Win 98 not recognizing keyboard or mouse 1

[pantichd]

Hello,

I have a Win98 pc that will NOT recognize the mouse or keyboard. It boots up and stops at a warning message that says...
"Windows did not detect a mouse attached to the computer. You can safely attach a serial mouse now..."

I've rebooted the machine. I've unplugged and plugged back in the mouse and keyboard and then rebooted. Nothing makes a difference.

Does this sound like a software or hardware problem? My first thought was that it's a problem with the motherboard but before going down that road I wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[tahoe2]

Sounds like the motherboard since they both went bad at the same time, but to be safe, borrow a keyboard and swap it out to test. W98 really likes it better when a keyboard is installed.
Do you have USB ports? If so, you can get a USB mouse and kb for less time and money than a motherboard...

Hope this helps,

Corie

 

[Cirrus9]

You may want to reset the BIOS as well. I have had this issue several times before and there were some times that it was solved by that. You can use the reset jumper on your MB or pop the battery.

 

[algraff]

Check to make sure your mouse and keyboard plugs aren't swapped. A few motherboards are picky about that.

algraff :

 

[pantichd]

Keyboard/mouse plugs are definitely in correct slots.

Tried a USB mouse with same result.

One of the replies mentioned BIOS. I've never done that. If I do what you suggest what will happen? Will the pc boot up with default BIOS or do I need to load something?

Thanks

 

[imquazar]

The above messages pretty well wrap it up.
But - how does it work in Safe mode?

If you've tried everything else, and it looks right, then try safe mode, and see if you get anywhere that way.

If you can get the keyboard and/or mouse to work in safe mode, then you might consider wiping the drivers out in the device mangler. That way when you reboot into normal mode it should reinstall the devices.

Hope this helps if you've tried everything else.

 

[pantichd]

I did think of Safe Mode but since it won't recognize keyboard I don't know how to force it to go into safe mode.

Any tips?

 

[pantichd]

Well, here's something interesting. I tried it with just the keyboard plugged in and it boots up ok and I can use the keyboard.

However, if I try to plug the mouse back in then it stops responding to the keyboard too. Tried it with serial and USB mouse and got same result.

So I booted up with just the keyboard and went into ControlPanel | System Devices. There is NOTHING there for a mouse.

How do I get an entry in there? I don't have the original mouse driver. It's really just a generic MS-type mouse.

Thanks again for all the responses

 

[pantichd]

By the way, I'm using Win98SE on this pc.

Thanks!

 

[Rob2806]

Look on the internet for a DOS Mouse Driver.

Add a line into the config.sys to tell the computer where it is and it should work.

 

[Rob2806]

Another idea,

Check you see if you have the following in your system folder

VMM32.VXD
MSMOUSE.VXD
MOUSE.DRV

If you have, run add new hardware and add a mouse

If you haven't run SFC and see if it will install them for you.

 

[pantichd]

Well, I tried everything (switched to usb mouse, popped battery to reste bios, made sure drivers were there) and it still wouldn't recognize it.

So I thought I'd just upgrade the pc to XP Pro. Did that but it still doesn't recognize the mouse. I don't get the error message anymore but when it boots up I can use the keyboard as long as the mouse isn't plugged in.

If I plug the mosue into a usb port I can use the keyboard but it still doesn't recognize the mouse.

Sounds like a motherboard problem, right?

 

[EonSpeed]

No it sounds like an IRQ conflict to me, however can you use the mouse in DOS?
If you can use the mouse in a DOS application then it is an IRQ conflict and easily solved, if not than it could be your Motherboard, but if you have the same problem when using any type of mouse with your keyboard then I would say it isn't.

 

[pantichd]

Hmmmm. Well, I haven't tried it in DOS. Good suggestion. I'll try that tonight.

I am a little confused by your last sentence. Are you saying that if I have the same problem with any mouse then it is NOT an IRQ conflict?

Thanks!!