XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage   
   From: chris.hood@breathe.com   
      
   If your father is running Windows XP, then maybe it's a the problem is   
   caused by the "Power Options".   
      
   This may sound a little mysterious to you, but, as the computer is a laptop,   
   when your father re-ran Setup, he may have reset the power management   
   options within windows to a default setting.   
      
   You (or your father) can go to the start menu - control panel - System,   
   OR right click My Computer (either on the start menu or on the desktop if it   
   is there) and choose Properties from the menu that pops up.   
   This opens the System Properties box. It has lots of tabs at the top.   
   Click on the Hardware tab. Then click the Device Manager button.   
      
   The Device Manager opens (it is a program that shows all the hardware   
   devices that are part of or connected to your computer). As the problem   
   seems to be with a USB mouse, first look for the "Mice and Other Pointing   
   Devices" item in the list. Double click it to expand the list. This should   
   show you which Mice are plugged into your computer (it will also list the   
   built-in trackpad that you mentioned).   
      
   With your USB Mouse plugged in, click on Action in menu at the top of the   
   Device Manager window and choose "Scan for hardware changes". After the scan   
   is complete, does your mouse appear in Device Manager? Does it work?   
      
   If your USB mouse is not shown and doesn't work, then look for the Universal   
   Serial Bus Controllers item on the Device Manager list (usually near the   
   bottom of the list). Double click this item to "expand" it (to show the   
   items it controls). There will be some items under the Universal Serial Bus   
   Controllers item called USB Root Hub. Right click one of them and choose   
   Properties from the menu that pops up.   
      
   There are tabs at the top of the box that appears. Click on the Power tab   
   (if there is one). This shows the USB ports power information/status (on my   
   PC it tells me that the hub is self-powered and has 500mA available per   
   port). If your father's laptop says something similar that's a good sign.   
   Now click on the Power Management tab (again, if there is one). There you   
   will hopefully see a check box with the title "Allow the computer to turn   
   off this device to save power".   
      
   The check box probably has a tick in it. What I suspect may be happening is   
   that your father's computer is saving power at the expense of the USB mouse.   
   So, if any of this has made any sense, un-tick the check box, click OK (do   
   the same to all the USB Root Hub items) and close the device manager. Try   
   your mouse.   
      
   Hope this will help.   
      
   "The Todal"  wrote in message   
   news:4m4no5F4gerbU1@individual.net...   
   > My father has a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop and the USB mouse was working   
   > fine until he unwisely re-ran Windows Setup on his machine, which seems to   
   > have stopped the mouse working.  The USB ports seem to detect all other   
   > types of USB device, but not any sort of USB mouse.  The machine's   
   > built-in trackpad still works, and because it's a Dell there is no way of   
   > de-activating the trackpad. We have of course tried uninstalling and   
   > reinstalling the mouse software driver but it makes no difference.  The   
   > computer does not notice when you plug in a USB mouse.   
   >   
   > I suppose it might be a registry error of some kind. Anyone have any   
   > suggestions, other than formatting the drive and doing a clean Windows   
   > reinstall?   
   >   
      
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