Can't get mouse to work under Windows 3.1 (works fine in DOS) \ VOGONS

Can't get mouse to work under Windows 3.1 (works fine in DOS)

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First post, by Socket3

Posted on 2021-06-20, 14:15

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Hello everyone. I'm having an issue with a new 286 build - specifically I can't seem to get the mouse (serial mouse) to work under windows, although it works just fine under DOS.

Here is my setup:

Hardware:
- '89(ish) 286 mainboard with a 16MHz Harris CPU installed
- 4MB of RAM (4x 1MB 30 pin SIMM)
- Tseng ET3000AX ISA video card
- Creative Sound Blaster PRO 2.0 CT1600
- Generic ISA Multi I/O card using a Winbond chipset - a fair bit newer then the motherboard - made in 92 i think
- 800MB Western Digital IDE HDD
- 1.44 and 1.2MB FDD
- Sony 52x CD-ROM
- AT Power Supply, 200w (or so it claimes)
- Logitech M-M15 serial mouse - as well as 7 other Serial mice, different brands, working in either Logitech or Microsoft mode according to CuteMouse.

Software:
- MS-DOS 6.22
- Windows 3.1
- CuteMouse driver or Mouse.com microsoft driver that came on a Mistsumi driver FDD.

The mouse works great under dos - mouse is detected normally, and functions as it should. Both cutemouse and mouse.com detect the mouse correctly. But as soon as I run windows 3.1, the cursor won't move. So far I've tried:

- using other good, working serial mice - all exhibit the same behavior - ok in dos, no-go in win3.1
- replacing the Winbond I/O card with others - so far I tried a much older one with a Fastrack? (not sure) chipset and one with a Godlstar chipset. With the older I/o card, only some mice work under DOS - notably those that run in Logitech mode. With the Goldstar card I get the exact same behaviour as with the Winbond card - ok in dos, won't work in windows
- went trough all mouse drivers supplied with windows 3.1 in control panel -> windows setup
- attempted to install an old Logitech win 3.11 driver off a floppy that came with a logitech mouse - and failed.
- removed the CT1600
- switched from COM1 to COM2
- loaded a mouse driver under dos, then loaded windows
- ran windows without running a mouse driver in dos

So far, nothing has worked under windows, and it's driving me up a wall. I had similar issues with a 486 ISA build a while ago and could not resolve them. That time it was running Windows 3.11 for workgroups.

Can anyone help?

Reply 1 of 8, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2021-06-20, 15:44

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Roll back to generic 16 color VGA mode, then test, to confirm we're dealing with a mouse problem and not a VGA problem, i.e. driver tries to do a hardware cursor, but can't display it for some reason, meaning you've got a mouse pointer but it's invisible.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 2 of 8, by Socket3

Posted on 2021-06-20, 15:53

Socket3 Offline

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-06-20, 15:44:

Roll back to generic 16 color VGA mode, then test, to confirm we're dealing with a mouse problem and not a VGA problem, i.e. driver tries to do a hardware cursor, but can't display it for some reason, meaning you've got a mouse pointer but it's invisible.

Haven't gotten around to installing the VGA driver yet, i'm running the default windows 3.1 driver

Reply 3 of 8, by weedeewee

Posted on 2021-06-20, 16:05

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I'd say your easiest bet to get the mouse working would be with a microsoft mode mouse.
From what I remember any logitech ones almost always needed a seperate driver.
Can't recall which file you need to edit, win.ini or system.ini in the windows dir.
It's been over 25 years 😀

Didn't you need to select a mouse on install of windows ? vague memory.

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
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https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port

Reply 4 of 8, by Socket3

Posted on 2021-06-20, 16:59

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No, windows setup auto detected the mouse as long as a dos driver was running... if I used my m15 it would detect a logitech mouse, otherwise it would detect "Microsoft mouse or IBM PS/2".

Reply 5 of 8, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2021-06-20, 20:20

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Hokay, so should be no graphics involvement, let's try a page from the hymn book...

https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/088/Q88543/

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 6 of 8, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2021-06-20, 22:38

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I have pretty much the same setup but on a 486.
Check my config files for reference.

Re: 486 Multimedia dream build ( 1993/94 ).

Reply 7 of 8, by Pierre32

Posted on 2021-06-20, 23:00

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weedeewee wrote on 2021-06-20, 16:05:

I'd say your easiest bet to get the mouse working would be with a microsoft mode mouse.

This caught me out after a fresh Win95 install last week. Same scenario. Then I remembered my serial mouse had an AT/MS switch on the bottom. D'oh! Problem solved.

Reply 8 of 8, by Socket3

Posted on 2021-06-21, 11:41

Socket3 Offline

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I've managed to resolve the issue. It turns out it was a combination of incompatibility between the mainboard and I/O cards, incorrect jumper settings and lack of documentation for the i/o cards I own.

I tested all I/O cards I own currently not in a computer (about 6) and noticed I can get mouse to work in windows using UMC chipset I/O cards.

With the first UMC card that did work I couldn't get the CD-ROM to detect. Tried playing around with jumpers but with no documentation it did more harm then good.

I then tried another UMC card with has jumper settings silkscreened on the back. At first it seemed to work, but my sound card would not get detected correctly. Something was using IRQ5 (the I/O card). I tried to free up IRQ5 but couldn't without the CD-ROM not working (CD is connected to the I/O card not the sound blaster) so I settled on disabling COM2 and Game Port on the I/O card, then moving the sound blaster to 240h, IRQ7 and DMA1. Now everything works.

TL/DR - it was down to incorrect resource configuration.

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-06-20, 20:20:

Hokay, so should be no graphics involvement, let's try a page from the hymn book...

https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/088/Q88543/

That's an extremely useful guide! Thanks for the link!

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