new (still under warranty) compy's mouse locks up...?

[Sockhatguy]

Hello everyone, welcome to Windrivers. (gotta love that.)

Anywho, a few months ago my parents bought a new computer, which I steered them towards because it was a deal. 5-year warranty, still smelling like new plastic, and the darn optical mouse that came with it will freeze for a second or two. it's started to happen a lot more frequently, and makes playing Zuma near to impossible.

Here's the specs of this machine: HP Pavillion a620n
3200+ AMD Athlon XP Processor
(Processor speed 2.20 GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 400MHz front side bus)
512 MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM
160 GB 7200 RPM Uldra DMA HD
DVD+RW/CD-RW
CD-Rom
Integrated Graphics with 64 MB shared video memory
XP Home SP2

The mouse is one of the red-light optical mice with the wheel and stuff, same blue and silver from HP, all stock HP, PS2 port, can't find the PS2 to USB adapter... The darn light isn't sensitive enough and doesn't stay on long enough. Yeah, it does its job, but I guess its little feet get tired and wrapped up in the spokes of its wheel...

Anywho, and also upon further inspection, I've discovered that someone in the family has an Anime addiction...hmm...

Any suggestions about the mouse???

Thanks everyone