Mouse Has Stopped Working, Xp

[CW1]

Hi,
Been having problems for a while, PC running s-o-o slow, then lost most of my drives (eg. external hard drive, SD card - still haven't got them back), then as I was rebooting for the umpteenth time, noticed updates were being applied. On XP (?? Huh ?). Since then I haven't been able to use my mouse.

Ran the PC Recovery tests (F10 on reboot), nothing found. Ran malwarebytes scan, nothing found. Ran Chkdsk /F, again no problems found (though that had worked when I lost my mouse once before).

I'm hoping the mouse is just kaput & will try a friends later, but seems a coincidence. Is there anything I can try before having to try to restore pre update ? is there any point running PC Recovery, or will that just make it worse ?

Appreciate any suggestions ...

[Old_Geezer]

I'm off to bed soon too.

Aye of course, not having a mouse is such a pain. Try pressing the window key and the arrow keys to see if that helps.

The other thing that just occurs to me, does the mouse get found if you boot into Safe Mode ?

[CW1]

Stumbled on how to expand the "+" (-> arrow *doh*) ... no mouse in Device Manager :(
Is the (serial ?) port knackered ?

[CW1]

I won't be going to bed for ages yet ...there's no mouse in Safe Mode, BUT it WAS there when I went into the F10 PC Recovery. Makes no sense !

Using all sorts of keys to get around, but oh so s-l-o-w ... *wits end*

Thanks for your comments today O_G ... nite :)

[Old_Geezer]

Somewhat surprised none of the more technically minded folk have made suggestions. Maybe tomorrow.

[Old_Geezer]

If definitely nothing in device manager try to kick off a search for new equipment. Must be in Control Panel and subsections somewhere. PC recovery probably uses its own mouse driver and not the Windows one.

[CW1]

Morning ... :)

Yeah O_G, I thought (was hoping) a "techie" might've seen this ...
I have tried looking for new devices, when I lost the external hard drive. Nothing found.

No further forward today, am running Malwarebytes Premium for a 2nd time time this morning but so far, nada. My PC won't support a wireless mouse I guess, but would it be worth trying a usb one if p'raps the serial port is knackered ?

[Old_Geezer]

I'd say yes. Every input device will have it's own driver. If your mouse isn't found then either Windows thinks it already has the data (which sounds to me like some corruption somewhere, probably in the registry, especially as it worked in the past) or there is something major wrong with the mouse or PS/2 connection so it isn't seen.

I think trying a cheap USB mouse an excellent idea. A spare is always useful anyway. I'd avoid wireless mice or trackballs until you have a leaded one working. It's just another extra step in the chain to add a wireless link, as I see it. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I like to keep things simple.

[CW1]

I was so full of hope ...

Have plugged in a new usb mouse ... nothing ! Tried it in a different port, where the DVD writer was plugged in (& usable), it's still not being recognised. I've tried various options in Add Hardware but anything I try comes back saying it's working properly. What AM I missing ??!! *sob*

[CrapAtCryptics]

Have you tried updating your chipset driver

[Old_Geezer]

Methinks time to call a knowledgable friend in.

Normally there is more interest in the Tech questions on this site but I think folk must be on holiday. On other occasions I've found help on http://www.pchelpforum.com/ at the risk of being frowned at here you could try there also.

[CW1]

Thanks for the suggestions but all in vain, for now at any rate. Apart from the "knowledgeable friend" ;) I called a work colleague last night & I have a plan of action.

The PC finally died last night, a kernel file (ntosknl from memory ?) is corrupt so I now need to reinstall Windows. I'm just at my fellah's to pick up a disk. As it happens, I have my very 1st hard drive installed so I'll be disconnecting the one where the file's corrupt & installing Windows on the old one. Fingers crossed ...