I have a Mitac laptop (PIV 2.8Ghz) with FC4 Kernel 2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.
From the first boot, my USB mouse (Logitech MouseMan Dual Sensor) was dead. I connected an external USB HDD to see if it was something with the mouse but the HDD was not there also. I did the same with a USB CDRW and nothing ..

I am not an expert in linux but i have a basic understanding (i have confgured some things up to now).

If someone could please tell me what steps to take to probe or install USB support and /or mouse support ...

Run 'lsmod' and make sure the modules for ehci/ohci/etc. are loaded. I don't remember the exact name of the modules, unfortunately.

To begin with, thank u for replying.

i will lsmod but i have to know wich modules i have to look for. any url that i could get to see?

and except from that, normally, should'nt the mouse work by itself? i don't have to install any drivers for it? (i don't mind working with it as generic usb mouse at this point)

if the modules required are not loaded i could start them with insmode or modprobe. but will it be the right thing?

You need to load the root usb modules to even get a usb mouse working. The modules are, I believe ehci-hcd, ohci-hcd, and uhci-hcd. I could be wrong about the uhci-hcd one.

I have found the modules allready running (ehci_hcd & ohci_hcd). I unloaded them and then loaded them again with success.

I checked also the xorg.conf and the usb mouse was there as secondary mouse since the first is the synaptics touchpad of the laptop.

Is there another configuration file that i should check for the usb mouse?

It seems like everything is properly configured but i can't get anything to work....

Does the light on the mouse power up?

Nope, it is dead alright. I have never seen it on during my linux sessions (it is working just fine with winxp).

i have a document (not for fedora but for some other distro and somewhat old) that says about xorg.conf configurations and also says that in a file named usb.d a line must be changed.

i don't know if there is something similar that must be done for my case but i have already searched for that file and it is non-existent in my system. I have found other "usb*somehting" files and searched for a line-alike but in vain..

PLEASE come up with a good idea. Although i like fedora very much, i am coming to a point to turn to suse because i have faced many problems up to now.