# Mouse stops working after XP Service Pack **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-stops-working-after-xp-service-pack/253581 "2004-07-05T01:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-stops-working-after-xp-service-pack/253581/1 "2004-07-05T01:52:59Z")
This morning I re-installed Windows XP because some of my programs (like Windows Media Player) had somehow disappeared. After that, everything worked fine, so I went to Windows update to reload the patches. After I installed Service Pack 1a I rebooted and my mouse no longer worked. I used system restore to go back before the service pack and the mouse worked again. Re-installed the service pack – no mouse. I even re-reloaded XP (mouse worked) and then did the service pack again. No mouse. I have installed the service pack on this machine before, and there was never any problem. FTR it’s a Microsoft Optical Mouse, and I have tried it in both the USB and PS2 modes. Has anyone seen this problem before, or know of a way to fix it? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-stops-working-after-xp-service-pack/253581/2 "2004-07-05T06:12:16Z")
Right click My Computer, select Properties, select Hardware tab and click on Device Manager. Any device depicted as a question mark means that it is not correctly installed. This might be the problem. However, my guess is that the mouse is broken. A mouse not working in USB mode is quite common (service pack sometimes screws the USB ports), but not working in PS/2 mode is highly unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-stops-working-after-xp-service-pack/253581/3 "2004-07-05T12:43:49Z")
This is way strange. I tried the mouse both in USB mode and PS2 mode, and rebooted several times with no success. In fact the device manager didn’t even show a mouse installed. I tried the Add New Hardware Wizard, but it didn’t find the mouse either. This morning, I unplugged the mouse and plugged a different one in. XP immediately recognized the mouse. I plugged the original mouse back in, and it now works fine. Here’s to you, Bill Gates! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-stops-working-after-xp-service-pack/253581/4 "2004-07-05T13:22:11Z")
Sounds like plugging in the different one forced the system to refresh the driver (which might _appear_ to have been the case with troubleshooting the old one) - I’ve seen similar things with other items of hardware such as network cards - do something to the system and it stops working, resists all attempts to fix etc. Install a different one and it works, then (on a whim)replace the original one and everything is back to normal.