h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My mouse isn't working. I'm in Win98 SE. I somehow managed to tab about and get online and on h2g2 - but I can't get my mouse to work. When I first turn on my computer i get a window saying that my mouse isn't connected. It is. Usually restarting helps, but not today.

So I have my mouse cursor stuck in the middle of my screen.

Is there anything I can do? Please, please reply soon, anyone who knows! I'm going to sit here and press refresh until someone replies....................

- Poet.

Check that the mouse is connected up properly.

Check that the ball isn't stuck/sticking.

You may need to clean the rollers which the mouseball runs on. To do this unscrew the panel (underneath) and remove the mouseball. The rollers (i don't know they're actually called) are those little black pieces of plastic which rotate. They can get coverered in all kinds of c**p. You may want to remove this c**p with a pencil/biro/car key/toothpick/etc.

Get a new mouse, they can be obtained cheaply

You can use the menu key (between control and alt) to get the start menu, and arrow keys to get into the settings menu, and control panel. You could then tab to the 'add new hardware' option to reinstall your mouse. If the driver has become corrupted somehow, you should be able to restore it using your Windows CD, if you have it. I have Windows ME, so the exact name of these options may vary.

I'm inclined to think that the easiest option if this doesn't work is to try a new mouse - mice are not expensive unless you want a fancy one - and it will come with a new CD with drivers on it. If this doesn't work, you may have a problem with the port the mouse is on - in which case you may need to think about changing how you connect your mouse. Even if the port is knackered (technical term), there are workrounds - you can fit USB ports on a PCI card, of but a PCI to parallel port card. I don't know if you can get one with a PS2 on it (I guess so), but even if not you can use the USB option.

Hopefully somebody who knows more about this will drop by and help soon...

Don't panic, I'm sure it's fixable. Good luck!

By the way - you *have* tried wiggling the wire where it goes into the back, haven't you?

Sorry, that should have read 'tab and arrow' the 'add new hardware' option.

I don't think cleaning it will help if it's saying it's not connected.

But Rocket Man is right - if you can't easily solve it get a new mouse.

Thank you for your replies, guys.

Yes, I have tried wiggling the plug in the socket: no change.

It's quite frustrating having to alt-tab, tabtabtabtabtabtabtabtabspace, altspaceX, altspaceN, altF4 to get around!

I guess this will teach my to appreciate my mouse (when I get it working again)

I might try reinstalling drivers in a minute.

Let us know how you get on. And when your mouse is all better, remember to keep it well supplied with cheese!

Mice don't like cheese - it's a myth. They prefer things like grain, and they also like sweet things, so keep your mouse supplied with digestive biscuits!

Cartoon mice like cheese. Perhaps Poet has a cartoon mouse.

Thank you guys... It works now! What I did was to unplug it, blow in it, plug it in again



thank you all.

I presume you have rebooted (*including* powering off/on) a few times?

Try your mouse in someone else's PC (only switch mice after powering off).
Try someone else's mouse (with the same kind of plug) in your PC.

If the mouse doesn't work elsewhere, you'll need a new one.

Alternatively, if a borrowed mouse doesn't work in your PC, either :
a) The windows driver is damaged
b) The mouse has been disabled in Windows
c) The mouse port has been disabled in the motherboard's BIOS
d) The mouse port has electrically failed.
To work out which possibility is likely,
Go into the Control Panel (via Start Menu/Settings)
Select 'System' via cursor keys, hit Return
Cursor right to select Device Manager
Double-tab, then cursor down to 'Mouse'

Double right-cursor to select the mouse

Question One : Is there a mouse device present

If so, tab, then space to get the properties

Question Two : Is the port 'Disabled in this hardware profile'?

Use Tab and arrow keys to check out the Resources panel

Question Three : Is there an interrupt assigned to the mouse?

Use Tab and arrow keys to check out the Driver panel

Check out the driver files details

Question Four : Are there driver files present?

Ah - good to hear it's working.

(If Windows Explorer hadn't killed the first writing of the above and forced a rewrite, or I'd re-checked before posting, I could have seemed rather smarter just now )

>> What I did was to unplug it, blow in it, plug it in again <<

Another fine example of the, "if it doesn't work, whack it with a spanner", school of maintenance. Works (almost) every time

It's a fantastic example of the spiritual side of computing.

Anybody can blow - it's knowing where to blow... :D

You'll never guess what happened today!!

My mouse is working fine now, but my monitor broke! It was smoking and stuff. So I stole the monitor (reaaaaally small) from the other computer.

I must be cursed!

I'd send it to a Temp Agency. It's pretty easy to get on the list of people they call. Eventually, it can lead to a pretty decent full-time job.

???

Well, how else would you help an unemployed mouse?

Ben

You could send it to school to learn a new trade. How much do paperweights make?

So, Poet, what kinda stuff was your monitor smoking?