No mouse in the house

skypilot · #1 May 5th, 2006, 04:44 AM

For some unknown reason my mouse pointer disappeared from the screen. I think there was some kind of power interruption when I was out but my sons computer is on the same power source and it is ok. Usually when I move the mouse my monitor comes alive but didn't this time. Without the mouse I cannot do anything. Can I use safe mode to find the problem, has anyone had this happen to them. I need this mouse back in my house. SP

**Murf** · #2 May 5th, 2006, 04:09 PM

Did you reboot?????

Type of mousey? USB? PS/2?

skypilot · #3 May 6th, 2006, 05:52 PM

Murf, I did try rebooting but the mouse cursor did not appear. I tend to think that my mouse drivers went south for some reason. The mouse was plugged into a ps/2 port as per instllation instructions so I tried plugging it into an unused usb port, and viola, it work fine again. Maybe you might have some idea why this is so, and if there is any way I can get the ps/2 connection to work again. I have very few usb ports and I need them all.
Also, do you know of any place I could go to find out how to use safe mode.
When I tried I had several window open but couldn't figure out how to close them. I appreciate your response as always. SP

**Murf** · #4 May 6th, 2006, 07:04 PM

So you know it is not the mouse, what may of somehow happen is PS/2 got disabled in you BIOS (SETUP), some motherboards you have to enable it.

Reboot and hit whatever key the screen tells you to use to get into SETUP, usually the DEL key.

Once in SETUP (have to use the keyboard to navigate around) go through the various menus and see if there is an entry that deals with PS/2, if there is make sure it is enabled.

SAFE MODE:

When you select Safe Mode (Safeboot_Option=Minimal): A minimal set of device drivers and services to start Windows

When you select Safe Mode with Networking (Safeboot_Option=Network): A minimal set of device drivers and services to start Windows plus the drivers necessary to load networking

When you select Safe Mode with Command Prompt (Safeboot_Option=Minimal): This is the same as Safe mode, with the exception that Cmd.exe is started rather than Windows Explorer. (Which equates to a DOS prompt

You navigate around SAFE MODE just like a normal window, obviously your color is not color as only a generic VGA driver is loaded under Safe Mode.

Some programs cannot be installed in Safe Mode, and some icons may not work, otherwise there is not difference in navigation. If a window minimizes to the tray, click on it to maximize it then close it. Is this the problem you were having?

skypilot · #5 May 6th, 2006, 11:50 PM

I tried entering setup but could find no entry related to the PS/2 connection being disabled. I was thinking of shutting the computer down, reconnectiing the mouse and they after startup, reloading the software. Make any sense to you?I
Safe Mode: When I was using safe mode I did not have the mouse function so I had to use the arrow keys to move around. Problem was when a new window opened up I couldn't find a way to close it. I couldn't hit the "X" at the top with no mouse pointer available. I tried "esc", no go, so I tried various combination of keystrokes, shift + alt, ctrl + alt, etc. Nothing seemed to get rid of the window. I then had several windows open and could not get back to the "desktop". Thanks again for your input, this site has been a great help to me in learning more about computers. SP

**Murf** · #6 May 7th, 2006, 02:56 AM

OK now I understand:

If it ever happens again, keyboard strokes to navigate:

http://familyinternet.about.com/cs/c...inshortcut.htm

Yes if you have software that came with the mouse load it.

skypilot · #7 May 7th, 2006, 06:32 AM

Thanks for the excellent reference for keystrokes, just what I was looking for. Thanks again for all your help. SP