You sure the adapter isn't going in the opposite direction (flow of the signal)?
I have one such adapter where the direction is from serial to PS/2 and not the other way around.
There is sometimes an arrow printed on the adapter to indicate the signal flow.

That's a 2000s era Gateway mouse. It's definitely PS/2 only. Those microsoft mice usually say on the sticker underneath if it supports serial and ps/2.

I've a few of these gateway mice ranging from 1995 onwards and I don't think any of them support serial mode.

You could always get one of the brand new Optical serial mice off of eBay. they come with a special gridded mouse pad. Only $17.99 shipped in the USA
[url]ttps://www.ebay.com/itm/OPtical-Laser-Serial-B ... 2255744441[/url]

If you really want a ball mouse, this seller has a couple left (brand new) for $8.95 shipped in the USA
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Compatible … 05/392194428676

sirlemonhead wrote:

That's a 2000s era Gateway mouse. It's definitely PS/2 only. Those microsoft mice usually say on the sticker underneath if it supports serial and ps/2.

I've a few of these gateway mice ranging from 1995 onwards and I don't think any of them support serial mode.

That explains the cube logo. Kind of looks like a cubed cow.

I tested the mouse on my Pentium II and it works for PS/2 so that's good, much better mouse than the Acer I was using for those machines.

I'll have to search for an old serial mouse then.

21603 wrote:

I have almost everything set up and working on my 486 build, just got the sound working tonight on the AWE64 Gold, but now I'm s […]
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I have almost everything set up and working on my 486 build, just got the sound working tonight on the AWE64 Gold, but now I'm stuck without a mouse.

I had planned on using an old Microsoft Intellimouse that I found but it's PS/2 so I bought an adaptor to serial off eBay that I assumed would work because the mouse is old. I'm not really convinced the mouse and adaptor are the cause, but since I can't test the port with anything else I've got nothing else to go on.

The bottom of the mouse just reads Intellimouse 1.1a PS/2 Compatible.

I have this exact one pictured with the little cube on it.

I also tried another, newer, optical PS/2 mouse, but that was pointless because for sure that one has no serial support.

So close after months to a final build, but I'm being thwarted by a mouse.

Probably a little too new. The ones without the coloured plug or scroll wheel generally support both serial and PS/2.

21603 wrote:

That explains the cube logo. Kind of looks like a cubed cow.

Yeah, that's what their computers' retail packaging looked like too. White cardboard boxes with "cow" print. (Sometimes brown cardboard boxes, but the "cow" print remained.)

Is there a difference between the green coloured plugs and pink?

I believe there were a few different systems for colour coding before standardization happened. Logitech had orange coloured PS/2 connectors for keyboards.