Restoring default mouse driver

[griptypethyne]

I have a Geniuis Netscroll+ mouse. To try and make the wheel work I went into the Control Center and changed the driver to Netscroll. Then I rebooted and found that the cursor jumped to the top right of the screen and would not move.

 

I had created a recovery/backup cd using mkcdrec. I booted from the cd but still had the same problem with the mouse. I assume that there are utilities on the cd I can use to restore settings.

 

I booted in safe mode to the shell and located the file XF86Config in /etc/X11. I opened the file with vi and located Section "Pointer". I tried each of the following, none of which worked:

 

Changed Protocol from "NetscrollPS/2" to "PS/2"

 

Deleted ZAXISMapping 4 5 ( which I believe is needed for the wheel)

 

Changed Protocol to "Standard"

 

Any help would be appreciated. I am thankfull that I can still boot XP.........

 

[moved from Terminal Shell Commands, etc by spinynorman]

[Ixthusdan]

Here is my pointer section.

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier "Mouse1"
   Driver "mouse"
   Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
   Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
   Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
EndSection

 

I use Explorer, but generic PS/2 works just as well.

[griptypethyne]

I changed Protocol to a rubbish string, on the assumtion that X would either load a basic generic driver or would issue an error message and give up.

 

Then I entered

 

init 5

startx

 

When the blue screen appeared the cursor was centered and I just had time to check that the mouse was working before the cursor jumped to the top right.

 

This suggests two things to me:

 

(a) X is loading a generic (working) driver and then immediately loads another (non-working) one.

 

(B) I am editing the wrong file. Maybe I should delete the complete Section "Pointer" section and see if X does anything different.

 

I do not know which version of X I have.In the Config file

[Ixthusdan]

Hmmm... init 5 should startx by itself!

 

The correct file is /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. Manually edit the file. I am doubtful of the Drake tools! Try to duplicate mine and see what it does.

[griptypethyne]

The correct file is /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. Manually edit the file. I am doubtful of the Drake tools! Try to duplicate mine and see what it does.

I tried the version that you posted but it did not work. I also tried various other configuations I found on the net. None worked.

 

I tried "upgrading" Mandrake (making sure I unchecked the Format Partition checkbox) but it did not work. Then I renamed XF86Config and tried another "upgrade", hoping to force install to put back the defaults but it still did not work.

 

All my files, including the kernel source and modem driver are backed up on CD so I decided to do a clean install. I have done it thousands B) of times before and it does not take very long.

 

As soon as Linux was working again I copied the XF86Config and XF86Config-4 files to floppy.

 

I note your comment about the -4 file being the correct version.

 

I have also discovered the xf86config program which uses the keypad to emulate a mouse. Whether it would have solved my problem is another matter as I did not know what I was doing (-;

 

In the process I have learned a little more about Linux.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Ixthusdan]

When you work in the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file, the spaces and quotes need to be in exactly the same positions as shown. Out of place spaces and text will throw the file off. Oh, and caps are important.