Question Problem with mouse pointers in old computer

[Richy1985]

I have been running MS-DOS with Windows 3.1 on an old early Pentium spec computer for nearly ten years without any problems.

All of a sudden, completely out of the blue I started to receive the following message when booting into MS-DOS: 'Microsoft Mouse not found, try another 9 or 25 pin serial port and/or check for interrupt conflicts with other peripherals. Type Mouse /f to check all ports'.

So I typed mouse /f and all that does is repeat the error message. I installed Microsoft Mouse 9.01 (full package) years ago and I was able to use a mouse in true MS-DOS as well as Windows.

To troubleshoot the problem I tried the following:

Entered Windows 3.1 - the mouse is not working there either.
Plugged in another mouse that is known to be working to rule out a defective mouse.
Tried connecting to a different serial port to rule out a defective COM Port cable.
Tried installing a different hard disk with a fresh install of MS-DOS & Windows.
Entered the BIOS and assigned COM Ports 3 & 4 to the serial ports instead of COM Ports 1 & 2 to try and rule out a hardware conflict.

I am beginning to think the motherboard is faulty. Can anyone suggest anything else that might solve this problem?

Please note: There is no Device Manager in Windows 3.1, this was first introduced in August 1995. As such, I do not know how to check for hardware or resource conflicts in Windows 3.1.

Many thanks,

Richard

 

[Ralston18]

Motherboard - perhaps. PSU is another likely suspect.

Update your post to include hardware specs.

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

 

[TerryLaze]

I have been running MS-DOS with Windows 3.1 on an old early Pentium spec computer for nearly ten years without any problems.

For nearly 10 years on a system that was build 30-40 years ago

...suddenly...

If it can't see a working mouse, I would make sure and test it again on a known working system because old things just die sometimes, then it's most probably the mobo.
Make a visual inspection of the board, if you are lucky it will have a visibly bulging capacitor and changing that might fix it.

 

[Richy1985]

Update: After weeks of pulling my hair out I finally found the problems (plural). More than one of my mice had become defective and another mouse turned out to be compatible only with Windows 98 and above. I initially dismissed the bad mice theory because it didn't seem plausible that three mice could develop issues all at once but that was indeed the case. I also learned how to verify and confirm whether my serial ports are in good working order via the use of a loop-back plug, very useful!

I installed a fourth mouse - not even a true serial mouse but a PS/2 mouse with a serial adapter. It works absolutely fine, despite rumors that PS/2 mice have jittery cursor movements in Windows 3.1. No more mouse not found error.

I have also discovered that a jittery cursor I was experiencing in one of my computers might not be an issue that's related to the mouse but possibly the hard disk instead. When I plugged the apparently problematic mouse into another computer the jumpy pointer problem completely disappeared.

The motherboard is also in fine working order. I'm happy to report that normal service is resumed.

 

[PiersPlowman]

Thanks for following up. I wondered if your Pentium system was too "modern" for Win 3.1 (I only ever encountered SX/DX2/4 486 PCs running that OS).