settings on my PC rather than hardware.

Does anyone have any insight into why is this happening and how to fix it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Its probably the fault of the mouse. Once it disconnects, try pushing the wire into either end of the mouse and see if it reconnects.

But it's kind of strange that the mouse works on my netbook. Then again, I didn't really test it for long and the disconnects are completely random.
Pushing the wire in didn't seem to do much.
If it is something to do with the mouse, I guess that's fine because I've been looking for an excuse to get a new one anyway!
Thanks for your reply.