[iBook] Defective Mouse ?

[William Carr]

A while back I posted about mysterious mouse freezes.    The 600 Mhz 
iBook would lose track of the mouse unless I unplugged it temporarily.

I tried updating the mouse driver but it didn't help.

What I may have failed to mention is the Kernel Panics that began 
happening.   On restart, if the Firewire cable was plugged in.   At 
random times while web browsing.

  I found this odd and disturbing.   I worried that the HD I replaced 
last year was defective and ran Carbon Copy Cloner prepatory to a full 
erase and reformat.

Until yesterday I didn't associate the Panics with the mouse problems.

I got several Panics in the same day while ordering something online.   
  And finally suspicious, I disconnected and pitched the Logitech mouse 
I've had for two years and replaced it with the  one year old Logitech 
mouse from my PowerMac.

It's been 28 hours, no mouse trouble.   No Kernel Panics.   Hmmm.

Could a defective USB cable be causing Kernel Panics?