Hi everyone,

I have just bought a new mouse (a generic 4 button optical mouse with a scroll wheel) and plugged it into a box with a fresh install of Fedora Core 4.

The mouse doesn't work at all on Fedora. I've tried a number of 'tricks' that I've seen on various forums and websites but now I'm at a loss for what to do next. It works under Windows XP but when I boot into Fedora (my main partition) the mouse pointer refuses to move and the optical LED goes out. Then when I restart my machine, sometimes the mouse won't work under Windows after the first restart and I have to restart it again (very odd).
I use Fedora as my main OS and WinXP for games so it is a bit of a pain to have to revert to my old 2 button, scroll wheel-less ball mouse every time I boot into Linux.

The mouse is a no-name mouse that is silver and black. It came with no drivers and no information.

After trying everything I could think of I'm now coming at this from a fresh perspective on a clean slate so just ask me anything and I'll supply what ever info you need.

Thanks in advance,

Adam.

you forgot to say, is it usb or ps/2?

oops.

it's a ps/2 mouse.

what protocol are you using and which have you tried?

Well my Xorg.conf file says I'm currently set up as follows:

I believe I also tried it as a Microsoft Optical Intellimouse and a NetGenius Mouse as well. I think one of those was IMPS/2 and the other was a regular PS/2 protocol (but I can't be sure of that).

you should also make sure thatt /dev/input/mice is the right address, i originally had to use /dev/psaux. Just cat /dev/input/mice move mouse around and see if you get output. You should also try other protocols if it is /dev/input/mice, maybe try reading the HCL or www.google.com/linux .

Ok, we may be getting somewhere.

I did cat /dev/input/mice and got some output (x's and space's) when I scrolled the wheel and clicked the buttons, but not when I moved the mouse (the LED didn't even light up).
I tried switching it to /dev/psaux and when I restarted it wouldn't let X start so I had to log in on the command line and edit the xorg.conf file in vi to change it back. It then worked fine.

So, it definitely looks like /dev/input/mice is the correct device type.

wierd... i get output when i move my mouse around (usb optical cable mouse connected with usb to ps/2 adapter to ps/2 port). i use /dev/input/mice and ImPS/2 protocol. Maybe you should see if your mouse is actually supported... might not be if you dont get any movement output...

I tried to see if it is supported but with it having no name or anything (just a serial number, the words "OPTICAL MOUSE", and "made in china" on the bottom), it is kinda hard to identify it.

I'll look through the HCL and linuxcompatibility.com and see if they come up with any mice that sound 'compatible' and copy there xorg.conf entries. I suppose that's my only chance of getting it to work.

P.S. What is the easiest way to restart X without a full reboot (preferably from the command line as I'll have no mouse support while I test this)?

if you are using startx CTRL+Backspace kills X, but if you have gdm/kdm/xdm it will automatically restart. Other then that ctrl+alt+F1 switches to the terminal where you can Ctrl+C to kill X, or go to ctrl+alt+F2 and then log in and run "/etc/init.d/[xkg]dm stop". Good luck.

same peoblem man. i have a micro inavations optical mouse 2 buttion with mouse wheel witch is also a 3rd buttion the the mouse works fine in windows xp didnt even need a new driver just worked. s/n 054057125 made in china by micro inavtions and when i boot fedora core 4 the mouse led shutsdown so the mouse has no movment but the butions seem to work very messed up like clicking one make the curser fly to the right and click a menu. i have tryed diffrent configs killing gdm edting the xorg config myself to use difrent drivers tryed the system config everything and no luck. a ps2 optcial is no diffrent then a standerd so i think its a bug in the modprobe in fedora and its killing the leds on ps2 mouses. seems all usb optical mice have no issues.