Intermitent mouse after boot up

I just installed windows 2k with service pack 4 on a compaq presario 5000 series. It was fine after that, then I installed a bunch of drivers to get the video card and modem to work, finally they are all set but now, anytime I move the devices in the usb ports and restart the mouse will work sometimes, sometimes it won't. I have tried three known good mice, and still have the same problem. I tried rolling back the mouse driver and reinstalling, I changed the IRQ settings in the bios, I have no conflict in windows and when it happenes I can tab over to hardware profiles and it tells me the mouse is working fine. Any thoughts.

 

OH! This isn't one of those "dirty mouse balls" things is it?

God I hate that!

Fuzz and dust and crud on the rollers around the mouse's "ball" (poor thing)

If it is, turn the little round plastic door on the mouse's bottom a half turn to the left, chase down the ball that just fell out, then get a q-tip and some alcohol...and clean his little rollers up. Hesitatingly, I'll add..."and wipe down the ball too". Man!

If its not that, I'm stumped.

 

you're stumped. I'm sorry I didn't preface this with I'm not a noob. I did however say, I had changed mice three times. That would eliminate a hairy balled mouse.

 

Sorry