USB mouse not working in Mandrake 9.2

[ngowdar]

I decided to install Linux alongside windows XP, as I saw the article in an issue of Maximum PC. The install went well, except that my usb optical microsoft mouse is not working. It isn't even lighting up. I tried all the options for the mouse during the install, but it still wont light up or respond.

what do i do?

[Hayl]

- what distro?

- is it plugged in via USB or with the PS/2 adapter?

- can you please execute the following command in a terminal and post the results back to us?
lsmod

[ngowdar]

1) I'm using Mandrake 9.2

2) It is plugged in via USB

3) How do I access a terminal?

[Hayl]

press ctrl-alt-f1

and then log in

(ctrl-alt-f7 will take you back to X)

<lol - i missed the subject of your post when i asked you what distro - sorry>

[ngowdar]

correct me if im wrong: is a terminal the login prompt for linux? similar in appearance to dos?

if so, how do i get to it? keep in mind i have to navigate using only a keyboard.

[ngowdar]

oh nvm....u posted that just as i posted...

i'll try it and post back. thanx alot

[ngowdar]

ugh...i accessed the login prompt, but im not sure what to log in under.

I created an account during install by the name 'willis'. But when i log into that name, the command "lsmode" doesnt do anything, it says it's not recognized.

Isn't there also a way to log in under admin or something? Would that allow me to use lsmode?

[Hayl]

it's lsmod

but anyway... log in as root or use the "su" command if you logged in as yourself to switch to root

[ngowdar]

ok i logged in as root

and i typed lsmod

a bunch of stuff came up, and alot of it was off screen.

most of it looked like it was for the sound card and cd rom, but i found 2 entries from what i could see that looked like they might help

usb-uhci 25136 0 (unused)
usbcore 74988 1 [usb-uhci]

figured that had somethin to do with usb. Is there a way i could scroll through the entries so im not limited?

Also, what in particular am i looking for? Because I'd rather know now instead of writing it all down, logging into windows, coming here and then typing it all.

[Hayl]

you will be looking for hid, (human input layer support).

you can do:

lsmod | less

if you want to scroll through, press q to quit less

OR you can do:

lsmod | grep hid

if you want to filter out everything except for hid

another place to look in for the mouse is in /dev

it is usually called usbmouse or mouse in there - which are just symlinks to /dev/input/mouse0 normally

to test /dev/input/mouse0 you can do this:

cat /dev/input/mouse0

and then move the mouse. if you get garbage on the screen when the mouse is moved then that is the mouse device - a good sign.

if it bungs-up your display, type in "reset" and press enter.

[ngowdar]

there isnt anything with hid

and i tried the /dev/input/mouse0 command....it didnt work either

perhaps i should mention that i only downloaded and installed the 1st cd of mandrake 9.2 (there are 3 downloadable isos), as per an articles instructions...think that has to do with some commands not being available?

[ca1naj610]

Say, Hayl:

You didn't mention the possible result of absolutely nothing happening when testing the mouse. I have Mandrake 9.2 too. I've tried connecting my Marble mouse, my Trackman trackball but
only my two button PS/2 mouse is responsive.

lsmod lists:
Module Size Used by Not tainted
usbmouse 2936 0 (unused)
keybdev 2756 0 (unused)
mousedev 5428 0
hid 24164 0 (unused)
input 5696 0 [usbmouse keybdev mousedev hid]
(Much more in between)
usb-ohci 21080 0 (unused)
usbcore 74988 1 [usbmouse hid usb-ohci]

Is this helpful to you?