I've recently assembled a 486 DOS gaming computer, and almost everything is now up and running. The only problem I'm now having is that I can't get any mouse to work with it. I'd initially tried using it with an old PS/2 mouse plugged into the COM1 port by way of a serial-to-PS/2 adapter. When this didn't work with any configuration, I tracked down a serial port mouse--this also didn't work. (The serial mouse works on an old laptop running Win95.) It occurred to me that the serial port on the case might not work, so I got a nice cheap little serial port bracket; again, no success.

I've tried using MOUSE.COM, MOUSE.EXE (from the laptop mentioned above), and CTMOUSE with various parameters set. MOUSE.EXE comes up with:

1The mouse is not responding !
2
3Check the mouse installation and then rerun the mouse driver.

If I run CTMOUSE with the /m parameter, it says "Installed at COM1 (03F8h/IRQ4) in Mouse Systems mode". This seems correct, since 03F8/IRQ4 are where the computer says the COM1 port is at bootup. In spite of this, the mouse is still unresponsive in all programs.

Any suggestions on what I ought to do next? I'd rather not have to buy a serial port adapter card if I don't need to, obviously, and I feel like I'm probably missing something simple.

Let me know if you need any other info.