MS Optical Mouse No Va!

I purchased(and subsequently returned) the basic model of Microsoft's new "Optical" mouse with scroll wheel between the two buttons. There is a version out there - Internet ready with addl buttons onthe sides - I did not buy.

My computer has a 15pin port for the mouse 7 over 8. That has to be transformed to the round(PS/2?) type, which then must be converted to USB(adaptor that came with mouse).

Installed mouse with machine off, turned machine on. First thing that happened, "Windows did not detect a mouse" notification. Second thing, I inserted the CD Rom to load the drivers for the new mouse - didn't even start!! Had to ctrl+alt+del and shut the system down from task manager and turn it off and re connect my old trackball. System is back to normal.

My question after this Congressional volume of hot air is, On one side of the box it says the new mouse was designed for 2000, 98, and NT4.0.

On the bottom, it says under system requirements 95, 98, 2000, and 4.0., so n' so MB of RAM, yadda yatta.

My suspicion is that my computer is obsolete(I bought it in 1996). My other suspicion is that the reason the new mouse didn't detect was the USB in that chain from the back of my computer to the mouse cable.

Is this correct?

Thanks,

-Buck

 

I assume that you had no usb port on your computer and you tried to convert to use another type of conenctor. This may or may not work. Do you have your motherboard manual ? or at least your mothername name/model ? I had a computer that did not have a USB port when I bought it, however there was actually usb ports connectors on the board just on usb connector bracket. Bought a USB dual port bracket connected it to the appropriate conenctors on the board, enabled the USB ports in the Bios, and USB ports worked perfectly. The mouse if it has a usb connector may not work without a geniune usb port.

Also I have had experience with one usb mouse with 2 computers I have, both computers have usb ports, the one with an older motherboard would not reconize the usb mouse but the one with the newer board world. Both computers however would reconize all other usb devices that I used on them.

 

Hi General,

Just a couple of thoughts. I thing a vintage 1996 computer probably did not have USB support back then. I think that PCI slots and 133 mhz were the hot item back then. USB was mostly just an article in a magazine, and didn't become common place until later.

If your motherboard (particularly bios) does not support USB, then you cannot use USB devices. Check your motherboard documentation. If it talks about support for the types of memory chips, types of slots (pci, etc) but does not mention USB, then you don't have the support.

Let me extend this idea even further. You can buy a USB card and install it in a PCI slot, for $30, and then you can plug in USB devices, without all the change-over connectors. But, if your motherboard does not support USB, then you will never get it to work. The guys at Best Buy will tell you to just pop in a USB card, but they would be wrong.

This advice is merely based on my recent experiences with USB on my machine. I do not work with pc's for a living.

BTW, I love my optical mouse. Occasionally, the screen begins to violently shutter up and down as though Satan was working the mouse wheel, but it's a minor problem (so far).

Here is another DIY thread on this same topic,
http://forum.doityourself.com/showth...?threadid=9268




[Edited by Mark Chapman on 01-15-01 at 02:27]

 

I keep telling myself that a no-feedback reply from the orignal poster is better than negative feedback. And... there's no place like home...there's no place like home...there's no place like home....

 

It is nice when you get somekind of response back, you often wonder if the person didn't just disappear and we are talking to ourselves.