The mouse connected to the serial port of my laptop computer does not work. In ‘System Information’ the details for the mouse state ‘This Device Has a Problem: Code=24 (0 ×18). This device is not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed. See your hardware documentation’. The mouse does work on other computers and is properly connected. Reinstalling the correct drivers and Windows does not fix the problem. The computer is a Digital HiNote VP laptop running Windows 98 SE.

Firstly, make sure that you plug the mouse in before booting up the computer, otherwise the computer may not recognise the mouse. Assuming that you have been doing this and the mouse still doesn’t work, go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Settings’ > ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘System’ control panel. Click the ‘Device Manager’ tab and then click on your mouse device (which is producing the error message). Right-click and click ‘Properties’ from the context menu. Click the ‘Driver’ tab and then ‘Update Driver’. When prompted, select ‘Reinstall Driver’. This reinstallation procedure may be different to the reinstallation procedure you tried. Restart your computer. If this doesn’t work, go back into the Device Manager then remove the mouse. Then, go into the ‘Add/Remove Hardware’ control panel and try to automatically detect (plug and play) and install the mouse. If still no success you may want to try the following procedure, however, it may be somewhat risky as it involves removing your track pad driver - which could be a big problem if it doesn’t reinstall. Proceed at your own risk. Go back into the ‘Device Manager’ and remove both the mouse driver and your track pad driver. Restart Windows and see if Windows will reinstall both the track pad and mouse drivers. Another possible solution is contained in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at support.microsoft.com/?kbid=142405. This deals with the issue of connecting a serial mouse to the computer when Windows does not recognise the mouse. This fix involves editing the registry so be careful and again, proceed at your own risk. If all else fails, you could always try out a PS/2 mouse if your computer has a PS/2 port. If this does work, you can find PS/2 mice at cheap prices due to the introduction of the more advanced USB mice onto the market.