Win98SE three-button (or Wheel) mouse problems

[Tiger-Heli]

Another non-arcade post, but here goes:

We have three of the mice in our house: http://www.outpost.com/product/2974295.  The one on my daughter's computer works fine, and she still uses it.  (I think I installed the 3D Browser mouse software, and then uninstalled it and the mouse still works.).  On my computer, installing any 3-button mouse will lock the computer up after a couple of minutes or so.  I switched to a 2-button mouse and haven't had a problem, but would like a solution.  Happens on both the old and new motherboards.  I thought it was a hardware problem with the mouse, but since it happens with all mice, it may be a windows config problem.  Need to investigate.  Also, on my wife's computer (old and new) the mouse wheel is not recognized.  In fact, if you go to Control Panel - System - Device Manager - Mouse, it only lists "PS/2 Compatible Mouse PORT", but no individual meeses.  I think this can be fixed with the Logitech Mouseware software.

More to follow. . .

[Tiger-Heli]

BTW, I don't remember this problem with my USB trackballs, so installing a USB mouse might be the easiest solution.  $1.99 at Micro-center (not optical, though).

Here's what I've tried so far:

At some point, I removed the "Port" device from the Mouse section of hardware.  The system also seemed to like to call it both a HID Device - HID compliant Mouse and a Mouse - PS/2 Standard Mouse type.

I installed the Intellipoint software last night. Same problems as I was having previously with other software.  Scroll wheel worked fine initially, but after 2 or 3 minutes, mouse would stop responding.  Half the time the keyboard would lock up as well, half the time it would still work.  Usually ended up hard shutting down the computer.  (Power button).

The mouse also seems to think I've double-clicked when I only single-clicked, not always, but too often.

It was so bad, I had to unplug the wheel mouse and plug in the two-button mouse to uninstall the software.

I then installed the Logitech software.  It was more stable, but still not useable. It immediately picked up the new mouse as a two-button wheel mouse, and said it was loading drivers for it.  And it never locked up.  However, after 2 or 3 minutes, the cursor would randomly disappear and move somewhere else, open stuff I hadn't commanded it to, etc.  After that, it would work normally for about 3 or 4 seconds, then start again.  No real pattern to what it would run.  Generally, I would be trying to access the Start menu, and it would automatically launch something on the quick-launch menu, either Word or Netscape, or Opera, or Cardfile.  

I highly suspect that the same stuff was happening with the Intellipoint driver, just that it couldn't keep up and was locking the system up.

So now . . . .  As I see it, it's one of the following 4 problems (prolly in increasing order of likelihood):
 
1) Bad motherboard hardware - Meaning something in the PS/2 port is causing the mouse to lock up.  Seems unlikely given that I had identical problems with my ASUS AT style Pentium mobo and with the new Shuttle KT333 Duron mobo.

2) Bad mouse hardware - Maybe, although also unlikely as I think I've had the same problems with other 3-button mice, basically anything other than a 2-button mouse.
   
3) Virii - This is also unlikely as the problem first occurred almost a year ago, and I run monthly virus scans and updates.  It's possible (and acts like) I have a virus no one else discovered yet, but I doubt it.

4) Bad windows driver conflicts - I'm guessing this is the biggest problem.  Some registry error or other driver getting in the way.  Problem is I don't know how to fix this other than doing a clean install of Windows (Delete Windows directory, re-install re-load all driver, re-install all software.)  As I have about 120 programs installed, I don't want to do this, as it would take about a month to get back up and running again.

Anyone know any shortcuts or have any suggestions?

[jerryjanis]

Why not just use a 2-button mouse?  

Anyway, I'm not here to help, just to comiserate, maybe, but a few weeks ago my mother kept asking me, "why won't my computer work?" (lockups/crashes/etc.), until one day she determined that the mouse was causing her problems.  She replaced it with a new-fangled Microsoft 5-button optical mouse and hasn't been having the problems since.  (Go Mom!)

[Spaced Invader]

Have you checked what resources its using? A PS/2 mouse should be using IRQ 12...and nothing else. Just a stray thought.

[Tiger-Heli]

Have you checked what resources its using? A PS/2 mouse should be using IRQ 12...and nothing else. Just a stray thought.

How do I check that?

Update:  I picked up the $1.99 USB scroll mouse from MicroCenter yesterday, and it works fine.  Even has this added advantage that moving the mouse wakes the system from suspend mode.  Mice won't do that in Win98, but USB activity will!!!  Only potential problem is that now in Analog+, my USB trackballs will be Mouse 1 and 2 instead or 0 and 1 (, but you get the idea), but I can deal with that.

Intestingly, the Belkin mouse liked to install under System properties as both Cypress USB mouse and HID Compliant Mouse,  removing either driver made the mouse quit working.

I still would like to know what the PS/2 problem is, but for now, I'm happy.