Gotcha !
 

is what computers do best.

Re-installing XP on my old machine and trying to avoid the pain of re-Activation. Procedure is extract old wpa.dbl onto floppy or cd, do the re-install, then start up in safe mode and copy the file back. No nagging for activation!

Except, starting in safe mode disables mouse!

Way round this?

Not sure on this, never had to do it for the mouse (but have for a keyboard) but if you enter the BIOS on boot, (press "del" during boot up as indicated on the screen) and go into the (I think) advanced BIOS features, there is an option to enable the keyboard. See if you can find a similar entry relating to the mouse.

Something obvious - but an sp2 machine boots up with a green scrolling bar...

Never had "no mouse" in Safe Mode, so can't advise. It is not normal behaviour.

SD

Is it a standard "wired" PS/2 mouse and not a USB one or "hamster"?

Could be a driver issue, ya see. An old fashioned standard mouse should be ok but a USB or cordless one may not...

Most mouse function can be "emulated" by using a combination of CTRL, TAB, ENTER and scroll keys. Have a play.

Alternatively, I would boot up in DOS mode and use COPY (or XCOPY) to copy the file from a floppy. (CD drivers may not be available in DOS mode).

e.g. XCOPY a:wpa.dbl c:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl

e&oe :}

It's a standard serial mouse which is why I find this so baffling.

Thought about the DOS route, but hoped I'd left that behind!

Serial ports (and serial mice) are getting rare now.

Maybe Winblows doesn't load the driver in "Safe" Mode.

Try a PS/2 mouse

:ok:

You can get a serial - PS/2 adapter.

But a new mouse might be cheaper!

SD

Poor old thing doesn't have a PS/2 socket.

Then, it's keyboard for you, as already noted: Ctrl-Esc or Windows key for the Start menu, lots of tabbing. F4 usually takes you to the address bar. You can do it!

Never forget about DOS, frostbite, it will save you at some point!