I installed Mandrake 10.0 on one of my spare machines at work a few days ago to start playing with,and to use to learn linux. I have it connected to my mouse and keyboard through a 4-port KVM switch. when i had it on a set of cables that were right next to the kvm, everything worked fine. I've now moved it to where i want it, and have it connecting via a 15' set of cables. the keyboard now works fine, but the mouse has totally stopped responding. at first, it jumped around very eratically, and kde acted like i was pushing buttons. i rebooted the machine, and since then, the mouse wont work at all. I know the cables are good. I had them attached to another machine this morning and all was well. any clues on what i could do to fix this, or where i need to look? I can work with just the keyboard if need be, but it makes life a little annoying.

thanks

I've got a similar problem with mandrake 10

For some reason when it starts the mouse is frozen but the keyboard is fine. After unplugging the keyboard from the computer and plugging back it in again the mouse suddenly starts working as normal

anyone know why?

(the mouse is a PS/2 mouse)

This trick works also for me, I can also solve my non-functional mouse by unplugging the keyboard, put it there again, and voila the mouse works. Thanks Slinkysteve.

One question however regarding this, how is Mandrake finding the mouse settings?
Perhaps this leads to where to find the solution. Sorry for this long reply, frustrations after a day trying to solve this without succeeding...Se below

I have a Logitech optical wheel mouse with an USB plug, with an USB --> PS/2 connector, and put the mouse in the PS/2 port. Works fine in WindowsXP and Redhat9. No problems also during installation of Mandrake-10 (I can even use the wheel button here), but afterwards the mouse hangs on start-up

First, I tried solving the problem using the Configuration Centre (I guess this is a graphical way to start mousedrake?) tool and tried to click the listed options (standard PS/2 wheel mouse; GlidePoint; standard PS/2 mouse). Reboot, and watch, but nothing happened/mouse still dead.

Then, I edited manually the /etc/X11/XF86Cfg-4 file, as recommended by some on the web. Here is the mouse part of my file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
(...)
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
(...)

I tried to manually change the "Protocol" setting (to "PS/2", "IMPS/2", "MouseManPlusPS/2"), the "Device setting" (to /dev/inpute/mice, /dev/psaux), and/or the "ZAxismapping" setting (to "4 5") in all combinations. Nothing worked.

However, all these times, putting the mouse in the USB port made it function, and with Control Centre/mousedrake, I was now able to get the wheel-button also functioning. Apparently, upon a change via CC/mousedrake, the XF86Cfg-4 file is not modified, the /etc/sysconfig/mouse file however is. It looks like this on my system:

/etc/sysconfig/mouse
MOUSETYPE=ps/2
XMOUSETYPE=ExplorerPS/2
FULLNAME="Universal|Any PS/2 & USB mice"
XEMU3=no
WHEEL=yes
device=input/mice

As this is the back-up of the files right after installation of Mandrake10 I think nothing is altered here by me...
Perhaps it is a solution to let the system load the keyboard driver before the mouse driver? Or is this stupid remark? (yes I am a newbie :-) ).

All of my KVM problems went away when I noticed that the actual mouse I was using was connected to the
KVM through one of those PS/2 (round plug) to USB (rectangle plug) converters.

I found another mouse that didn't need the converter, but still has the wheel and everything works great.

For me the IMPS/2 didn't matter and getting rid of the scroll wheel in XF86Configdidn't help but getting that converter out of the way made everything work like magic.

Drake42

I'm using a GE PS/2 optical 5-button scroll mouse (two extra buttons on the sides) and mine goes wacko when I switch my Belkin OMNI KVM from and back to Mandrake 10 beta. Also, my scroll wheel doesn't work.

Wish I had something useful to add to the thread!

Mike

I guess I'm having similar trouble. From the very start my trackball never worked right (Logitech Trackman USB). From the installation the cursor movements were very erratic and sometimes it would interpret movement as clicks. The keyboard has always worked fine. I did have it on a KVM switch and used the USB -> PS2 adapter. Then I plugged the PS2 converter directly into the computer. Then I plugged the USB directly into the computer. I even got a cheap Compaq PS2 mouse and plugged that in. It has never given me a good level of repsonse. When I had my trackball plugged in I went thru and tried every type of mouse available in the settings. I'm not too crazy about this distribution in the first place, but has anyone worked this or a similar problem out?

Other attempts to get myself converted over to using Linux were also discouraged by various mouse problems. For being the primary method of interaction for a 'GUI-supporting' operating system, the mouse driver problems sure tick me off. With some installations my optical seems to need a threshold of movement before the pointer even moves (I could move it across my whole mousepad without moving the cursor if I did it slowly enough) and I can't even get the cursor to a reasonable size in KDE.

I've always had the sense that Linux puts user feedback on the back burner to other functions compared to Windows. I am often left wondering "did that work...?"

Mike