mouse inoperative

denisaf2000 · 12th January 2007

I have been given a Windows 98 computer without a mouse. I have tried mouse connected to a rectangular plug (the old type) and the newer type with the wheel connected to the round plug. The computer boots alright and gets to the desk top. But the mouse does nothing. There is no sign of the mouse arrow. I expect it is something simple that I am missing.

visionof · 13th January 2007

It is possible that you may have to install a driver for the mouse,
Even common mice like the logitech seem to be inconsistent with computers and operating systems if they need a driver installed.
If not remove the driver in the device manager ( should be fun doing that with the keyboard and arrows).
Reboot.
You may need a windows 98 install disc for the install of the mouse drivers.
If you need the logitech drivers the install disk is on the website,
It is possible that the colors or size of the mouse pointers may be too small or wrong colors so that they are hard to see.
It may be that the mouse ball is covered in lint and may have to be cleaned.

**mattman** · 13th January 2007

The "rectangular" connection sounds like a Serial mouse.

If a PS/2 mouse is not connected (that is the round connector), you should get a message when Windows starts to load "Windows did not detect a mouse (pointing device) connected. If you are using a serial mouse, connect it now. If you have a PS/2 mouse, shut down, connect the mouse and restart the computer" or words like that. You can test it by starting without a mouse connected at all.

I have seen one or two Win 98 systems where most of the hardware was undetected (little or no devices listed in Device Manager), in those cases I would do a reinstall of Windows by booting to a Startup floppy disk and running Windows setup (unless it is a system that uses a recovery disk). All the major drivers would be needed to be available for installation when setup was finished (Windows may/should detect and install them from it's list of hardware if they had been installed correctly previously).

I cannot think of many other reasons, apart from problems that could be caused by using specialized mouse drivers/software (logitech was mentioned).
Ahhh!...try booting in Safe Mode and see if the mouse works there. You you uninstall any mouse software and remove the mouse in Device Manager there.

Matt

denisaf2000 · 14th January 2007

I have tried both mouse connections. Add New Hardware comes up with serial mouse so looks as though PS/2 mouse is installed. I have tried reboot with F8 to get Safe Mode but this got me to message Lost Clusters Found and I could not Continue as no arrow and Enter Tab do nothing. Reboot does not do the same thing each time. I will retry and enter 5 for stepping if I can get to the Safe Mode list again.

**mattman** · 14th January 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by denisaf2000

but this got me to message Lost Clusters Found and I could not Continue

That would concern me.
To navigate to Scandisk and run it
press Alt with the "Windows" button (shows the Start button menu)
up arrow key -> Programs
press Enter to select Accessories
arrow and Enter to System Tools -> Scandisk
Tab key to select Thorough
Tab key to select (check) "Automatically fix errors".

Running Scandisk may even help with the mouse problem.

Matt

denisaf2000 · 14th January 2007

Matt
I have tried Alt+windows button without getting any response. I have also tried DEL when that comes up on the left hand bottom of the secreen during booting with no response. I find it puzzling that I can now reboot with F8 and it does not stop with a list to allow me to select 3 for Safe Mode.

**mattman** · 14th January 2007

The keyboard does not appear to be working (detected). Normally you would see the LEDs on the keyboard flash at startup.

First, I would replace the CMOS battery on the motherboard. It will not likely have any effect on the problems, but it should rule out any continuing problems (if you have access to a voltage/multimeter the voltage of the battery should test as more than 3.0 volts, if it is a standard battery).

If the system has been in storage there may be some corrosion on the connectors. You should pull out and reseat all the connectors to the motherboard and drives, including the RAM modules. Take out any add-in cards, especially ISA cards. You can disconnect the drives, at least to see if you can get the keyboard detected and use Del to go into the BIOS/startup settings.

It could be a bad connection or some sort of resouce problem, but if you go back to the basics (CPU, RAM, graphics, keyboard and [not necessarily] mouse) and you cannot get into the BIOS settings, I would suspect a bad motherboard. If you can see swollen or leaky capacitors on the m/b I would not hold any hope

Matt

denisaf2000 · 14th January 2007

Matt
Keyboard LED flash on start up but also when Alt and other keys pressed. Last start up ended with white on black display with info on disks etc.
The previous owner had no problems and was using it up to a few days ago. He kept the mouse.