USB support in most old BIOSes was fairly poor. It is likely that both the BIOS and your DOS drivers can't properly handle HID devices behind another device, or hot plugging. You may have to resort to something like HIDman.

HIDman - USB to PS/2 converter (Open Source)

you could try a bios update, on the off chance that they did include usb legacy mouse support later on. but i'm fairly sure on these early usb boards only the keyboard worked, at best. i'm assuming you did go through usbintro.doc? it seems the author is still active, too, in case you want to contact him directly.

if you can't get it to work at all, but insist on using usb, the workaround would be to run win98se instead of dos - that would let you use your usb devices out of the box in dos programs.

And BIOS routines for handling USB HID devices in DOS/legacy OSes, even directly connected, can be flaky [1].

Windows 98 is a possible workaround, as Auron mentioned, but there are other options, at the expense of conventional memory [2], as mentioned in [1].

[1]
[SOLVED] PSA : using USB keyboard with BIOS PS/2 emulation routines does not always work well. I.E. in Jazz Jackrabbit

[2]
https://bretjohnson.us/programs/usbdos.zip

auron wrote on 2024-06-27, 01:28:

if you can't get it to work at all, but insist on using usb, the workaround would be to run win98se instead of dos - that would let you use your usb devices out of the box in dos programs.

My workaround is to use a separate mouse, and a PS/2 at that.
Not ideal but saves frustration.

that's what i do too, but i answered under the premise that OP wants to keep using the same usb devices for everything. just hooking up another ps/2 mouse is kind of obvious so didn't mention it.

akimmet wrote on 2024-06-27, 00:19:

USB support in most old BIOSes was fairly poor. It is likely that both the BIOS and your DOS drivers can't properly handle HID devices behind another device, or hot plugging. You may have to resort to something like HIDman.

HIDman - USB to PS/2 converter (Open Source)

Ah, I had considered something along this line. I neglected to mention that my USB-based KVM switch has only a single USB cable going to the computer, carrying both the keyboard and mouse signals.

Would an HID device like this work? I'm thinking not.

auron wrote on 2024-06-27, 01:28:

you could try a bios update, on the off chance that they did include usb legacy mouse support later on. but i'm fairly sure on these early usb boards only the keyboard worked, at best. i'm assuming you did go through usbintro.doc? it seems the author is still active, too, in case you want to contact him directly.

if you can't get it to work at all, but insist on using usb, the workaround would be to run win98se instead of dos - that would let you use your usb devices out of the box in dos programs.

Oh?? This idea has merit! I actually have an old Winders 98 CD in the closet!

I am constrained to USB because I loath the idea of having multiple KBs and Mice on my desk. (Did that for years.) I can also look for a BIOS update for this old board.

Thanks!

auron wrote on 2024-06-27, 09:36:

that's what i do too, but i answered under the premise that OP wants to keep using the same usb devices for everything. just hooking up another ps/2 mouse is kind of obvious so didn't mention it.

Yup. Considered that, and just really don't want to go that route.

DJGray wrote on 2024-06-27, 12:32:

akimmet wrote on 2024-06-27, 00:19:

USB support in most old BIOSes was fairly poor. It is likely that both the BIOS and your DOS drivers can't properly handle HID devices behind another device, or hot plugging. You may have to resort to something like HIDman.

HIDman - USB to PS/2 converter (Open Source)

Ah, I had considered something along this line. I neglected to mention that my USB-based KVM switch has only a single USB cable going to the computer, carrying both the keyboard and mouse signals.

Would an HID device like this work? I'm thinking not.

In many cases no, but the project I linked to does with the latest firmware.

However if the software that you want to run will work correctly in Windows98, that is a potential solution to your problem.