Why can't I plug in a USB mouse in Vista?

Recently I haven't been able to use USB mice in Vista.
I have tried three different mice on two different computers.

First when I plug in a mouse it doesn't work right away.  That is weird.
Then this window pops up:

Odd..  So I click the first option.

After clicking on the installing new hardware () button, I get this window:

Odd...  Why are there two things?  I only plugged in one mouse.

After a while this window pops up:

Finally everything settles down to this:


Moving the mouse does nothing, and oddly the "installing new hardware" icon in the system tray is stays there, but it's not animated anymore.  It just looks like this:

I'm using a USB mouse and keyboard right now, but I'm afraid that if I unplug them and plug them back in to see what would happen then they would no longer work.

Had anyone else experienced this problem?
Or better yet, can anyone help me fix it?

a little more info would help. mouse brand and model number, mother board brand and model number, and is it on a USB hub or one of the ports on the board

try copying all the content of c:\windows\inf to another folder and then have the device wizard search for the drivers in that folder

Refrax wrote:



a little more info would help. mouse brand and model number, mother board brand and model number, and is it on a USB hub or one of the ports on the board

The mouse that I showed above is a Saitek laptop mouse Model Number: M-166

I just tried a wireless Targus laptop mouse (Model number: PAW10u), and here's what happened:



I also tried a Logitec Click! Optical Mouse (Model Number: M-BQ85) and here's what happened:




Edit:
I'm plugging the mice into the front port of the computer.

Point the dialog asking for password to C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore

if this mouse works with generic microsoft mouse drivers, it will be detected

Almost always this means that the USB hub or port that it is plugged into doesn't have enough power left to service the mouse so it starts to freak out.

Unplug other things from the same hub (note that most computers share power to most of the ports on the back now so if you have 4 ports and they're all filled you are drawing from the same 500 mw total for all 4) and try it again and see if it works.

I have the exact same issues as the gentlemen that started this thread - none of the solutions listed have worked. Why does vista not easily recognize USB Optical mice?

This is on a Brand New Dell laptop, with 6 USB ports - the only thing plugged into them is the mouse.  Half the time, Vista won't even detect the mouse is plugged in. I checked the mouse, and it works. I checked the USB ports (with a thumb drive) and they all work.

Does anyone have any other ideas???

hmm, weird..

My Digital Cam Corder doesn't work with vista using USB either, it used to with XP.

Now I have to use firewire which works fine, however, I don't even get a messasge when I plug my camera in via USB, Vista just completely ignores it.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me the other day with a Microsoft Wireless mouse, while a cheapy spare Belkin mouse I had lying around worked first go in the same port.

I thought it was a little strange that a Microsoft Mouse would'nt have drivers already in Vista, or lack support completely, so I tried every USB port on the system and found one worked, while the others all installed as the USB Browser Mouse and then not work.

Have you tried all your USB ports? Including the extra ones on your main board that might not have a plug connected to them?

I am using a USB mouse with Vista right now, did a clean install of vista after backup of old files.

this mouse is MSFT optical blue one...

the messages about com surogate etc...

sounds like some kind of problem with geting a clean signal for the vista USB driver stuff to decode.

USB has a bunch of timing and signal stuff that if not right will cause problems.

sometimes you may want to shutdown and insert / remove an item several times and then start up and try again.

why?  seems that sometimes the contacts can get oxidised and that friction can rub them clean.

seems ghetto but it can do the trick with a cranky device sometimes.

JustSomeGuy seems to have fixed a similar problem here:-

 

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/549988-solved-chic-other-hardware-usb.html

AdrianJMartin said:

JustSomeGuy seems to have fixed a similar problem here:-

 

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/549988-solved-chic-other-hardware-usb.html

HERE'S THE FIX:

 This problem seems to be a vista problem and to fix the problem I first installed SP1 update, then I had to find the device in device manager - listed not as a mouse but as an unknown device with a yellow exclamation point, then properties, then re-install driver, then choose "browse for driver software on your computer," then on the next screen do not hit browse, but instead choose the option on the bottom of the dialog box:  "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, "then scroll down until you find "Human Interface device compliant mouse" or it might just say HID-compliant mouse."  VOILA - the mouse will now work!  Ta da!

prettypat said:

AdrianJMartin said:

*snip*

HERE'S THE FIX:

 This problem seems to be a vista problem and to fix the problem I first installed SP1 update, then I had to find the device in device manager - listed not as a mouse but as an unknown device with a yellow exclamation point, then properties, then re-install driver, then choose "browse for driver software on your computer," then on the next screen do not hit browse, but instead choose the option on the bottom of the dialog box:  "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, "then scroll down until you find "Human Interface device compliant mouse" or it might just say HID-compliant mouse."  VOILA - the mouse will now work!  Ta da!

Better late than never I guess! lol

prettypat said:

AdrianJMartin said:

*snip*

HERE'S THE FIX:

 This problem seems to be a vista problem and to fix the problem I first installed SP1 update, then I had to find the device in device manager - listed not as a mouse but as an unknown device with a yellow exclamation point, then properties, then re-install driver, then choose "browse for driver software on your computer," then on the next screen do not hit browse, but instead choose the option on the bottom of the dialog box:  "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, "then scroll down until you find "Human Interface device compliant mouse" or it might just say HID-compliant mouse."  VOILA - the mouse will now work!  Ta da!

PrettyPat, you are da... man? girl? Well, you hit it right on the nailhead!  THANKS!

 

@alwaysmc2:  I bought an HP mouse and got the same messages.   Then I turned off the computer and booted it after i plugged in the mouse.  It works fine (for now).  I tried to move it to another port and it doesn't work.  So far I have one port it will work in.  Hope that helps.