atom1kk wrote on 2022-02-28, 09:42:

Hi I have bought board where unfortunately the PS2 port for mouse is broken. It is not recognized during the win98 installation and windows shows also an error on boot up that PS2 port not recognized. The mainboard port works OK.
Any suggestion how i can check what might be broken? any other workauround to use a mouse in dos?

If the PC has a serial port you can use a Serial Bus mouse, Microsoft ones are pretty good and fairly cheap on eBay, they are also exceptionally compatible.

I cant help with the PS2 port but there are a lot of electrically minded people on here who understand that stuff who can help. (But I would start with looking for dry/cracked solder joints at the PS2 port, they are pretty easy to repair with basic soldering skills)

THx but what i forgot to mention, is that i have to use a wireless solution, serial is unfortunately not an option.

atom1kk wrote on 2022-02-28, 09:51:

THx but what i forgot to mention, is that i have to use a wireless solution, serial is unfortunately not an option.

Hmm does it have USB ports ?

Because if the PS2 port is broken and you cant use serial then .. USB is likely the only other option even for wireless, you might have to repair the PS2 port before you can get a mouse back.

What about ps2 to serial adapter do they work?
I think this might be a good solution
Or usb to serial? But i think this wont work with more modern device since they are also not working on ps2

you should provide more context up front, if only a photo - without that, your description could mean all kinds of things.

But since you write it's a board, I assume its a normal ATX board, so well inside the Win 9x late 90s era.

Yes, serial mouse is an obvious choice. Also, many old PS2 devices like the Logitech wireless bases support passive adapter to serial/db9/rs232 port. They can be found easily, later ones were bright green.

Also, USB mice for DOS, well... I supposed that exists. Bit of a rabbit hole.

The engineer's solution, the PS2 mouse port is a "female" "6 pin mini-din" port, cheaply available retail and to be installed with basic soldering skills. Did not yet do that myself, but surely has been done before.

Somethin like this for a standard ATX board:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/332617314985

Of course, you first shold have a look, with a magnifying glass, whether some minor peace of metal has been bent out of shape or something and maybe apply some contact spray.

Sorry for the lack of info.

Its a P4 Asus P4P800 Board. I have already a wireless kombo from medion 4027which i am using at this PC and which i want to keep. So if I buy a PS2 to serial adapter und plugin the Mouse connector with the adapter into the serial port, this should normally do the job?

i was already thinking about soldering a new port. But after some time searching the web for informations it could also be that a fuse or something is gone so in this case only changing the port would not help.

atom1kk wrote on 2022-02-28, 11:02:

So if I buy a PS2 to serial adapter und plugin the Mouse connector with the adapter into the serial port, this should normally do the job?

That's hard to tell with an unknown OEM product.
Thing ist, PS2 mouse and serial are two very different signals, that passive adaptor only works if the device supports it by design, auto-detecting which is connected.
So, most if not all early Logitech pre-USB devices came with adaptors for a) ps2 Keyboard to "large" DIN connector and b) ps2 mouse to serial connector, a 9 pin d-sub plug.
Because, prior to ATX motherboards, most Socket 7 and later baby-AT boards had a ps2 pinout, but many had no actual case bracket connected, leaving you with no choice but the serial port.

Chances are that Medion thing was made by logitech, anyway. But there's almost only one way to find out whether it supports the serial connection:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/284668216641

Short of that, you can google the fine print of the wireless receiver and hope to get lucky 😉

😁:D i also saw this one already. ok. i think lets try it out. Otherwise, which logitech wireless models shall i look for which are compatible with the serial

oh dear - I do love Logitech, but their product policy is a crying mess.
You could probably fill several volumes with their models and nomenclature.

But I could vouch for the one pictured here, from my master "in" pile. Thats's the "cordless desktop iTouch" iirc.
As you can see, it came with that green adapter.
Btw., I don't think there is a real industry standard for these, but afaik they're all doing the same. That one on ebay with a bit of cable included is actually superior, since it won't result in exessive lateral forces if the cable gets pulled at, possibly damaging the plug.

Also, the very first cordless desktop, since I used to own that around 1999.

Main catch: To the best of my knowledge, there is a defintive gap between the "compatible to serial port" and the "optical mouse" era. Let me know if you find otherwise. So, you'd have to be fine with a ball mouse.

thx, it should be also an optical mosue 😁. ok will try the adapter.

well, there's a reason that Logitech stuff there is untouched, NOS, in a box in the basement...
I also never quite liked that style of mouse, even for a ball one. Too bulky, to heavy and somewhat awkward.

One more question. Is the serial port working in safe mode?

atom1kk wrote on 2022-03-02, 18:26:

One more question. Is the serial port working in safe mode?

That never even occured to me. I feel rather geeky for even knowing that there is such a thing as safe mode, real mode, Edna mode.
Do those usually make any practical difference?

As far as I know, the serial port ist so low-level, it should work when the machine is disconnected form the mains, on fire and being eaten by a shark 😉