I am working on a computer for someone, and here's the deal. I installed Win98 SE on this computer, with a serial mouse plugged in. When the install was finished, and I booted it up, Windows tells me I didn't plug in a PS/2 mouse. (I would have if I could, but the motherboard doesn't have a PS/2 connector at all! The keyboard is AT!) So, I pulled out the serial mouse and plugged it in while the computer was off, and started it up, and then went to "Add New Hardware". It then detected the serial mouse, but it said that it was installed, but was having problems. I did the same thing with two PS/2 mice using an adapter, and it gives the same thing. But, I tried this mouse on my computer, (it runs FreeDOS) and installed my mouse driver, and it worked great! I also used a DOS boot disk and used the same mouse driver (on the K6 that I'm trying to fix) and I was playing a DOS game on it, with the same mouse, and it worked great, so clearly, the Serial interface and mouse are good. Is this a software problem? (That's my best guess, as Windows can be sort of stupid sometimes) Do I need a Windows Driver, and if so, does anyone know where to get one? Please help.

Skip the autodetection and install the mouse from the list of hardware choosing standard serial mouse.Make sure you remove the mouse from the System sheet before to avoid having more than one.PS/2 mouse with serial adapter may not work if it was not designed and bought as such.Good luck.

Yes, forget about trying to use those PS2/serial adapters. They rarely work.

A lot of those socket 7 boards had an optional PS/2 connection on the motherboard. If that port is specifically enabled in cmos it may be why windows is giving the message. If that's the case, disable the port in cmos. After that windows should see the serial mouse as long as the com port it's connected to is enabled. Another possibility it the serial cable is not the correct one for the motherboard or the internal cable isn't connected correctly. Try booting the computer with an older dos version and loading a dos mouse driver. If the driver successfully loads then the serial connection is OK.