Vintage serial mouse

Hi, I’m hoping for any tips to troubleshoot why my vintage mouse is not working. I believe the converter is working, but the mouse will not do anything.

Hello Mark,

Thank you for your message.

May I ask what manufacturer and model of serial mouse you’re hoping to use with the adapter?

Also, what operating system are you using on the computer that the adapter is attached to?

Thanks for your reply.

I am using Windows 7, and I have also tried on a Windows 10 machine (both 64 bit).

I’m trying to get working a novelty mouse made by Brainworks (it’s a Star Trek themed unit). The documentation states that it would use a standard Microsoft mouse driver. It’s from I believe 1994.

Hello Mark,

A couple things you may want to try.

  1. Try restarting the computer with the serial mouse plugged in to the adapter and see if it works after the restart.

  2. Try going into Device Manager (open a Windows Explorer window, right-click Computer, choose ‘Manage’) then right-click the name of your PC and choose ‘Scan for Hardware Changes’ with the mouse connected to the adapter.

Serial isn’t as plug-and-play as some other technologies, so either action should trigger the computer to check for a new serial mouse device.

Let me know if this helps. If not, I can help take a closer look at the issue.

Unfortunately, it still does not work after trying both of those things.

Hello Mark,

I’m sorry those steps didn’t work.

Could you run our diagnostic program? It will gather device information and installation logs that will help me understand what is happening.

To do this, please have the adapter plugged into your computer, and the mouse plugged in to the adapter, then go to this page and follow the instructions there:

http://plugable.com/support/plugdebug

Once you get the file, please send it to support@plugable.com and use the subject line “For Ticket #173615”.

I look forward to hearing back via e-mail.