No mouse in Safe Mode

**edkranz** · 2003-05-28 19:33

I had some problems with my computer a couple of weeks ago where it would only boot in Safe Mode. Somehow I got it back up and running but in the process I lost the mouse in Safe Mode. When I boot in Safe Mode I get an error message: "Windows did not detect a mouse..." This is not a problem at the moment since it is booting up fine normally but I am comcerned that if I lose it again in the future it will be awfully hard to do anything in Safe Mode without a mouse.
I am running Windows 98SE on a 350mhz Pentium II machine with a phoenix BIOS. Any and all help would be much appreciated

**MichaelRead** · 2003-05-28 23:15

If it is an optical mouse or maybe a USB mouse the drivers might not load in safe mode. I usually try to keep a regular old fashioned PS/2 mouse hanging around in the event of an emergency.

**edkranz** · 2003-05-29 01:15

It's the same mouse I've always had and it is a PS-2 mouse.

**MichaelRead** · 2003-05-29 02:58

How did you get it back after you lost it the first time?

**edkranz** · 2003-05-29 09:15

It was the whole computer I lost. After trying a number of things I disconnected the scanner which was apparently the cause of the problem and restored a previous version of the registry. In the process I somehow lost the mouse in Safe Mode.

**MichaelRead** · 2003-05-29 10:44

Well, don't know what to say Ed...a PS2 mouse is about the most basic mouse that exists and if W98 is not picking it up, then maybe a reinstall might be in order. You might also try booting from a floppy and see if that helps next time.

**edkranz** · 2003-05-29 11:10

Mike-The mouse comes up just fine in Normal boot up but not in Safe Mode. I'm apparently picking up the mouse driver later in the boot up sequence in the files that are bypassed when you boot in Safe Mode. The question is: how do I get the mouse driver early in the sequence so that I have a functioning mouse in Safe Mode? Thanks for you efforts.

**bigaldoc** · 2003-05-29 11:46

Unfortunately, my Win98SE machine is down right now with a dead hard drive ("click of death!"), so I can't try this. I've never "lost" the mouse in Safe Mode, but have in normal boot had Win98 refuse to load the mouse driver. On a number of occasions, I've then booted to Safe Mode and opened Device Manager. Often you will see multiple entries for various devices. DELETE all the entries that appear for PS/2 mouse and re-boot into normal mode. Hopefully, Win98 will "re-identify" a PS/2 mouse and THEN you could re-try Safe Mode to see what happens. Other than that, I don't know of a workaround to get Windows to load the mouse earlier in the boot process.

I should also mention that on one or two occasions when this has happened to me, it has turned out that the mouse was "dead," but I wouldn't suspect that in your situation since it's OK in booting to Normal mode.

**edkranz** · 2003-05-29 18:49

In Device Manager in Driver File Details for the mouse it shows two driver files: C:WINDOWSSYSTEM4DMOUSE.VXD and C:WINDOWSSYSTEMVMN32.VXD[vmouse.vxd] are you suggesting I delete one or both of these and then reboot?

**bigaldoc** · 2003-05-30 01:34

I'm suggesting you delete the MOUSE, so yeah, I guess you could say that. Immediately upon rebooting, Win98 should "find" and re-install whatever mouse is attached, normally a PS/2 mouse if you have one plugged in to the mouse port.

**edkranz** · 2003-05-30 15:35

Thanks Big Al
If I do this and it doesn't work will I be able to get the Mouse back by restoring the registry using "scanreg/restore"?

**bigaldoc** · 2003-05-30 18:49

Well, I've never, ever had to do that, so I can't definitively say one way or the other. BUT, I am 99% sure it won't come to that. If you delete the mouse entry in Device Manager, reboot the computer and Windows doesn't "see" that there's a mouse installed (plugged in) to the PS/2 mouse port, then there is probably a DEAD mouse on your hands and I would try another mouse BEFORE I would resort to restoring the registry.

**edkranz** · 2003-05-30 19:29

OK I deleted the mouse in Device Manager and yes Windows picked it up and reinstalled when I re-booted but I still don't get it in Safe Mode. As before when I boot into Safe Made I get a box saying there is no mouse connected and I have no mouse functionality yet it works perfectly fine when I boot up normally. Thanks for your efforts. Do you have any other ideas?

**viking33** · 2003-05-30 19:48

Check out this site for info. http://www.jsifaq.com/SUBE/Tip2400/rh2423.htm
It is about no mouse and/or keyboard in safe mode.

Bob

**viking33** · 2003-05-30 19:54

Scratch that last one, Ed.
It's for Win2000 or XP, and I went back to your first post and saw that you are running SE. However, I would google search for "no mouse in safe mode". There were a lot of other possibilities there, including 98 or SE.

Bob

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