Problems with serial optipac in Windows 2000

[88mph]

Hey there,

I'm putting together a new cab, and I'm using an older serial optipac that I had on the shelf.  The optipac was working fine when shelved, and has shown itself to work with the new system.  The optipac is wired up to a trackball and the OS is Windows 2000. 

My problem is this--sometimes I have a really hard time getting Windows 2000 to recognize the serial optipac.  When I first hooked it up, windows recognized a new serial device, and installed the mouse.  Everything worked fine.  Then, the next time I booted up, no mouse activity.  In order to troubleshoot this, I plugged in a USB mouse the next time, and upon boot up, both mice worked.  I figured, what the hey, and left the USB mouse plugged in all the time, and the cab worked well for a few weeks in that configuration.  Then, I just added another USB device (a GPWiz 49) and all of a sudden the serial mouse isn't working again.

Anyway, is there a way to bulletproof Windows 2K so it always works with a serial mouse, instead of working when it wants to?  This has become quite a source of frustration, and I was wondering if anyone else on here has conquered this problem. 

I've considered just buying a USB optipac--in retrospect, the time saved would have been well worth it!

Thanks for any help or advice,

88mph

[_Iz-]

Depending on how old the optipac is it should be capable of either USB or serial connection, just need the right cable. If it's not, there is still a chance that with a chip swap and new cable it could do USB. Check with Andy @ Ultimarc.

[88mph]

Well, this one is pretty old, back from the days when they were serial only.  I also know that the old serial optipac and the new usb optipac have different sized circuit boards, and I would assume differently designed circuitry.  Still, I may bounce the idea off Andy.

-88mph

[88mph]

Nevermind.. I just bit the bullet and ordered a new USB optipac.  No more serial hell for me!

-88mph