Tag Archives: mouse

My new mouse doesn’t work

Computer Aid Posted on by

I helped a gentleman setup his new computer…

He said it had been a few years since he last used a computer… so naturally, I assumed a certain level of knowledge.

A few days later, he calls, saying he is have a great amount of difficulty using the mouse and that maybe I incorrectly changed a window setting to cause this…

So I go through some basic troubleshooting:

  • Did you try a different USB port? (He tried all 6 ports)
  • Do you have another mouse you can use? (he had already gone out & purchased a new mouse, but same problem)
  • OK, so what happens when you click the button? (either nothing, or some funny arrows appear, or a menu appears… but clicking on an icon doesn’t work (nor does double-clicking)… & sometimes it makes the screen move in unpredictable ways…

After a bit of head scratching, & asking him to right-click this & left-click that, he admits that there is no left or right button… just one in the middle…

Hmmm, did he buy an apple mouse by mistake?

No, its a logitek

OK, is the button on the left or right side?

“Its in the middle… & its a bit narrow”

Narrow?

Now the penny drops: He’s been using the scroll wheel as “The” mouse button…

So now I have to explain that the flat surface on either side of the “button” are the actual buttons… push them & they will make a clicking sound… but they don’t

So now its a leverage problem: move your finger further up towards the edge of the mouse & a fit further to the side…

Ah, finally he gets it… he’s totally amazed that the front flat surface of the mouse is actually 2 “secret” buttons that he never knew about!

Dell Dimension 5150 mouse & keyboard

Computer Aid Posted on by

Sometimes progress can happen too fast.

Dell must have realised this when they released the Dell Dimension 5150.

It must have seemed to be ultra-modern, and the the way PCs would be like in the future: They eliminated those really ancient PS2 ports for the mouse and keyboard (ie the round green and purple plugs at the back of your PC).

A Dell engineer must have thought: its about time we went fully USB, and stop wasting time on PS2.

Great in theory, but the reality is very different… as I found out when I had to fix one.

When I take a PC back to my office, I usually just take the tower… no keyboard/mouse/monitor… I’ve got plenty, so I minimise the risk of misplacing a customers equipment.

But once I started the Dimension 5150, the usual XP found new hardware wizard would popup. It would find either a new USB keyboard, or a new USB mouse… and it would ask you to click “next” to continue installing the hardware….

Hmmm… how do I click “next” when its the mouse/keyboard that is being detected?

I tried a few different mice, and tried them in all the USB ports… but to no avail.

One solution would be to use a PS2 to USB adapter like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/62620 … but I’m not sure it will work… after all, it still plugs into a USB port, so XP still needs to detect the hardware and so we are back to the beginning again…

Grrr.

Another solution is to use remote desktop… but remote desktop seems to be disabled on on this PC…

So what did I do?

I took it back to the customer, plugged the mouse into a USB port, start PC… XP though it was new hardware… shutdown the PC, plug mouse into next USB port, start PC… repeat process until I find which port the mouse was originally plugged into !!!

How crazy is that!

Anyway, the next time I see one of these monsters, I’ll be sure to plug in my own USB mouse (remembering which USB port I used, and making sure the hardware is detected properly), before I take it away!

If the mouse happens to fail, then at least the keyboard can be used to help the new hardware wizard find a new mouse.

Mouse stops working (code 32)

Computer Aid Posted on by

After a PC restart, the mouse stopped working.

My first though was: faulty mouse

It was a USB mouse, so I replace it with another USB mouse… but that wouldn’t work either…

OK, lets assume its a failed USB port.

Plug the mouse into a different USB port: same problem.

And a USB drive works in the same port… so it isn’t a USB hardware failure.

Next step: Plug in a PS2 mouse, and restart the PC… but that also fails!

OK, lets look at device manager… Its a good thing that I can navigate Windows XP using just the keyboard… Its a good skill to develop 🙂

Sure enough, looking at the properties of the mouse in device manages shows an error message:

This device has been disabled. An alternative driver may be providing this functionality (Code 32).

And the solution?

Just delete the mouse entry in device manager, then restart the PC.

The mouse driver entry should get automatically reinstalled once XP restarts.