Mouse Not Working

The mouse, or should we call the hands of your computer! Without this little equipment your computer is rendered helpless to be worked upon, well, unless of course, you are very savvy with keyboard shortcuts. However, you would agree that using the keyboard as a substitute for the 'easy-to-use' mouse gets tedious and not something which you would like to do every time. Moreover not everything that needs to be executed using the mouse, can be done using the keyboard. So, this leaves us with one basic inference that the mouse is one of the most vital peripherals of a computer. Sometimes, this important part of your computer may get 'ill' or suffer from different physical problems and when it does, it suffers from a condition known as 'mouse not working', as we have mentioned above. So what could be done to help the computer mouse recover and get back to its normal function. Here's what you should know and do...

Mouse Not Working Properly

Knowing why mouse stops working and correcting the errors may provide you with the solution for the problem. So here are some common possibilities which can cause a mouse to stop working.

The most common problem which can cause the ailment of 'mouse not working' is a loose connection or connection to the wrong port of the CPU. If it is so, then detach the cord of the mouse and plug it in. If you are using a PS/2 style mouse, then you might require to restart your computer after unplugging and plugging the mouse cord. If its a USB mouse, then you need not do the same. If the wire of the mouse is twisted, bent or damaged in any way, then even in this case it might not function.

Another method of diagnosing the problem of 'mouse not working' is to try using a different mouse in the PC. Similarly, try your mouse in a different PC and see if it works. Most of the times, people accidentally connect the cord of the mouse to the port of the keyboard. But in this case, it is easy to identify the error as even the keyboard will not function.

One more among the common causes which make the mouse cease to function arises due to some problems with the serial port, when you are using a serial mouse. The 'mouse not working' problem may also arise after you get your computer system upgraded. One reason behind this may be the old cable that attached from the serial port connectors to the motherboard headers are left in place. These cables are not universal and so this implies that you might have the wrong kind installed on the motherboard.

A PS/2 style mouse uses what is known as IRQ12. In some cases, it has been found that this creates a resource conflict (when two different devices are both trying to use a system resource like an interrupt request line, DMA channel or I/O address) with another device. Using a PS/2 style mouse on a serial port also makes the mouse useless.

So, these were some of the most basic problems related to 'mouse not working' ailment of your computer. The above description goes the same even for the condition of 'mouse not working' on laptops. However, as I said these are the basic problems and there might be many more and complex ones too. So, if you are not able to cure the ailment of your mouse, then you should consider paying a visit to a doctor of computers!
By Rajib Singha