Dell 4600 ignores all mice?

[Odyssey]

My very responsible 22 year old daughter was using my XP Home computer in her own user account and shopping on a well known site when the optical mouse froze. I have unplugged and replugged it and replaced it with a known good mouse, also re-started in safe mode, all for naught!

The cursor is firmly planted in the middle of the screen and refuses to budge.

What might account for this? TIA

 

[sturm]

Is this a usb or a ps2 mouse. If its usb, see if any other usb components are working. Its possible you lost the usb ports.
Check in the hardware manager to see if any thing is yellow or red.
You can get around windows by using the space bar, tab key and arrow keys.

 

[Odyssey]

Sturm, thanks for yours. Tried a USB mouse which worked OK, tried rebooting with the other ps2 mouse which also worked (didn't reboot with alternate mouse yesterday), so it seems the original mouse is a dead duck. ;<)

Thanks again

 

[Crashman]

You're lucky you didn't fry the mouse port, you're not supposed to unplug and plug them when the system is running!

 

[Odyssey]

You might well be right, but I've never heard of it.

anyone else have any opinions?

 

[Crashman]

Oh, since you had the system fixed I didn't think you were looking for opinions! OK, you probably had a sensor die. Optical mice use a light and sensor, either could die. Ball mice on the other hand use two lights and two sensors.

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks, but I meant about unplugging and replugging while the system is running.

 

[fishmahn]

Its always been a no-no to unplug/replug a PS/2 mouse or keyboard while the system is on.

I've done it with a keyboard on the rare occasion (while crossing my fingers behind my back) when things weren't registering right (keyboard lights flashing in unison or something similar) and it has reset the keyboard so I could continue typing. I did it once when I forgot to plug the mouse in, and while it didn't blow the mouse the mouse didn't work until the system was rebooted again.

I've never had one fry but since the PS/2 ports are active and have power it is possible, so it is best to avoid doing that if possible.

Mike.

 

[Crashman]

Remember those PC-Chips boards with the loose keyboard connections? The keyboard would connect and disconnect frequently, and after a while of that the keyboard controller would fail!

 

[Odyssey]

Thanx for these and I trust that I am now the wiser. I would hesitate to estimate how many dozens or hundreds of times I have disconnected and reconnected either or both over the last two decades while the computer was running.

So far no ill effects, but think I will stop tempting fate.