replacing win 95 with 98

9 Yr. old son recieved an old Compaq Presario from his grandma. It has Win95 installed. Today I was trying to get one of several mice to work and none would. So I am using the keyboard to try and go into device manager to see if I could configure for another mouse and tried to uninstall info for old mouse we can't find, for new info on the mouse we could find...and I removed the mouse category altogether!!!

Now I cant find a listing for a mouse in devices at all!!!

I happen to have a Dell Win 98 disk and thought perhaps I could install that and solve the problem, plus have a newer OS.

Thanks to all,

Tex

 

The Dell Win 98 disk probably includes device drivers for the Dell computer with which it came. Using such disks on other brand computers generally does not work well. However, since you're bascially in an exploratory mode with the Compaq, you take the attitude nothing ventured, nothing gained. Keep in mind that, if you tried to use the Dell disk and, in the process, format the hard drive on the Compaq, and then the system does not run after the attempted installation of Win 98, you'll need a Win 95 disk to get back to Win 95. I think a better choice would be to visit ebay.com and buy a Win 98SE installation CD if you want to get a newer OS on that computer; this could be an upgrade version or a full version but I'd get a full version if you do not have a Win 95 CD; you won't need a Win 95 CD the first time you install Win 989SE, as it will recognize the existing Win 95 OS but, if you need to reinstall Win 989SE again in the future, you'd need a Win 95 CD if you're trying to install Win 989SE from an upgrade CD.

Was the mouse working with that computer the last time grandma used it? Did she give your son that mouse?

After you removed the mouse device from Device Manager and restarted the computer, did the Found New Hardware wizard appear? Does Device Manager now have any yellow triangles with exclamation marks in them? The computer uses a PS/2 mouse, right?

 

So many questions!

I'm walking out the door, but will answer when I get back. Thank you for your attempt to help.

 

Sorry it took me so long to get back. I get what you are saying about replacing the OS...yeah, not a good idea.

Yes, the mouse worked for grandma...but we have since lost it. I'm sure it was one of those color coded plug in types, not USB, which is what we are trying to use now.

No, the Found New Hardware screen did not appear.

Yes, in Device Manager under the mouse category, there is the PS/2 mouse listing under that with a yellow triangle with black exclamation mark.

However, I have been all over the computer looking for ways to make the computer recognize the usb mouse...just wont do it.

Thank you for your continued help!

 

The easiest solution here is to simply get a PS/2 mouse. A basic mouse is not very expensive.

Windows 95 has poor support for USB; for more info, see Windows 95 USB Guide. If you really want better USB support, give some more thought to my suggestion re: Win 98SE (that's Second Edition, not the first edition) from ebay.com.

 

simple enough for me...thank you.