Tried to plug in a mouse into new laptop, it didn't work. So I loaded the mouse software onto machine, restarted it, and now nothing works (it loads the desktop but the mouse, touchpad and keyboard doesnt do anything). I cant even turn it off without disconnecting the power and removing the battery pack!

Is there anything I can do to make it work again?

Lyndsey

Hello Lyndsey Chivers,

Welcome tohttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums!

I'm not a laptop guru...but in the meantime...

Are you sure the mouse is compatible with your Laptop?

Is this a USB mouse?

If it is, USB devices normally require the drivers to be loaded prior to plugging in the devices.

I'd suggest getting into SAFEMODE and remove the drivers from there...If you're not familiar with DEVICE MANAGER and removal...please post back and someone can walk you through...I've got to book for a bit! ;)

Then, if they gave you a manual with the mouse...check to make sure the driver and plugging in of the mouse are in their proper order.

Dont know what you mean by a USB mouse - it doesn't plug into the USB port if that is what you mean. It's a Logitech mouse - not new, just from work. My husband had to load the software on to his laptop before he could use it too so I thought it would be safe for mine.

If I cannot use the keys/mouse etc how can I get the laptop to run in safemode?

Confused from Bristol!

Lyndsey

Lyndsey, does this laptop have a touch pad or similar? If it does, then before you can install/use an ordinary mouse, you will have to disable the touchpad.

This will be an option in the BIOS, and you should be able to access that by pressing a key (probably "del") at the initial screen, which might well show a "press (key) to enter setup" message. When you get into the setup, there will be an option to disable the touchpad. Not knowing which machine you have, I cannot be more specific about where to look.

Hope that helps

David

I'll give that a try and let you know how I get on.

Thanks (and watch this space!)

Lyndsey

David, unfortunately that didn't work - the problem is that none of the keys are working - so pressing 'del' did nothing.

Do you think I ought to send the laptop back to the manufacturer? I can't think of anything else I can do without the keys, mouse or touchpad working.

Lyndsey:mad:

What is displayed on the screen when you first switch on? any messages at all? Usually there is at least a memory count, and hardware check.

If you are getting no display at all, then something is stopping it booting - are there any beeps?

What make/model of laptop is this? Knowing that might help decide the right way to access the BIOS.

Sorry, more questions than answers!

David

Did you try pressing the DEL key right after the first screen came up and before the Windoze started loading?? If you did and it still didn't work, that is not good. If it is that frozen up I think you have 2 choices. You can try using a USB keyboard and/or mouse to see if that might work. This would be a keyboard and/or mouse that can be plugged into the USB port. They are readily available these days and can be found pretty cheap sometimes. Laptops are often able to use them because a lot of people (like myself) prefer to use an external keyboard and mouse with a laptop.

If that doesn't work, the other option I can think of is to take it back to the seller. It seems unlikely that installing a mouse driver would completely disable your keyboard, so there may well be something wrong with the computer itself.

Yes the start-up screen works and I pressed del before windows appeared and nothing happened, and again after windows appeared (of which it did beep at me a number of times - when it stopped it had no reaction to the del key). Should I persevere with keeping 'del' held down to see if a help screen appears?

Unfortunately it is an inexpensive i-friend laptop, so maybe it's a problem with the computer itself.

Thanks guys for your support with this.

Lyndsey

If it is beeping in response to you pressing the key, that is a good sign. I would look at the opening screen and make sure that it wants the DELETE key to get into startup. It sometimes will want F10, ESC, CTRL, or some other key. It comes up on the screen fast at boot, so look closely and try it. If you miss, just shut down and try again. Don't hold the key down, but do tap on it. When you hold it, the computer is likely to interpret it as only one keystroke and may miss the right time for it.

Try holdong down a key before powering on/rebooting...it should force a keyboard error and then tell you exactly which key you will need to press to get into the BIOS setup.

well thanks to the advice of all of you I have managed to access the set up screen (ctrl, alt & S if anyone is interested!), have disables the mouse port - no success (although touch pad worked in set up screen!), restored default settings - no success, and loadsa other variations to see what works - with and without the new mouse just in case.

The problem now seems to lie with Windows XP - as soon as the machine has rebooted and loads Windows, nothing works again (keyboard/mouse/touchpad) - I cant even use the Window start key to access anything. I do not have a Windows XP disk so I dint know what I can do now.

Any more words of wisdom will greatly received:(

Lyndsey

Well, I don't use a laptop and I don't run XP...:( :D

However, I do believe that XP has a System Restore feature that you can access during boot up by pressing what appears to be F8

There might be a Restore Point that was created at the time you used the Wizard to load the mouse drivers. From the reading I have done it appears that an XP Restore Point is created automatically when the installation Wizard is called upon. Selecting this Restore Point will return you to the configuration before the driver installation.

F8 might also get you into SAFEMODE where you would simply be able to uninstall the drivers from Device Manager.

Here's a read from Microsoft:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/windowsxpsystemrestore.asp

A bit of the way down the read is some information regarding "Driver Rollback."

As Whyzman said, F8 might allow you to boot in safe mode.

If it does, you will be able to open control panel and open the system/hardware/device manager. If the touchpad is listed there (and it Ought to be!) under mice and pointing devices, right-click on it and choose disable.

Reboot normally and see if that solves the problem.


David

Try tapping the F-8 key while booting (Tap,Tap,Tap....)If you can get to that window, select boot into Safe Mode from the list.From there go to the control pane/System/Device manager Tab and expand all the + Symbols and remove any ! Exclimination points (those are conflicts).