diff --git a/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.test.ts b/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.test.ts
index 93147cc9..b2f9a7b4 100644
--- a/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.test.ts
+++ b/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.test.ts
@@ -287,3 +287,25 @@ test("unacknowledged writes reject instead of silently succeeding", async () =>
   const client = new EggOtHidClient(fake.device);
   await assert.rejects(() => client.setDpi(1600), /did not acknowledge/);
 });
+
+test("a mouse that never sends the response packet reports the raw tx/rx trace", async () => {
+  const fake = fakeOtMouse();
+  const device = fake.device as unknown as {
+    sendFeatureReport: (reportId: number, data: BufferSource) => Promise<number>;
+    receiveFeatureReport: () => Promise<DataView>;
+  };
+  const send = device.sendFeatureReport.bind(device);
+  const receive = device.receiveFeatureReport.bind(device);
+  let reads = 0;
+  // Ack only: the vendor response never arrives, like the first OP1 RGB hardware report.
+  device.sendFeatureReport = async (reportId, data) => {
+    reads = 0;
+    return send(reportId, data);
+  };
+  device.receiveFeatureReport = async () => (reads++ === 0 ? receive() : new DataView(new ArrayBuffer(64)));
+  const client = new EggOtHidClient(fake.device);
+  await assert.rejects(
+    () => client.readStatus(),
+    /did not answer OT profile block 0\. Trace: tx 33 [0-9a-f ]+ \| rx 00 14 [0-9a-f ]+ \| rx 00 00 [0-9a-f ]+ x\d+/,
+  );
+});
diff --git a/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.ts b/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.ts
index 16041564..5c10bbd4 100644
--- a/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.ts
+++ b/src/drivers/endgame/egg-ot-hid.ts
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ export class EggOtHidClient {
   private chain: Promise<unknown> = Promise.resolve();
   private firmwareRaw: number[] | null | undefined;
   private packetPayloadLength = OT_PACKET_SIZE - 1;
+  private trace: string[] = [];
 
   readonly device: HIDDevice;
   readonly profile: OtDeviceProfile;
@@ -375,11 +376,40 @@ export class EggOtHidClient {
   }
 
   private async queryBlock(block: number, profileIndex: number): Promise<Uint8Array> {
-    const reply = await this.exchange(otEncodeQueryPacket(block, profileIndex), true);
-    if (!reply) throw new Error(`The mouse did not answer OT profile block ${block}.`);
+    let reply: Uint8Array | null;
+    try {
+      reply = await this.exchange(otEncodeQueryPacket(block, profileIndex), true);
+    } catch (error) {
+      const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+      throw new Error(`OT profile block ${block} failed: ${message} Trace: ${this.describeTrace()}`);
+    }
+    if (!reply) throw new Error(`The mouse did not answer OT profile block ${block}. Trace: ${this.describeTrace()}`);
     return reply.subarray(OT_PAYLOAD_INDEX);
   }
 
+  /** Packets seen by the last exchange (tx/rx hex, newest last) so a failed handshake reports what actually came back. */
+  private describeTrace(): string {
+    return this.trace.length > 0 ? this.trace.join(" | ") : "no packets";
+  }
+
+  private record(direction: "tx" | "rx" | "err", detail: Uint8Array | string): void {
+    const text = typeof detail === "string"
+      ? detail
+      : Array.from(detail.subarray(0, 16), (byte) => byte.toString(16).padStart(2, "0")).join(" ");
+    const entry = `${direction} ${text}`;
+    const last = this.trace[this.trace.length - 1];
+    const repeat = last?.match(/^(.*) x(\d+)$/);
+    if (last === entry) {
+      this.trace[this.trace.length - 1] = `${entry} x2`;
+    } else if (repeat?.[1] === entry) {
+      this.trace[this.trace.length - 1] = `${entry} x${Number(repeat[2]) + 1}`;
+    } else {
+      if (this.trace.length >= 24) this.trace.shift();
+      this.trace.push(entry);
+    }
+    console.log(`[egg-ot] ${direction} ${text}`);
+  }
+
   private async updateProfile(profileIndex: number, change: (effect: OtEffect) => void): Promise<OtEffect> {
     return this.run(async () => {
       const { effect } = await this.loadProfile(profileIndex);
@@ -444,16 +474,28 @@ export class EggOtHidClient {
   private async exchange(packet: Uint8Array, expectResponse: boolean): Promise<Uint8Array | null> {
     await this.open();
     const payload = Uint8Array.from(packet.subarray(1, 1 + this.packetPayloadLength));
+    this.trace = [];
     let writeCounter = 0;
     while (writeCounter++ < OT_WRITE_RETRIES) {
+      this.record("tx", payload);
       const sent = (await this.device.sendFeatureReport(OT_REPORT_ID, payload)) as unknown as
         | number
         | undefined;
-      if (typeof sent === "number" && sent <= 0) continue;
+      if (typeof sent === "number" && sent <= 0) {
+        this.record("err", `write returned ${sent}`);
+        continue;
+      }
       let readCounter = 0;
       let receivedAck = false;
       while (readCounter++ < OT_READ_RETRIES) {
-        const reply = await this.receivePacket();
+        let reply: Uint8Array;
+        try {
+          reply = await this.receivePacket();
+        } catch (error) {
+          this.record("err", error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
+          throw error;
+        }
+        this.record("rx", reply);
         if (reply[1] === 0x00) continue;
         if (expectResponse) {
           if (reply[1] === OT_COMTYPE.ack) {