I must be missing something - USB Mouse with Win XP

[batninth]

This is driving me crazy, so I hope someone can help.

I bought a simple wired USB mouse to plug into my wife's Lenovo laptop running XP Pro. Followed instructions to plug it in but see it as "Unkown Device" under the USB Controller in the Device Manager.

Took it away & plugged it into desktop PC running XP Home SP2 - same result.

No matter what I try, including following the MS KB instructions, I can't get Win XP to recognise the thing and load USB Mouse Drivers.

Anyone got any ideas please?

[Farrell]

Try playing with the options in Control Panel

Or plug it in and reboot system.

[batninth]

Thanks Farrell - I've had a good look around with Device Manager. When I plug it in I see XP create a new USB device for it which is ok but nothing is showing as going worng. It's just not loading the additional USB Mouse device support.

I've tried the power-off restart as well, again to no avail (taking the mouse out, rebooting without it to check it isn't being left in Device Manager, then powering off before inserting the mouse & switching back on). When the PC is booting, I see the optical underneath the mouse light up as the USB devices get interrogated.

[Saab Dastard]

The mouse could be faulty.

Have you tried to manually install a driver for the USB device seen in Device Manager?

On the laptop, have you had an external (PS2) mouse installed previously? If so, delete it from the system.

If not, check that the BIOS is set to use an external mouse - it is usually possible to set the BIOS to only use the built-in pointer OR use internal and external.

Wouldn't explain why it doesn't work on your desktop though.

SD

[batninth]

SaabD

Thanks for the suggestions:
The mouse could be faulty.
Not sure, I see it respond to the USB initialisation when XP starts up so balance of probabilities suggests it's OK. Only got it today so plan to take it to work on Monday and try it on colleagues docking station which already has USB mouse.

Have you tried to manually install a driver for the USB device seen in Device Manager?
Lenovo has the Windows distribution on the hard disc, but DM couldn't find any drivers to load from it when I tried. Good point though, will try it on Desktop as I have the CD here. <Thinks> Oh no - this desktop also has the MS distribution on the hard disc :ugh:

Have searched MS site for hw driver updates and none applicable to the USB mouse available.

On the laptop, have you had an external (PS2) mouse installed previously? If so, delete it from the system.
No PS2 port available, it's the light weight V100 (?) so has minimal ports except three USBs - hence USB mouse which is first to be added after the touchpoint on the keyboard.

If not, check that the BIOS is set to use an external mouse - it is usually possible to set the BIOS to only use the built-in pointer OR use internal and external.
Hadn't thought of that - will take a look thanks. Did look in CP but as USB mouse hadn't registered only had the choice of one device - the touchpoint.

Wouldn't explain why it doesn't work on your desktop though.
Looking at TechRepublic forums - this may be an XP issue which would account for the desktop having the problem too.

As an aside, had a gash PC built from various spare junk that I used to use for this kind of thing as I could crash & burn it. However oldest son made the case to take it back to Uni with him as he has Linux based modelling software he needs to run, so nothing here to test it on now. Hence I appreciate the various suggestions.

[Saab Dastard]

I plugged a USB mouse into my XP Pro SP2 desktop PC.

The Windows mouse drivers it uses are mouclass.sys and mouhid.sys, both in the Windows\system32\drivers directory.

Check that these are present - if not they should be in the Windows\Driver Cache\i386 cab files.

All the .inf files are in the Windows\inf folder.

You may be able to force the installation of the drivers in device manager - select the unknown device and manually enter the path to the location of the .inf file - either the .inf folder above for the default MS drivers, or the drivers that came with your mouse.

SD