packman 0 Posted October 18, 2010 Yup, I'm building a new Windows XP desktop machine, transferring across one or two bits of the hardware from the old (10 yrs vintage) machine. The mouse I use is essentially a USB wired mouse with a PS2 adaptor, so that at present it plugs into the reserved PS2 mouse port on the current (old) machine. The new PC will instead have a USB port on it for a mouse, so obviously I'll dispense with the adaptor and plug the mouse straight into that port. But what should the procedure be with this USB mouse when installing the XP operating system on a bare HDD and initial configuring Windows, on the new machine? Many USB devices I've used require that any associated software should be installed BEFORE then connecting the device. This mouse uses Microrosoft Intellipoint software (which I've found useful for tailoring the functioning of the mouse) and the original instructions for it that I still have indicate that this software should indeed be installed BEFORE connecting the mouse. But how can that be achievable when installing the operating system? Is this sort of requirement automatically suspended during the session of installing the OS? Or is there something in the System BIOS that I should temporarily change? Once I've installed XP and basically got things working, will it be okay to then load the Intellipoint software? Since you can't run the machine without a mouse attached, it'll therefore be a case of installing the Intellipoint software AFTER, rather than before, installing the mouse. That being so, is this likely to give rise to problems? Is there a specific technique for installing a USB mouse? I know some people prefer not to bother with Intellipoint software and instead just use the mouse in plain vanilla mode but, thus far, I've had no problem with Intellipoint and find bits of it useful. Share this post Link to post
Philipp 6 Posted October 19, 2010 You need no additional driver for the USB mouse. Just plug it in and Windows will automatically recognize it even without Intellipoint. The mouse will also work fine during installation. The Intellipoint software is only necessary for additional features like 5 buttons or to adjust a few things. It is no problem to install this software later. Share this post Link to post
packman 0 Posted October 19, 2010 You need no additional driver for the USB mouse. Just plug it in and Windows will automatically recognize it even without Intellipoint. The mouse will also work fine during installation. The Intellipoint software is only necessary for additional features like 5 buttons or to adjust a few things. It is no problem to install this software later. That's reassuring, Phillipp. So, I can simply plug it into any USB port on the PC right from the start and can just leave it there. Right? And I don't need to set up anything in the BIOS for USB mouse, then? Presumably, I can then proceed with the Setup of WinXP? I thought that maybe you had to fiddle around with some legacy USB settings in the BIOS and then set them back the other way once the OS was installed. I take your point about the Intellipoint software, but there are one or two pointer speed/acceleration settings in it that I prefer. Trouble is, I've never used this mouse, or its predecessor, with just the standard Windows mouse driver, so I don't know exactly what the differences are between it and Intellipoint. I've looked on the Web to see if anyone's ever written up a comparison but have found nothing. Share this post Link to post
hd2k 0 Posted October 20, 2010 Yes, you can plug it into any USB port and leave it there.... however- some motherboards have a setting in the BIOS for "USB mouse support" and/or "USB keyboard support" which are sometimes combined as "USB input device support"; be sure these are set to "Enabled", but these settings are generally on older motherboards more than 3-4 years old. If the motherboard has only USB ports and no PS2 ports, then this is a non-issue and is nothing to worry about - you can simply plug in the USB mouse and keyboard and dive right in. GOOD LUCK! Share this post Link to post
packman 0 Posted October 21, 2010 Yes, you can plug it into any USB port and leave it there.... however- some motherboards have a setting in the BIOS for "USB mouse support" and/or "USB keyboard support" which are sometimes combined as "USB input device support"; be sure these are set to "Enabled", but these settings are generally on older motherboards more than 3-4 years old. If the motherboard has only USB ports and no PS2 ports, then this is a non-issue and is nothing to worry about - you can simply plug in the USB mouse and keyboard and dive right in. GOOD LUCK! The new board has a PS2 connection for a PS2 keyboard. The other peripheral ports are all USB. The mouse I've been using and which I'll also transfer to the new machine is basically a USB mouse but at present I use it in a PS2 port via a little USB-to-PS2 adaptor. With the new board, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to dispense with the adaptor. I happened to find a motherboard that not only had the major features I wanted but also one PS2 port (for my PS2 keyboard). The only settings that refer to USB in the BIOS of the new board are the following:- USB Controller * Enable/Disable USB Legacy Function * Enable/Disable USB Storage Function * Enable/Disable Against the legacy function, the BIOS notes say "Allows USB keyboard to be used in MS-DOS". Share this post Link to post
Philipp 6 Posted October 22, 2010 Yes, the legacy option is necessary for USB keyboards to allow them to enter the bios setup or for DOS. Share this post Link to post
